Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1893-06-19
LOCUSTS IN CHINA.
They Are Regarded as q Calamity
from Heaven.
The Singular Methods Adopted by tho
CeIestials for DISCRIMINATING the Pests
"A Queer Occupation for
Soldiers.

The great province of Kiang-Soo,
China, is being devastated by locusts.
Consul Jones ut Chin-kiang sends the
state department an account of the
curious efforts made by the afflicted
sections to dispel the scourge, says n
Washington correspondent of the st.
Louis Globe-Democrat. Some of the
methods resortcd to are as striking as
the suggestions offered to the Kansas
people when they were suffering from
4 similar visitation some years ago.
When the locusts make their appear
ancc in one of these Chinese districts
there is Consideration among the IN
fortunate peasantry, who assemble in
the fields with wild clamor and din of
gongs, armed with long bamboos with
streamcrs 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.
\ faint, sour smell, like that of fer
menting vegetable matter, is always
perccptible in the neighborhood. 1t
comes, no doubt, from the droppings of
the insects.
There is a curious and widespread
belief among the Chinese in the exist
cnce of liking" locust-''wang'' he is
called-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
licly sacrificed and made offerings to
the king of the locusts in order that he
might be influenced to spare their To-
calities.
Il know of few sights" writes the
consul. more extraordinary than Il
swarm engaged in pairing. The air is
filled with clouds of locusts drifting.
circling, crossing and recrossing, with
n faint, whirling noise, and settling on
thc ground in thousands of couples
The ground is carpeted thickly with
them: YOU cannot take q step without
crllnching heaps of them under your
feet. while thousands more start up in
pattcring 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
temperature. In very hot weather tho
new brood begins to make it's appear
anrc at the end of u week. At this
stage they are very small, black, and
as active as feas, making extraordi-
nary bounds by mems of their nuScu-
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
urcs. of this formidable pest, involving,
as it does, the prevention of famines,
fever epidenicS and riots, is matter
of grave public concern. One con-
stantly hears of mandarins losing
their buttons and being disgraced as
the penalty of remissncss or failure to
destroy the enemy.
/ Consul Jones says the Chinese con-
is calamity from Heaven, and TINT
there is no help for it," Chinese rec
ords chronicle many instances of the
appearance and the calamitics inflicted
by 1ocusts in former times, but they
have no peculiarly effective methods
of destroying them. The government
usually issues proclamntions ordering
out the soldiers and encouraging the
farmers to destroy them. The latter
are given n bounty for their dcstruc.
ton.
The soldiers, with their officers at
their head. are used against thc 10.
Gusts as agninst IN adverse army in
the field. Instead of q gun or lance
however, each soldier is armed with q
coarse hcmpen bng attached to BAN
bon pole, which. with widc.opcr
month i; rzr.,vr1 Euols and forth ,rnono