The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-05-09

have prophesied for them. Now it is
up to them" to "show up
| l have to admit that all l know of
the characteristics and habits of the
locusts l observed in 1861, the first
time ever saw them. I was too
intent in other lines to give any at
tention to- them on their two last ap-
pcarances.
! Il will say before passing to what
/ know of their habits that l have
no doubt the locusts were here in
1874. l have talked with one old
man who lived in Des Moines coun-
ty in an early day. He remembers
the locusts about that time. but can
not remember the exact year.
! Writers about tho locusts that I
have read state that the eggs arc de-
posted under the scales of bark on
the trees and that in q few weeks
the ground and bury themselves in
the earth going deeper and deeper
| for years. / do not think so. The
female locust has what is called a
singer, but it is not like that of the
bee, wasp or hornet, encased in q
sheath and bathed in poisonous
secretion. The stinger of the female
locust is mechanical tool and not
a weapon of defense. 1t is black
spike about a quarter of an inch in
length on the under side of the body.
it is hinged at the forward end, and
when not in use lies fiat up against
the body with the free end pointing
backwards as bird carries it's feet
when flying. 1t is quite stiff and
strong and when broken off breaks
with snap. I broke off lots of
them that first year 1 saw the
locusts, rendering each locust so
treated incapable of future work.
The locusts spend probably about
their two first weeks on earth sing
ing and mating. When the new
growth on the trees has attained a
length of few inches Mrs. Locust
gets busy while Mr.. Locust keeps on
singing. Selecting a suitable place
on new grown twig she let's down
the rear end Of her spike which
touches the surface of the tWig at
an angle of probably As degrees.
She then pushes back and the spike
entors the twig. When it reaches
the pith she deposits an egg. She
then pulls forward and takes a new
bite and again bOres to the pith and
deposits another egg. She repeats
the process until she has deposited
probably dozen eggs in string
all in line of the pith. The wound
in the twig may be about an inch in
length and resembles a carpenters
mortise when he has made successive
cuts with chisel and before he has
dug out the chips. The new growth
being soft and spongy closes up after
the spike is withdrawn and the eggs
can not fall out. The twig dies and
nature amputates it at the point of
the wound-but not immediately.
trees shed their dead leaves and the
dead twigs do,.the, locust eggs reach
the ground. This seems reasonable
to me, as the ground would then be
soft and moist, whereas in July or
August it would be hard and dry. At
any rate I know that some of them
if not all pursue the course I have
described.
In the winter of '61 and '62 I used
to go out in the woods near the
school house and break off a hand
full of twigs bearing the locust scars,
take them into the school house and
as / called it then, dissect them by
splitting them open. In every one ]
examined l found a little row of
white eggs along the line of the pith.
The eggs are there safely protected
until the twig shall have faller to
the ground and decayed sufficiently
to free them. Further than that
/ have not pursued them.
Locusts, like blackbirds, like to
gather together on some tree stand
ing out little from others. In an
open near the old log school house
where I went to school in 81 stood
a large white oak tree with an ample
spreading top. This tree was fav-
orite gathering place for the locusts.
l have thrown sticks into that tree
and the air would be black with To-
Gusts for a while. This grand oak
was killed by the locusts and it is
the only tree great or small, that l
remember being killed outright BY
them. Probably every young twig
was wounded and died carrying in
it's death the leaves above and ad-
jaeent. The leaves of tree are it's
lungs and it can no more live with
ber later in the summer seeing that
oak with it's leaves still hanging on,
but brown and dead:
do not expect to see the locusts
as numerous this year as in, former
periods. 1t seems as ] remember,
they were more numerous in 1861
than in 1878, or 1895. This is be-
cause the native forests have largely
disappeared.
l do not believe young orchards
will be injured by the locusts, ex
cept it may be where they are ad-
jacent to native forests. My belief
is that the locust prefers the oak.
No locusts need be expected in
prairie sections or in groves that
have grown up in the last seventeen
years.
The opportunities to see the sew
enteen year locusts come but few
times in the average life. One Of
these opportunities is near at hand.
If the young people interested in
nature who read this article will
60 to the woods this summer they