Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-10-24

PESTS. One Of the chief pests is the
locust, which sweeps over the cuun-
try IN sWarns Of great magnitude.
lave ridden through miles of such
swans on the ears At times the To-
Gusts are so thick that they almost hide
the sun. The air is filed with flying
beetles, with sparkling white wings,
ahi enc looks on and on seeing noth-g
ing but locusts as far as the eye can
reach Looking down along the sides OF
the train the ground is covered with
these crawling insects, and you can no.
tica them In front fleeing from the en-
cine. The locomotive seems to be
Swfeplrg them apart like a snowplow,
AM this work continues for miles and
miles as the train goes on. Sometimes
they are so many that the wheels OF
tho cars. going over them. crush then,
uEGn the rails, and the rails thereby
become creased and the wheels roll
around without catching.
NJ some of the stations have step
pea on. of the train and scooped up d
handful c. locusts They look just like
cur sHasshnNpess and are probably the
s'liaf sort OF Insects as those which al
most ruifsd Kansas and Nebraska
sn'ip years Ego.
When the locusts come they cat al
n1osts every green thing. The grass dis
az pears and the sheep and cattle per-
ISL for want OF food. at present the
arife"ert governments are paying a Ger
tlln price for locust destruction The
farmers ,eceivo 70 cents rcr bag of
2CO rounds. and In Natal locust orsst
are bringing II cents a pond. The
eggs az hid In cocpors aud it Is osti-s
nlHted that It '0kes 10000 e~gs to mai Ike
ore rc,nd. They viii last for years
Wltfcnt hatchinr, so that. although the
iccus's are killed. new crop may
conc forth again and again from the.
dormant eggs
Thn African natives are all fond If
lorltsts They cat them. and a,n.
Tod tl,at TIL" Beer farmers frequently
use n,ieh lrcusts rnrs clicsen feed, pay
Ing rs high as 81 res bag for then,
Nrethel tr6vhe that tnnafsrmens have
~ many regions is thc ,lrouth, ana
ttere IRE also cattle revcrs and other
assesses.
AGRICULTURE SINCE THE WAR. &
Since the Boer war new interest has
sprung up IN agriculture, and the gov
ernment Is now doing all It can to open
up the country and to improve the con-
dltion the farmers. 1t has already
experimental farms in sew
era places, and Is trying to better the
livestock. Many new plants are being
introduced, tbs tobacco industry has
been encouraged, and experiments are
can Agricultural college Is now pro-
posed. and Gen. Botha Is said to favor
IL. he says that agriculture and min
ing are the two brothers Of the Trans
Vaal and that they must work together.
hand in hand, for the benefit Of the
country.
AS to livestock. the colony now has
more than 100000 cattle. over 100000
sheppard about 10000 pigs. There are
about $4,000 horses, large number OF
goats and few ostriches. Tho most
OF the stock IS kept on the high lands
as to prices Of farm animals. they
seem fair for this far-away country
Goats are worth about IS each, pigs
from $40 to $50, and nerno sheep from
IS to Sc Almost any kind of a good
horse VIII sell for 500. and a mule for
$40, and those imported from the Cape
of Good Hope5s sell for 800 and upward.
NO PLACE FOR POOR MEN. .s.''4'.tt
Notwithstanding these figures do
not advise Americans to come here ex-
peeting to make money in farming.
This Is hardly a poor mans country.
The native labor on the farms Is made
up OF Kaffirs, who receive from $40 to
SIS a month, including their board and
lodging White men cannot do the
and the farmers would rather not have
white men to do such work. The line
between the white and the black Is
carefully drawn and the white fears
that his race Will lose caste If he en-
ploys his own people to do the rough
labor.
Even the government, anxious as 1t Is
to have settlers, does not advise men
without capital to come to South Afri-
ca, In a little book of information for
the benefit of emgrants | see it stated
that it is necessary for an experienced
farmer to have from $4,000 to 100000
IL he wishes to start into stock raising
in tn, Transvaal. The price of land
varies according to the soil water and
nearness to market Farms on the high
veldt. With "a certain amount of land ir-
rlgated can be purchased from $3.50 to
$40 per acre. In the lower country,
known as the bush veldt, the prices are
considerably lower. Nearer the towns
the land is high. and where there is
plenty of water the prices are much
above those | have mentioned The
government advises that a farm should
not be less than 1000 acres in size for
stock rearing and not less than 5000
where the country is poor. 1t desires