The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-06-29
LoCUsTs IN CHINA.
They Are Regarded as O Calamity
from Heaven.
The Singular Methods Adopted by the
Celestiais for Exterminatine the Pests
"A Queer Occupation for
Soldiers, 1852

China, is being devastated by lOcustA
Consul Jones at Chin-Kiang sends the
state department an account of the
curious efforts made by the afflicted
sections to dispel the scourge, says a
Washington correspondent Of the st.
Louis Globe-Democrat Some of the
methods resorted to are as striking as
the suggestions offered to the Kansas
people when they were suffering from
a similar visitation some years ago.
When the locusts make their appear
ance in one Of these Chinese districts
there is CONSERVATION among the un-
fortunate peasantry, who assemble in
the fields with wild clamor and din Of
gongs, armed with long bamboos with
streamers attached, and vainly en-
deavor to drive off the terrible in
vaders who are settling down in myr-
lads and devouring their crops before
their eyes. Every leaf and twig Is
covered thick, giving the appearance
of some hideous yellow fruit or plant.
A faint, sour smell, like that of fer
menting vegetable matter, is always
perceptible in the neighborhood. It
comes, no doubt, from the droppings Of
the insects.
There is a curious and widespread
belief among the Chinese in the exist
ence of liking" locust-''wang7 he is
caued--of colossal size and quasi
supernatural character, who hovers in
visibly IN the upper regions of the air,
directing and controlling the migra-
tions Of the different swarms. At some
places the leading officials have pub
icly sacrificed and made offerings to
the king of the locusts in order that he
might be Influenced to spare their To-
calities-
"I know of few sights" writes the
consul, more extraordinary than q
swarm engaged in pairing. The air is
filed with clouds of locusts drifting,
circling, crossing and recrossing, with
q faint, whirling noise, and settling on
the ground in thousands of couples.
The ground is carpeted thiclSly with
them; you cannot take a step without
crunching heaps of them under your
feet, while thousands more start up in
pattering volleys against your legs,
hands and face"
drilled by the female an inch or more
deep in the ground. The time required
for Matching depends entirely on the
temperature. In very hot weather the
new brood begins to make its appear
ance at the end of a week. At this
stage they are very small, black, and
as active as feas, making extraordi-
nary bounds by means of their muscu-
lar hind legs. At a little distance they
suggest the idea of swarm of black
ants seized with sudden insanity. In
shape they are exact copies of their
parents, save for the want of wings
They are greedy feeders and grow rap
idly. BY the eighth or ninth day
wings have budded and the color be
gins to change, yellow spots appear
ing, and in about month they are
full grown.
The destruction, by suitable meas
ures, of this formidable pest, involving
as it does, the prevention of famines
fever epidemics and riots, is matter
of grave public concern. One con
stantly hears of mandarins losin G
their buttons and being disgraced al
the penalty of remissness or failure tt
destroy the enemy.
Consul Jones says the Chinese con
slider that the visitation of the locustl
is calamity from Heaven, and tina
there is no help for it." Chinese rec
ords chronicle many instances of th'
appearance and the calamities inflicted
by locusts in former times, but the,
have no peculiarly effective method
of destroying them. The government
usually issues proclamations ordering
out the soldiers and encouraging th'
farmers to destroy them. The latte
are given bounty for their destruc
ton.
The soldiers, with their officers a
their head, are used against the 10
Gusts as against an adverse army i,
the field. Instead of a gun or lance
however, each soldier is armed with
coarse hempen bag attached to BAN
boo pole, which, with wide-opel
mouth, is waved back and forth amoni
the swarms until filed, when they ar
killed and the action renewed