The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-02-27
Big T7-Ycar Locust" Brood Due
this Year.

of the worst Locust years" on rec
ord. But entomologists of the Unit
ed States department of agriculture
see nothing alarming in the pros
The periodical cicada, the real
name OF. the insect commonly called
locust will appear in the follow
ing states: Alabama, District OF
9 Golump iowa Deld Ksntck Georga ND
sey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Ten
nessee, Vermont, Virginia, West
Virginia and Wisconsin.
The injury done by the periodical
cicada consists almost wholly in
chiseling grooves in the BRANCHES of
than it actually is. Popular alarm
Is usually out of proportion to gen
eral damage.
Young fruit trees are sometimes
killed by the cicada. The precau-
tionary measures are: Defer put
year; postpone budding operations;
do no pruning. this winter or spring.
When the insects begin coming
out, hand pick them from young
fruit trees or spray them with
pyrethrum powder, kerosene emul-
or acetic acid
Later when the insects are ready
to begin laying, spray young fruit
trees with WhiteWash.
The most interesting insect in the
world, the periodical cicada, is going
to be seen, perhaps in very large
numbers, during the coming spring
and early summer over large regions
of the United States where this
brood has not appeared before for
seventeen years and over other reg
ions where another brood appeared
thirteen years ago. This is the in
sect commonly referred to as the
is incorrect in at least two particu-
lars. 1t is not locust at all, that
name being properly applied only to
members of the grasshopper family,
and while it has seventeen-year
period, it also has thirteen-year
ca by the name of locust. however.
that there is no hone of divesting it
Of that incorrect appellation, and in
the regions where there is the long
er period OF recurrence, it will con-
tlnue to be known as the seventeen
year locust" and in the areas of the
SHORTER s!ao recurrence period. as the
tifically accented name of periodical
clcada, therefore, is the ONLY one
that exactly fits.
The. statement that this is the
most interesting insect in the world
will hardly be ques toned anywhere
cause it is the most anomalous, or
possibly, because it has always ap-
peared to be SO mysterious. The
fact that it appears in countless
numbers one year, then is not seen
again for half the average life time
hn1 = -
appears again in countless numbers,
has kept the popular mind mystifed
ana mas woven many superstitions
about the cicada. When it is known
that the insect spends the thirteen
or seventeen years in slow develop
ment beneath the ground and
energies at almost exactly the same
thirteen or seventeen years before
then the mystery disappears but the
interest, if anything, is intensified.
One of the queerest things in nature
is that in spite of such extremely
slow growth in their subterranean
uals attain maturity and burst from
the ground at almost the same mo-
ment.
Every Locust year" is, in some
sort, a year of fear and dread. 1t
appears to have been so with the
savages and has remained SO with
standing the fact that the cicada has
been under investigation for we'll
over 200 years, and the appearance
OF the swarms are foretold by en-
tOmOlOglStS as accurately as ecnpSeS
of the moon are foretold by astron-
Omers. People have fancied that
they could detect in the cry of the
,cicada a resemblance to the name of
the monarch. Pharaoh, that perse-
scuted the IsraelitieS, and that Oc-
cult belief or fear added to the some
what dolorous sound has served to
make the cry Of the cicada general
ly an unwelcome one. Very long
the dark bars of the tilmy wings.
These bars are always in the shape
of the letter W. but few people re-
member that through a period of
thirteen or seventeen years, and
great significance is attached to it at
arisen always to announce that the
war Since this outbreak will
come just at the conclusion OF the
greatest war, and when even the
Imagination of the rural prophet
could hardly conjure up the likeli-
PLANTATION will apparently have. to be
found this time But no doubt the
cicada will as usual, be greeted as
a harbinger of disaster, and as usu-
al, there will be reports Of deaths
caused by stings of the cicada, a be.
lief that has persisted in spite OF
positive proof that the cicada has no
Sting, that only by the extremist ac-
cident could it inflict wound eth
er with bill or ovipositor, and that
it could not, in any case, inject
poison.
Any attempt to dispel the myths
that recur as faithfully as the cicada
is likely to be unayailing since those
who still believe in them probably
will continue to do so regardless OF
anything that may be said. There
is, however, another erroneous be-
lief that may be somewhat shatter-
ed by a statement of the facts and
that constitutes the main reason for
press-agenting the cicada in advance
Of its arrival.
Injury is Usually Overestimated.
Upon appearance of large broods
of the cicada, fear is aroused that
trees will be destroyed, particularly
Young trees of the fruiting and or,
namental species. There would