GRASSHOPPERS BY BILLIONS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 9000, 10 December 1907, Page 7

GRASSHOPPERS BY BILLIONS

WHOLE FARMS- DEVASTATED.. RACING THE INSECTS FOR THE CROP. *

A sadder plight than the farmers round about Narromhrc and Trangie are in, ; "says ' the Sydney Morning; Herald of November 9th, would be : difficult to imagine. Thu country is . parched with drought, and on top of it has come a plague of grasshoppers fearful in its immensity and destruc- j tiveness. There can be no conception of the actual conditions|prevailing without a glance at the country affected. At Trangie whole farms have been devastated. The. pests assembled in dense masses, alighted on the crops, and practically destroyed them in 48 y hours. Some farms were not affected tQ so great an extent, but all have been thinned out, and the losses are great. For miles around the country appears to be mantled in a. haze. Upon close approach the haze resolves itself into countless t „m,illions of grass- < hoppers organised into irresistible! predatory forces. They sweep along i in impenetrable clouds, defy all i efforts to keep them but of doors; I and take' absolute possession in "the j field. All' the farmer, can do is to race the insects for his crop. This! course is being given practical effect j to everywhere in the disturbed area, i Binders and reapers are being mani- i piilated at highest pressure: to save j wore of the crops than the grassbop- j pers can eat.', The task is a heart- , rending one. In nUiherotls inkt'ances ; the grasshoppers are winning. In Trangie, doubtless, the wor.'t havoc has been wrought. But the pest has not yet done with Narro- ; mine. Yesterday the £rasshoppors came through the town' svith a whirr j and a rush like hail. Their appearance was like, a heavy rainstorm, and }' their numbers were .equal to the drops. One could not see through them to the opposite side of the street;' and when their billions settled on the ground, the result was a car-, j pet of sepia,half an inch thick. | Myriads continued to wheel and circle | : in the air, and at night the monotony | was relieved by the picturesque effect j of the insect-tfnass under the moon's ]■ rays. The nwects took on a silvery i radiance which glinted and scintil- ' lated in a phenomenal manner. At j -tireak of day they begaiAo move off j in orderly battalions„zig-zagging east and south. , , Throughout yesterday, the pest was j maliciously active in the towii of i Narrominj itself. The grasshoppers swept down like great dark [ clouds. Gardens were stripped of leaves and flowers. Dwellings were besieged. Swarm after swarm de- j scandeti in endless monotony. Millions j became billions, and the billions multiplied again. The sound of the in- j ■sects beating against the roofs re-; sembled hail. Doors and windows « were, bolted against them, but not j before thousands gained admittance.! The pest set to work at once on cur-; tains, bed-hangings, and other dra- j peries. The damage done before they , were expelled was ronsiderable. To j g.ve an idea of the destructive instincts of the pjst, the expeiience of j two ladies of the district may be ( quoted. After an exciting battle, in , winch they drove large numbers out i ofVdoorsy they sat; dpjtviv to ..refresh | themselves with tea. They dis- j •, covered upon rising/that the grasshoppers had taken advantage:'■>of 'th& ces- \ satioh of hostilities to refresh themselves too. The skirt of each*lady • was found to be so riddled with holes .'as to resemble a crude sort of lace. In a drive out of town this morning the contest between farmer and grasshopper was seen to be in fiilk. progress.", The journey along the dry-;;-dusty rojj&.was not' pleasant. ' The;; 1 .'Vtfn? sent* dowrj fi&rce ; vvhi(ih ' burnt the face to smarting point, and the •, -grasshoppers ■ r beat v ppo.n. the , travellers in increasing numbers in . the advance • - -■ Ing the farm «f the pe^t J 'was seen to be a.t£[\vork in billions, •covered the entire- area of 400 acres,, •of wheat-in a vast cloud, and as one, walked through"the crop the grass-. ■ hoppers*-feeding on, the ground rose ' * up in 'whirring thousands? every: step. The; farmer had pressed into . : ,' : : service . every;. avsilalMe and every available main tcrfight fpr. :,uhis crop.",..j„The contest seemed to.be, > -V an unequal one,,",an(J:.'a.'glai)qe..round.! '■ v > showedithat-'the-iwhe.at had been ■'* - , .'side'rably , thiuned;''in>some -parts de^ : . On '!,•. the one per- .*..', mitted" only'aii ;;a«6fpgv : Br; !i ii crop;. '"» and on. the, other .the, were disputing the ownership of.it 1 . , ...Still the farmer hopes to.savq. at least- .,,. • the, 'jyeld, such as'it is. The 1 M'i scene isjs'iriVply typical of others that —-have bee«—and are" Being enacted ' '•'' round Trangie. ■>,<•. - ro riTThe~lield a walk was taken, to - {,'. the farmers,house. E.ve,ry,,;window and door were shut against the pest, despite.the intensity of the sub-tropi ' ' cal heat'. -The'farmer's wife declared the pest to be ten times worse than the ravages of rabbits. "The rabbits," she said, "you can v keep down with poison, but a plague of grasshoppers may nearly ruin a poor farmer in a single night." She pointed to the mischief, done roiiral about the house. A pretty garflen had been ruined. Every leal* ' and flower was eaten from the stems, and swarms ,of grasshoppers were busy reducing'these to the ground.The verandahs and outside walls of the house in places were black, \vith .'clusters—like swarming bees. Yet the farmer's wife said the renditions were mild to those which prevailed on the previous day. A farmer named Perry was .commonly reported to have abandoned his premises altogether, leaving the grasshoppers possessed. As the pest appeared to be moving southward, a drive was taken in the direction of Peak Hill, five miles out. There a wonderful sight came into focus. For a mile at the least the road was black with grasshoppers. Not a particle of soil could be seen for them and above they manoeuvred in malevolent billions. So formidable was the display that the horse de ■ clined to face it, and had to be turned back. Commercial travellers, in .passing through Orange on Friday night, related similar experiences. No one believed them, and but for their emphatic assurances this trip would never have been taken nor this Particle written. Where'the pest will next move is .problematical. So far it has travelled with some precision, rarely missing :a cropl The farmers everywhere,

however, seem to be on the [aleift. j hay, are being taken down in feverish haste. Big prices are looked forward to for hay, and; ; therein., lies the farmer's chief hope of saving some-1 thing against the drought. * • = • j The pest has provided a great] treat in the , poultry yards. The! domestic fowl has gorged his fill, and I insectivorous birds in the wild can j eat no more. The only casualties reported in the poultry yards so far are .the deaths of young turkeys, which seem to be unable to digest the diet so generously.'provided. ' '■. • - ■ ;.,'