The Seaforth News, 1949-08-18, Page 7—m
Out insome of the western states
the grasshopper plague has reached
terrific dimensions, and the end
isn't by any "means in sight. One
nesting area in Wyoming was re-.
•ported in June with a grasshopper
population of 1500 per square yard
—and a population of 30 to 200 is ,
considered critical.
* * *
In that same week hoppers by
the million were stripping !fay
fields and peach and apricot or-
chards over a path two and a half
miles wide in eastern Oregon; A
population of two million per acre
was estimated in eastern Kansas,
with crop losses of as high as 25
per cent: By late June the hoppers
in the plains states were growing
wings and beginning to move out
of fence rows and covered areas
into the fields:
* * *
But even Wyoming's nesting area
concentration seemed small com-
pared to that found in Nevada by
July 1. There a population ranging
up to 2500 per square yard was
found in 188,000 acres of egg beds.
A migratory horde covering 3000
square miles -40 miles wide, 75
miles long -was eating its way out
of Nevada and into northern Cali-
fornia and southern Oregon at a
rate of two to six miles a day,
and the population was from three
to fifty adults per square yard
over that whole vast area,
* * *
Quite naturally, all this is fear-
some news for farmers of the Plains
and Mountain States, most of
whom remember how grasshoppers
oompleted the ruin begun by heat
and drought in the dust bowl of
the Nineteen Thirties, when, in
some places, the insects were so
thick on railroad tracks that loco-
motive wheels spun uselessly. Au-
tomobile traffic, too, was halted for
days in eastern Colorado and.west-
ern Kansas because roads were
solid with the insects.
* * *
Still living in Kansas and Ne-
braska are people who remember
the year 1874, when, in late July
and August, grasshoppers winged
their .way out of the northwest in
olouds so thick that they hid the
aun for hours and swept much of
the states clean of green vegetation,
The ^hoppers' special yen for
onions, both the green tops and
bulbs below the ground, led one
Nebraska old-timer to swear that
he could smell onion on the breath
of a horde of the insects that swept
past his door. Hundreds of settlers
were forced to abandon their home-
steads that year, and hundreds more
would have been driven out had
not relief supplies conies out of
the East.
* * *
We call them grasshoppers, but
actually they're the "locusts" men-
tioned in the Bible. Against man's
intelligence the hopper pits its
enormous capacity to (1) repro-
duce and (2) eat. It ie a short -
feeler insect with hard teeth and
powerfully muscled jaws, capable
of biting off and chewing up solid
materials with remarkable rapidity.
(In 1874, even sweat --soaked pitch-
fork handles and saddles were at-
tacked.) It lhas preferences in food.
—it likes corn and dislikes sorg-
hum, for example—but it can eat
and digest almost anything, and
does so in a plague year.
* * *
Like all insects, it wears it skel-
eton on the outside—a marvelous
chemical compound called chitin
which sheathes the whole of its
body. This flexible armor is tre-
mendously tough, light and gtiatter-
proof, and resistant to alkali and
acid compounds which would eat
the clothing, flesh and bones of
man. To it are attached muscles
so arranged around catapult -like
hind legs as to enable the 'hopper
to hop, if so diminutive a term can
describe so prodigious a leap as
ton or twelve feet—about 150 tures
the length of the one -inch or so
long insect. The equivalent feat for
a man would be a casual jganp,
from a standing position, over the
Washington Monument, according
to a writer in the New York
Tunes.
* *
Generally speaking, and contrary
to appearance, a grasshopper does
look before it leaps, Careful ob-
servers assert that ordinarily the
creature chooses a landing place
and judges the distance before 11
takes off, It does so through com-
pound eyes made up of thousands.
of Tittle eyes whose images fuse
into one in the grasshopper's small
brain.
* * *.
The eyes are protected by a
sheet of transparent chitin through
whioh the 'hopper can see all
around itself, front and back, for'
a distance of several feet. For
close work, however, the 'hopper
has a set of three simple eyes,
very small, one -over the base of
eaoh feeler and one halfway be-
tween the feelers. Through these
it can clearly see objects within
a few inches of its face,
* * *
But a scared grasshopper cer-
tainly does not look before it
leaps. As a, matter of fact, it can't
see as far as it calf jump—and it
jumps as far as it can when scared.
It seeks to mitigate bhe. danger of
this blind leaping by never jumping
twice successively in the same di-
reotion; the leaps follow a zigzag
pattern. Even so, it often jumps
directly into some fatal snare—a
spider web, a bird's beak, a pool
of water.
* * *
In the fall the female 'hopper
seeks out a well -packed well -drain-
ed spot in the earth and thrust into
it the pointed tip of her abdomen.
She bores down, employing four
hard prongs which can press to-
gether or spread out, like bhe ex-
panding reamer used by well -dig.
gers. Thus she can pack the soil
against the sides of the hole being
bored, without bringing any loose
dirt to bhe surface. When she can
go down no farther, she lays two
or three dozen tiny eggs each t -
colored, cucumber - shaped, and
covered with wet glue.
* * *
In the spring the eggs—those
not eaten by maggots, skunks, and
so on—hatch out baby grasshop-
pers, which skip the caterpillar
stage common to most insects.
Each infant, clad in a transparent
hatching skin which considerably
hampers its movement, climbs
painfully out of the hole, shrugs
off the fihmy envelope, and promptly
begins to eat. it grows at a rather
terrifying rate until its inner self
is severely cramped by its outer
shell, at which point it sheds its
chitin surface and grows a new
and larger one, It does this six
times on the average during the -
next several weeks, developing
wing stubs on the fourth molt,
half-grown wings at the fifth and.
full-grown one at the sixth or adult
stage.
* * *•
Which should be about enough
regarding grasshoppers for now—
except to add the sincere hope that
they never 'get a notion to turn
east, and come heading this way
in their billions.
Stairs
Here's to tttermau who invented
stairs
And taught our feet to soar!
He was the first who ever burst
Into a second floor.
The world would be downstairs
" today
Had he not found the key;
So let his name go down to
fame,
Whatever it may be,
—Oliver Herford
13 Y
Diving Dthice Wild Explore The Deep—A weird -looking appar-
atus, the "Benthoscope;" is hauled out of the water after a test
run on the harbor bottom. Inventor of the device, Dr: Otis
Barton plans to probe the mysteries of the in the diving
bell, -Which is towed along the ocean floor on three drum -like
• wheels, Barton hopes to reach depth of 300 fathoms (1800 ft.),
Combine Combines Operations—This'machine is the. latest idea in speeding up the harvesting
of big wheat crops. A standard automatic twine -tying baler was joined with a combine to do
several jobs at once. With the arrangement, a two-man crew can cut the ripe wheat, thresh it,
hag it, and bale the leftover wheat straw in one continuous operation. At the left an automats -
•tally twine -tied bale is shown ready to drop from the baling chamber.
Te�r�s
The Fox
Sty Richard Hill Wilkinson
"You can't fool an old fox like
Terry Oakes," Anse Aetell was say-
ing. "Not even if you're the smart-
est bank robber and gangster in
the country!' He chuckled, re-
flecting on the story he was about
to tell.
"Glenville was pretty well
wrought up that summer. In June,
government agents .came through,
warning all the small town banks
in the countryside to be on the
lookout, and advising what to do.
Duke Insabato and a couple of his
henchmen, driven from their haunts
in the large cities by a concentrated
effort of local and federal agents
attr who were dead set on bringing an
tepil to the current wave of crime,
were hiding out in the sticks and
whiling away the time by staging
spectacular daylight hold-ups of
small town banks,
"The trouble was that no one
knew where tate varmints would
strike next. Duke Insabato was
smart. He understood small towns
because he was brought up in one,
and he chose as the object of his
pilfering banks that were pretty
well isolated and unprotected.
"June passed and part of July.
Gradually the fear of Glenville Citi-
zens began to subside. Only one
other small town bank had been
held up, and that more than 150
utiles away. The depositors who
had withdrawn their accounts re-
established theta,
"Terry Oakes, the trust company
president, didn't gloat. He was an
old-timer at the game and he un-
derstood human nature. Early its
June he'd had 'some signs printed
and hung around the lobby of the.
bank. Such things as "Save for
Your Old Age,"`Deposit With Us
and Your Money Will Be Safe.'
The citizens smiled a little. Terry
was trying to reassure them. One
other sign was printed and inserted
behind the glass in the front door.
This, too; amused them, but it
didn't annoy them any,
"On July 15 the quietude of Glen
ville's main street was abruptly and
harshly interrupted. A high-pow-
ered black. sedan suddenly ap-
peared at the town's south entrance,
roared down on the bank and came
to an abrupt halt. Loungers in
OF
front of the general store jerked
erect. Three men had leaped from
the car. Two of them, one carrying
a machine gun, ran toward the
bank. The third stayed on the curb,
a second machine gun nestling in
his arm.
The loungers, pop -eyed and
frightened, watched in stupid fas-
cination. To their utter astonish-
ment they saw the two bandits
turn at the bank door without en-
tering, rush back to the -car, pile
into it and drive away.
"it all happened within seconds.
For a moment or two, the loungers
sat transfixed. Then of one accord
they -leaped up, raced across the
street and entered the bank. Terry
Oakes was talking on the telephone.
He hung up and .smiled at them.
"'Two to one,' he said calmly,
'Sheriff Iron picks up Duke and his
Jiang at Jepson Corners. I just
phoned him.' He looked from one
pop -eyed- citizen to another. `No
harm done, boys. They didn't even
get in.' -
"'But, why didn't they? What
happened?'
"Terry grinned broadly, 'Duke
Insabato knows small towns. He
was a small-town boy himself. That
is why he' picked this hour to do
his hold -upping. Right after lunch.
"'That's where I fooled him.'
Terry paused to chuckle and glance
toward the front door. 'It's lucky
Duke knows small towns. Other-
wise he might not have taken any
stock in my sign."
"The bewildered citizens turned
toward it and read. They were a
little dazed, and not quick to uhder-
stand,
"The sign read: 'Bank closed. Out
to lunch. Return in one huar,"
Helpful Hints
For Homemakers
When knitting elbows in children's
sweaters, use double yarn. This
will double the wear of the sweater. _
* * *
A convenient hat rack for the men-
folk may be made an the inside of a
closet door. Stretch two wires par-
allel and horizontal, across the door,
ust far enough apart so the crown
of the hat will fit easily between.
Fasten the wires to the door with
screw eyes. To insert the hat, slip
brim under the wires,
* * *
We keep a medical record book for
each of our children, When one is
ill we keep a record of his symp-
toms, temperature, diet, and other
pertinent factors. This enables us
to answer the doctor's questions
accurately, and to make not of his
comments and prescriptions, The
book goes along when the -children
have their medical examinations,
* * *
Plan for your child's next party by
taking snapshots of the children you
Will invite. Mount these on place
cards attached to the party candy -
cups. These take-home favours
will please the small guests and sur-
prise their mothers.
* * *
Make useful name tapes by typing
or writing with permanent ink' on
white hot -iron tape, such as Bondeie-
A 10 -cent 30 -inch package of tape
will make about fivd 'dozen- labels
if the name is short enough to write
across the 154 -inch width. Labels
can be ironed on garments.
Working To Music
That "Working To Music" is a
modern idea was a statement put
forward recently, when, upon a
screen, employees were shown per-
forming their tasks to the accom-
paniment of radios provided by the
management, But, to those who
have lived in Africa, this statement
is a mistake, writes Lester Arthur
in The Christian Science Monitor.
In the streets of any African city,
on any working day, the strains of
musical voices can be heard from
the most unexpected places; for,
to the African native, "working to
music" is as old as are all the other
customs which have come down to
him through the ages, whose origins
are lost in the dim avenues of the
past.
* * *
True, the modern idea is machine -
made music, while that of the Afri-
can is of his own making—weird
and strange as is all native music-
but, on every occasion where man-
ual work is to be accomplished, the
strains of native voices blended in
perfect harmony accompanies it as
surely as night follows day.
The road -menders sing as they
ply their picks and shovels—the men
who cut the long grass which in this
luscious soil grows so quickly on
each side if the roads — it is all one
which job they are on; they just
"work to music."
For this is the custom of the
native in his home, and those who
have migrated - to • the cities have
brought; the custom with them—
bringing with it into the hot arid
streets a breath of, cool ,green -veld,
of deep hilikopies, and lonely kraals
set on blue hillsides, For each song
of the native,pe3ple has its own
particular meaning, typifying some `
event of their'daily lives.
One song will tell of dawn break-
ing- over the purple kopjes, of fire
smoke rising from small mushroom -
shaped huts as the sun comes up.
Of little brow- picannins playing
in the sunshine, of wives who cook:'
-the mealie-meal in the three-legged
iron pots. T
* a:
The African natives have evolved
their own idea of "working to
music"; and the, procedure is always
the same, be it work with pick' or
shovel or with any other itnple-
ntent. -
Should they be breaking up a
road, the fall of pick and shovel is
as regularly timed as the tramp of
marching feet,
The first note of a chant is sound-
ed by a leader—the melody is taken
up by the gapg as they raise their
picks—and, on the last note of the
chant, the picks come down in per-
fect unison.
Should the dragging of a heavy
load be their objective, the same
procedure is adopted; each man
waits for the note of the leader,
then the concerted rhythm, and the •
final note for the "pull."
* * *
If the passer-by has ears to hear,
he will realize that the native sing-
ers auiftheir songs to the moods of
nature,
In the gold of an African sunlit
day, the songs are gay and happy.
They tell of dances and feasting, of
weddings and rejoicings, and of
those daily events which come to
all, whatever their race or color.
On days when the skies are gray
and lowering, when the mist hides
the gold and veils the blue of an
African day, their songs contain in
their chanting all the sadness of the
African people. They speak of their
sorrow whenthe crops have failed
and when want and hunger stalk
abroad among their people; of the
days when the locusts came and
left the smiling green lands bare
and brown. In these low sad chants
are the rain and the mists that settle
in the hearts of the African natives
when the sunlight is hidden, for
they are a Inn -loving people.
But, rain or shine, gray akiee or
blue, the gangs of African natives
"work to music." For this idea le
not a modern one, but as old as the
deep blue hills which are the heri-
tage of the African people.
"A Way of Life"
The day of a plan's salvation is now;—the life of the present, of
today, lived eani estly, intently without a forward-looking thought, is the
only insurance for the future .. , Begin the day with" Christ, and His
prayer ... you need no other. Creedless, with it you have relligionl
creed -stuffed it will leaven any theological dough in which you stick,
The quiet life in daytight compartments will help you to bear your own
and other's burdens with a light heart ... Life is a straight plain business,
but the way is clear, blazed for you by generations of strong men, into
whose labours you enter and whose ideals must be your inspiration."
—Prom an address delivered by Sir Wnitom Osier to the undercraduaten et
Yate University, 1919.
Three Of A Kind --Gipsy Lad's Missy, a registered jersey cowp
displays motherly concern as Jack Shepherd looks over her one -
day -old ' triplets. The birth of triplets is a rarity in bovine circles,
and Missy's feeling justifiably proud,
THIS 19 EASY....JUST KEEP
ON TRIMMING UNTILALLTHE
HIGH SPOTS ARS LEVEL WITH
TH6 . LOW SPOTS,
By Arthur Pointer