LOCUST PLAGUES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 23 August 1939, Page 7

LOCUST PLAGUES

DAMAGE TO AGRICULTURE. The locust has afflicted men all through the ages. We read in the Bible of plagues of locusts, and the plagues still go on. No country has suffered more than South Africa, where these insects, owing to their vast numbers and voracious appetites have done immense damage to agriculture. Locust swarms in South Africa sometime have a frontage of 15 to 20 miles, and a length of 60 to 70 miles. Such a swarm, taking many days to pass a given point, is a sight that can never be forgotten. The sky is blackened and the sun almost blotted out. The beating of their wings is like a roar.

When they are seen approaching everything is done, by waving cloths to prevent them from settlings; but sooner or later they settle and devour practically everything that is green. The veld is stripped of its grass, and not only the leaves of trees eaten, but the boughs are broken down by the weight of the locusts. Even washing hanging out to dry, has been devoured by these terrible insects. The locust lays its eggs in a curious way. The female makes a hole in the ground, inserts the back part of her body, and lays two or three pouches each containing about 40 eggs. Then she dies.

The eggs remain in the ground till the rains come early in October. About two weeks later the first locust larvae hatch out. They are wingless, but closely resemble the winged insects, before long miles of the veld are covered. they advance in colums, swimming rivers and forming bridges of their massed bodies. In about six or eight weeks they get their wings and then the fly begins.