Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-05-02
COMING OF THE LocUSTS.
Visitation is Due In Many Parts Of
America This Year.

Visitation is Due In Many Parts OF
America This Year.
America will have a visitation of IT.
year locusts this year. Fortunately
the plague will not be as severe as the
sort that occur in Algeria, vividly des-
cribed in the following communication
to the National Geographic society:
"It is impossible for any one that
has not seen a plague of locusts to
realize their size and numbers and the
horrors of living for weeks at time
in a country where locusts fly into your
face, enter your house. and even drop
into your food.
a south wind blew, and the locusts
came. They were probably the same
sort as in the days Of Pharaoh and
the plague. At first they came in
small swarms. Men, women and
children were impressed to help battle
against this terrible foe, for wherever
the locusts alight nothing green re-
mains when they pass on.
1.-The fertile plain, rich vineyards,
and verdure are in a few hours turned
into a barren desert, with only stumps
and tree trunks with the leaves gone
and the bark all off.
"It was a curious sight to see hum
dreds Of Arab and Spanish laborers,
overseers, and even wealthy French
landowners themselves, and semi
naked Arab children walk abreast in
an almost straight line, each beating
an old wooden pail, an empty box,
vegetable can, or drum and blowing
tin trumpet or twirling a policeman's
rattle. Each person or child walks in
furrow to himself, and the deafening
noise keeps the locust from settling.
Frequently the owners of the planta-
tions build fires and make them smoke
to keep away the swarms of locusts.
when the locusts have alishted
late in the afternoon, nothing can drive
them of. They take wing the follow
ing morning, shortly after sunrise. un-
less the time has arrived for the female
locust to lay her egs.
1.-The females excavate holes in the
earth two or three inches deep, in
which they deposit from sixty-two to
sixty eight eggs, enveloped in a glutin-
Gus secretion, shaped somewhat like
an ear of wheat.
= Men have to plow and spade every.
inch of ground, for the nymphs are
more destructive than the locusts, and
the only way to prevent the eggs from
Is to uncover them and leave
them in the sun.
"The period of incubation is twenty
one days; then tiny creatures-called
nymphs-crawl out. They remain quiet
for two days and then they begin to
eat. They eat and eat and eat.
Men with torches burn the nymphs
by the millions, but they crawl out of
the earth faster than the hand of man
can destroy them. The first one to
come out takes the lead, and the 9TH
ers follow in swarms many feet wide.
They make a. curious noise, like the
sound Of the sea.
1T seems incredible that a thing so
small and Insignificant Is so difficult
to destroy. Build great fires and the
swarms of crawling, wiggling nymphs
will smother them. those in front be-
ing burned by millions, and those In
the rear pushing on and passing over
the burned bodies of the leaders. They
will block and fill up sluggish Afri-
can stream, and the millions in the
rear will pass over unharmed.
1.-THE government sends troops to
aid in the defense. for 1t means ruin
and starvation to thousands Of people,
besides heavy money losses. Great
trenches are dug and the nymphs fall
in, and when three-fourths full kero-
sene oil is poured on them and they
are set ahre, or else earth is thrown
on them 70 a depth Of about two feet.
They can crawl out Of the earth II
only covered with few inches. but
when deeply covered they smother to
death.
1.-THE young locusts are most des-
tructive, selecting the choicest ve5e-
tables or tender shoots and green
leaves. 1t takes weeks for them to de-
.,elop from a tiny black nymph into
a full-sized locust, but they increase
rapidly in size, and one can almost see
their legs and wings develop.
Saint John the Baptist is spoken
of as having lived on locusts and wild
honey. From the earliest times the
tribes that dwelt on or near the great
deserts of Persia, Arabia, and Africa
have eaten dried locusts as food, and
they will keep on doing so as long as
huge swarms fly out Of the desert.
Arabs eat the flesh of locusts when
killed by themselves, but refrain If
their death has been caused by cold or
the hand of an infidel, as they are then
considered impure. Locusts are eaten
after the legs, wings, and heads have
been picked off.
"They are either grilled or boiled
and prepared with native wheat. If
dried in the sun they are ground to
powder and mixed with goats or cam
els milk and cooked in fat or butter
and salt. Almost every animal de-
YOURS locusts; even camels appear to
like them as food.