French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1919-02-06
SWARMS OF LOCUSTS TO
BE WITH Us THIS YEAR.

Visiting List, But VIII Probably Sec
a Good Many-LincOln County Stat
ed For LOcuSts Big Celebration.
Washington, Jan. 30.-North Care
lima is to have a visitation from the.
1T year locust" this year. The fol-
lowing formal announcement was
made by the department OF agricui-
ture this week:
"The year 1919 is likely to be one
of the worst locust years on recorC
But entomOlogists Of the United States
department of agriculture see nothing
alarming in the prospect.
1.-THE periodical cicada, the real
name OF the insect commonly called
locust viii appear this year in the
following states: Alabama, District
Of Columbia, Delaware, Georgia, Ill
linoise, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mary-
land, Massachusetts, Michigan, New
| Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West
Virginia and wisconsin.
The injury done by the periodical
cicada consists almost wholly II
chisoling grooves in the branches OF
&rees fer depositing eggs. This il
! jury always appears to be greater
than It actually is. Popular alarm is
usually out of proportion to general
damage.
Every locust year is, in some sorc,
a year OF fear and dread. It appears
to have been so with the savages ana
| has remained so with their civilized
successors, Notwithstanding the fac:
that the cicada has been under inves-
| tigation for we'll over 200 years, and
! the appearance of the swarms aru
foretold by entomologists as accurate
lly as eclipsis of the moon are
foretold by astronomers. People have
fancied they could detect in the
cry of the cicada d resemblance to
| the name of the monarch, Pharaoh,
that prosecuted the Israelites, and tina;
occult belief or fear added to the some
what dOlOrCuS sound has served TO
make the cry of the cicada generally
an unWeIcOme one. Very long ago
some superstition attached to the dark
G;rs OF The fling wings. These bars
! are always in the shape of the letter
| ". but few people remember tina.
through a period of Is or II years, anG
eli iC tO OF
each recurrence. Some prophet has
arisen always to announce that the v
| on the l0cust's wings means war
Since this outbreak will come just a.
and when even the imagination of the
rural prophet could hardly conjure up
| the likelihood of another one, some
new explanation will apparently have
the cicada will, as usual, be greeted
as harbinger of disaster, and as uS-
ual there will be reports of deaths
caused by stings of the cicada, be-
lief that has persisted in spite of posi-
tive proof that the cicada has no sting,
that only by the most EXTREMIST acci-
dent could it infict a wound either
! with bill or Oviposter, and that 1t
could not, in any case inject q poison.
'Inasmuch, as the coming 1915
brood Of 1ocusts may be one of the
largest on record, it is particularly
important to alIay excessive fear o.
destruction to timber as we'll as 70
have people On guard, so that the few
preventive measures possible may be
applied. The belief that the 1919
brood will be exceptionally large is
based on the fact that the 17-year
brood coming out this year in Brood
10, perhaps the largest of the 17-year
broods, and that Brood Is of the 10
year family comes out at the same
time. The year 1868 was the greatest
locust year in history. In that year
Brood 10, the largest Of the l3-year
broods, appeared in conjunction with
Brood 10, the two combining to make
an unprecedent infestGtiOn. me CO.
incident of the largest T-year brood
with a smaller 13-year brood this
year will not bring about conditions
approaching those of 1858.
Brood 1S, the 13-year brood thac
comes out this year, is comparatively
a small brood and is made up of scat
tered colonies. rather than of the
dense and compact swarms that marx
the larger broods. Five states are al
fected by it,
Arson, Lincoln and Moore are the
North Carolina counties to be. visited
Edgefield is the only South Carolina
county to see the locusts. May is the
time for the coming out.-Bryant III
Charlotte Observer.