Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1894-07-28
LOCuSTS IN CHINA.
They Are Regarded as q Calamity
from ke.ven.
The s'p'-''Isr Methods Adopted by tho
Celesi t,ls for EXterminai.nc the Pests
II Queer Occupation ior
Soldiers.

The prest province of Kiang-Soo,
China. is being devastated by locusts.
Consul Jones at Chin-Kiang sends the
state department nm account of the
curious efforts made by the afflicted
sections TO dispe4 the scolrge, says a
WASHINGTON correspondent of the ST.
Louis Globc-Democrat Some of the
methods resorted to arc as striking as
the suggestions offered to the Kansas
people when they were suffering from
a similar visitation some years gro.
When the locusts make their appear
ance in one of these Chinese districts
there Is CONSERVATION among the I'M
fortunate peasantry. who assemble in
the fields with wild clamor and din of
gongs, armed with long bamboos with
strearners attached, and vainly en-
deavor to drive of 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 droppiags of
the insects.
There is q curious and widespread
belief among the Chinese in the exist
ence of q liking" locust-'wang" he is
callcd-of colossal size and quasi
supernatural character. who hovcrs 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.
81 know of few sights" writes the
consul, more extraordinary than
swarm engaged in pairing. The air is
filled with clouds of locusts drifting,
circling, crossing and rccrossing. with
faint, whirling noise, ard settling on
the ground in thousands of couples.
The ground is carpeted thickly with
them: you cannot take a step without
crunchipg heaps of them under your
feet, while thousands more start up in
pattering 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 the
new brood begins to make its appear
ance at the end of a week. At this
stare they are very small, black, ana
rs active as tleas, making e,;tr2ordi-
nary bounds by means of their nuscu-
lar hind legs. at little distance they
suggest the idea of n 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 aad grow rap
idly. BY the eighth or ninth day
wings have budded and the color be-
gins 10 change, yellow spots appear
ing, and II about o month they are
full grown.
The destruction. by suitable meas
urcs. of this formi liable pest, involving,
as IL does, the prevention of famines,
fever epidemics and riots, is matter
of grave public concern. One con-
ssa-tlv 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-
slider that the visitation of the locusts
is calamity from Heaven, and that
there is no help for it." Chinese rec
or,ls chronicle many instances of the
appearance and the calanities Inflicted
by locusts in former times, but they
have no peculiarly effective methods
Of destroying them. Tho government
usually issues proclaim Lions ordering
out the soldiers aud clcou~a -inT the
farmers to destroy them. The latter
are given a bounty for their destruc-
ton.
The soldiers. with their officers at
their head, are used against the To-
Gusts as against an adverse army in
the field. Instead of a gun or a lance.
however, each soldier is armed with
coarse hempen bag attached t. bam-
boo pole.s which, with wide-open
mouth, is waved hack and forth anlonG
the swarns until illcd. w.lcn they are
killed aud the action renewed.