Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1901-08-03
LOCUsTs IN THE PHILIPPINES.


LOCUsTs IN THE PHILIPPINES.
The South African Method of Get
ting Rid OF the Pests Will Be Em-
pIoyed.
A cable despatch to The Sun from
Manila says that enormous swarms Of
locusts have seriously damaged the
crops in the southern islands and
have also made their appearance in
the region around Manila. The Phil
ippine commission Is taking prompt
measures to stop the ravages Of this
insect pest. Having a supply Of the
fungus culture that has been used
with such remarkable results in kill
ing locusts in South Africa, an agent
of the health department has been as
signed to distribute it in the regions
where the crops are being destroyed.
This wonderful remedy Is compare
lively new, but it has proved to be
the most efficacious in regions where
1t has been tried and there is reason
10 DelleNG IL Will sup luS IdNd6SS
Of the pest in the Philippines.
The discovery of this remedy Is one
Of the most remarkable among all the
efforts that have been made to miti-
gate or destroy the harmfulness Of va
rious insects. Only six years ago the
swarms of locusts that had been eat
ing everything green in parts Of Cape
Colony suddenly became the victims
of an epidemic that destroyed nearly
all of them. An investigation was set
on foot to try to discover what kindly
influence had so Unexpectedly rid the
country of the little pests. The result
of the investigation seemed to prove
conclusively that the disease was the
result of feeding upon a fungus
growth that was not only poison to
the locust eating it, but also so infec-
tious that a few of the diseased in
sects could, in very short time, COM
municate the malady to millions of
others.
In the following year, 1896, there
suffer from the plague of locusts,
when suddenly the epidemic broke out
in the new crop Of insects to the great
relief Of the colony whose crops were
thus saved from destruction. Then
the bright idea occurred to somebody
that it might be possible to infect
numbers of the locusts with the NAL
ady and send them abroad to propa-
gate it whenever their brethren became
troublesome.
So the Psychological Institute at
Grahamstown, Cape Colony, began a
series of experiments with the fungus
and the locusts. The investigators
succeeded in securing a pure culture
from the fungus, which is now known
as the locust fungus. All the insects
brought into contact with it died in
a few days.
South Africa teemed with locusts in
1897. Great swarms Of them threaten
ed to desolate large areas from Cape
Colony to Rhodesia. Now or never
was the time to test the efficiency of
the locust fungus. Experiments on a
large scale in the artificial propaga-
tion Of the disease was conducted in
Cape Colony, Natal and Rhodesia.
The results surpassed all expectations.
Millions of the insects perished with
in few days after a few individuals
infected with the culture had been
turned loose among them. The best
results were obtained in rainy wealth
er when the locusts remained longest
in one place, thus facilitating the thor
ough dissemination of the disease
among them. The least results were
in hot, dry weather when the flight of
the locusts was rapid. and the sick
being left far behind a great many es-
capped the infection.
For the past three years the inSti-
tute at Grahamstown has been putting
up the culture from the locust fungus
in tubes and a great many of the
tubes have been sent thousands of
miles. The same excellent results
have followed the use Of the prepara-
tion in distant lands. Several meth
DDS Of application have been found to
be effective. Sometimes several in
sects are smeared with the culture and
are then permitted to rejoin their
swarm; another method is to drop the
contents of the tubes upon bits of hu-
mid earth where the insects are feed
ing; n few locusts may also be enclos-
ed in bottle in which a little of their
preferred food, covered with the cul-
ture, has been placed, and after they
have eaten the food they are set at
liberty or the contents of a tube are
dissolved in a basin of warm water
insects are immersed in it and turned
loose; in fact, it doesn't make much
difference how the culture is applied,