The Yellowstone journal., 1893-05-22
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GRASSHOPPERS IN CHINA.


/ dercd out to Fight Them.
/ The great province Of kiang-Soo is be.
ing devastated by locusts. Consul Jones
at Chin-Iiang. sends the state denart.
ment an account of the curious effort.
made by t'A afflicted sections to dispel
the scourge. Some of the methods re.
sorted to are as striking as the sugges.
tions offered to the Kansas people when
they were suffering from similar visi-
tation some years ago.
Il know of few sights" writes the
consul. more extraordinary than a
swarm engaged in pairing. The air is
filed with clouds of locusts drifting.
circling. crossing and recrossing. with a
faint. whirriny noise, and settling on tine
ground in thousands of couples. The
ground is carpeted thickly with them
You cannot make step without crunch
ing heaps of them under your feet, while
thousands more start up in patterin.
volleys against your legs, hands and
face"
The eggs are deposited in holes drilled
| by the female an inch or more deep in
the ground. The time required for
Matching depends entirely on the tenn
perature. In very hot weather the new
| brood begins to make its appearance at
the end of a week. At this stage they
are very small. black and as active as
fieas. making extraordinary bounds by
means of their muscular hind legs. At
little distance they suggest the idea
of a swarm Of black ants seized with
sudden insanity. In shape they are ex-
act copies of their parents, save for
the wings. They are greedy feeders and
grow rapidly. By the eighth or ninth
day wings have budded, and the color be-
gins to change, yellow spots appearing,
and in about three weeks or a month
they are full grown.
The destruction by suitable measures
of this formidable pest. involving as it
does the prevention cf famine, fever epi-
denies and riots, is matter of grave
public concern. One constantly hears
of mandarins losing their buttons and
being disGraced as the penalty of remiss-
ness or failure to destroy the enemy.
Consul Jones says the Chinese consid-
er that the visitation of the locusts is Il
calamity from heaven. and that there
is no help for it, Chinese records chron-
icle many instances of the appearance
and the calamities inflicted by the To-
Gusts in former times. but they have no
peculiarly effective methods of destroy
ing them. The government usually is
Sues proclamations ordering out the sol |
diers and encouraging the farmers 70
destroy them. The latter are given a |
bounty for their destruction.
The soldiers are used against the To-
Gusts. with their officers at their head. |
as against an adverse army in the field
Instead of a gun or Il lance however.
each soldier is armed with coarse hemp.
ell bag. attached to a bamboo pole, which.
with wide open mouth. is waved bacl.
and forth among the swar,ns until filled,
when they are killed. and the action re-
newed.
In this section of the province" writes
Mr. Jones, 1.-The army has taken the field.
and the district magistrate has taken rp
his quarters i'll the country where the To-
Gusts are thickest to overlook the work
Of destruction and to pay the farmers
the bounty.
"1he farmers use large brooms made
Of bamboo twigs and other bushes, and
each armed with this weapon goes forth
to slaughter. When killed and collected.
they are paid for by weight. which is at
the rate Of 10 cash, or cents, per pound.
The locusts' eggs are dug up and paid
for on a similar scale. e."-Washingtou
Letter.