Loading...
Zurich Herald, 1951-08-09, Page 7Over vast areas of the earth, the 'world's Anti -Locust Research Cen- tre directs a scientific campaign against this insect menance to our food supplies. This c a m -p a i g n means so much to every one of us that I thought you plight be in- terested in some of its details as reported by Dr, J. S. Kennedy in "London Calling." * * Locust plagues are ,probably as old as agriculture, Our own cen- tury has witnessed a succession of them, and now, once again, crops are threatened from India in the east to the Atlantic coast of Africa in the west, from the Caspian Sea in the north to Tanganyika in the south, Like any marauders, locusts are bad enough when you know they are coining, but they are far worse when you do not. Until a few years ago people seldom did know, and that made for a rather fatalistic. attitude toward locust in- vasions. If warnings can now be issued, that is only because over a period of years reports have been sent in to the Anti -Locust Research Centre in London from all over the world. There .they have been painstakingly pieced together, un- til a reasonably connected picture has ,emerged of what the locusts are likely to do in the way of breed- ing and migration, in any region at any time, * * * All the sane, why is h, after all these centuries, that we still have to fight the fully mobilized locust armies in this way? It is an ardu- ous, costly kind of war in which victory is never final. Why have we not tamed this wild competitor for our food supplies, as we have -others? * s: This has always been the main aim of the Anti -Locust Centre and its director, Dr. B. P. Uvarov. But the first thing needed was much more knowledge about locusts. There is not just one but a num- ber of different kinds of locust, each adapted to life in a particular climate and a particular type of country. * ¢: The swarming locust is a mobile, elusive subject of study.. The big- gest mystery of all was what hap- pened to the locusts when they were not swarming. After a run of plague years not only the swarms but even the individual insects dis- appear completely, everywhere, only to reappear several years later. ,, * * Between plague periods, locusts live like other grasshoppers, as scattered, inconspicuously coloured insects leading solitary and mostly very quiet lives. But unlike ordin- ary grasshoppers, when they are crowded together they change into a brightly coloured, gregarious and intensely restless forret—so different from the solitary form that it was once taken for another insect al- together. It was Llr. l..`varov who first made the discovery that the two so- called "species" could be converted one into the other simply by keep- ing the insects apart or by keeping thein crowded together. Here, at last, was the key to the origin cif the plagues. It was more than that: it was a discovery of first-class importance for biology;. generally, because the changes induced by crowding prov- ed --to be hereditary, showing up iu the offspring of crowded parents even if the offspring themselves were not crowded. Biologists went alteacl to exploit the discovery of "change of phase," as the transformation from the solitary to the gregarious form anti back again is called. And their work in the years between the wars has built up this picture of how an outbreak starts. The first re- quirement is a period wiled condi- tions are particularly favourable for the solitary insects to live and breed, so that they multiply rapidly. For the desert locust the crucial condition seems to be unusually good rains, so that extra genera- tions can be squeezed in before the country dries up again and breeding stops. But to, produce gre- garious swarms from the myriads of scattered insects then present, a less favourable period must follow the more favourable one. When that happens, the insects can find suit- able living conditions only in re• stricted areas, and they become very crowded there. Frequent meeting of insect with insect 'set off a train of changes inside thein, as a result of which their behaviour, colour and shape all change. They become attracted to each other yet, at the same time, hypersensitive to each other's movements, so that their excitement grows until they cannot keep still. In a few generations they have ceased to be solitary grasshoppers, and have gathered into great swarm which sally forth on the restless, far-ranging flights which make then such unexpected and catastrophic pests. 4. 4, The important thing is that this sequence of events can occur in only a few relatively small places within the whole region inhabited by each kind of locust. The soli- taries may often become very num- erous elsewhere, but if there is little crowding no swarms are produced to emigrate and spread the danger. And since, generally speaking, the old-world locusts -live mainly in re- gions that are under -developed agri- culturally, the damage they do is not often serious, as long as they remain solitaries and stay at home. * a: Thus, the way to deal- with the locust problem became clear. It was to locate the special "outbreak areas" and, as a first step, to des- troy the swarms there before they - got away; and, as a second step, to seek the best way to alter con- ditions of vegetation, and so on, so that swarms never form, thus solving the problem. With these aims in view, interna- tional organizations have recently been established in the outbreak areas of two of the African locusts. Success can already be claimed in suppressing outbreaks of these tw'o, the red locust of East and South Africa and the one called the Afri- can migratory locust, whose home is Nest Africa. The third main African locust is the desert locust, which has now broken out again. It is a much more difficult prob- lem. Its outbreak areas are in semi -desert regions, more numer- ous and less constant in locality from year to year, and they form an interconnected series spreading across many more frontiers, not only in Africa but away across to India. The trouble is that until rather recently governments have tended to pour out money to deal wish a locust plague once it was upon them, but to lose interest when it eventually subsided from natural causes. Every country was inclined to blanc its neighbours far send- ing the 1t1Ctistb, Once the necessary knowledge was available, so that a plan for plague -prevention could be worked BY - HAROLD ARNETT SCREW HAMMERED PLAT A WOVE NMAI E FROM Alii ORDINARY 0 SCREW, BY FLATTENING THE SCREW INTO A TRIANGULAR SHAPE, HOLDS 'WE HAMMER HANDLE Try and Top These, You Gardeners — Two huge geraniums, the larger over 12 feet high and both a solid mass of blooms, are the pride of John Bell, gardener for the CPR at Port Mc- Nicoil's famous dockside gardens. Grown in his greenhouse, the two plants threaten to raise the roof. Port McNicoll is the home port of the CPR's Great Lake Steamships about 70 miles North West of Toronto. Mr. Bell has been gardener at Port McNicoll for 31 years and the results of his work have been a constant attraction to tourist's who visit the Port, either en route for a Great Lakes voyage on a C.P. lake boat or just to see the famous flower gardens. "P p Goes The Weasel" Really Means That The Tailor Pawned His Iron Some of the many London shops which are featuring specially color- ful window displays to mark the Festival of Britain have -been in business for 200 years and more. That is a long time to have been carrying on the same trade in the same shop. There is a story that an eccentric Londoner decided he would only deal with shops which pas been established at, least 200 years. He is said to have had no difficulty in meeting his needs. In the case of the Strand firm of Thresher & Glenny, shirtmakers, tailors, and hosiers, it means that Admiral Lord Nelson used to step over the same threshold at 152 Strand where festival visitors to London now are entering to buy anything from a finely tailored suit to a festival tic. It is quite a thrill ie. itself to enter this shop and recall that Lord Nel- son. after losing his' arm in battle in 1797, called in on his return home for his usual order of stock- ings. He was greeted by Mr. Thresher, who hastened to express regret at the admiral's loss. But Lord Nelson cut him short, so the story goes, with this jest: "Tut, tut, man: picky for you it wasn't my leg. I want another dozen pairs of silk stockings." . 'There are other shops of similar antiquity, like James Lock, hatters, of St. James Street: Ede & .Ravens - croft, robe makers and tailors, of Holborn, and, believe it or not. a delightful little silversmiths, estab- out, similar obstacles still stood in the way. Since the locust knows no frontiers, the plan called for co- operation by many different comp. tries—above all, against the desert locust. * International agreement to im- plement the plan was obtained only in 1938. Now, at last, it is being implemented—at any rate for the three types of locusts I have .men- tioned. It may well turn out that the final prevention of swarming by some locusts will he economic- ally possible only as a by-product of plans for general agricultural development. lisped in 1690 and caller "The Silver Mouse Trap," in Carey Street just behand the law. courts in the Strand, writes Peter Lyne in The Christian Science Monitor. But are they stuffy and antivated, these 200 -year-old London shops? What sort of shop window and what sort of atmosphere is there in an establishment like Thresher & Glenny, for whom Dr. David Liv- ingstone, famed African pioneer and explorer, designed a marketable mosuito net? Are there cobwebs on the ceiling and are the shope old-fashioned be- Ahind the counter? Not a bit of it. There certainly is nothing stuffy about most of these old -established firms. In fact, they claim that an old firm must be specially progressive or it would not survive these mo- dern days. Thresher & Glenny, for instance, is immensely proud of its history and old traditions. But the firm freely admits its present-day. appeal is dependent on the efficiency of its modern organization. Visitors may come and look at a museum. But shops depend for their existence on all comers being persuaded to buy, not just look. It is recorded that in 1861 the late S. Endicott Peabody of the United States entered Thresher & Glenny's and ordered some of the India tweed suits which he thought would be suitable for the American clim- ate. Today representatives of the firm spend several months every year in the United States booking orders for individual customers. Though the firm specializes in the best traditional English and Scottish cloths, it is pioneering, as well, the latest 100 per cent rayon suitings. It also produces an origin- al aucl entertaining monthly publica- tion for circulation to regular cus- tomers, Besides being an education in clothes, this publication provides a wealth of other unexepccted in- formation. What is the origin of the phrase, "Pop goes the weasel"? 'When I used to sing that old song as a small boy I used to conjure up a picture of a greedy weasel eating too much. But according to Thresher & Glen- ny's monthly miscellanea, the weasel is a long, thin pressing iron, the most easily spared of all tailor's • irons, hence the first to be pawned, or popped, as pawning is colloquial- ly called. That explanation seems far more likely in the context of the rest of the warning in the song; which went like this: "And down the city road, In and out the Eagle (a tavern), That's the way the money goes— Pop goes the weasel." Then there was another verse about half a pound of tuppeny rice and half a pound of treacle. Any- way, the British Broadcasting Cor- poration became interested in Thresher & Glenny's explanation, and there was quite a national argu- ment. ' 3ti d et' Once Meant Satan Leather Bag Some English words are most economical. In two or three syl- lables a whole picture can be con- jured up by the person who knows the fascinating history of a par- ticular word. Coward, for instance, is derived from the Latin, cauda, a tail, and the idea is conveyed of an animal slinking away with its tail between its legs, Even today with universal edu- cation, some people still find it laborious business to write a let- ter. Lines are scratched out and ink splotches spoil the appearance of the page. That's just as it should be, for letter comes from a Latin verb meaning to smear. When characters, that is individ- ual letters, were first put on rec-. ord, they were •saiieared or scrawled on parchment. A book, strictly speaking, should always be :rade of wood. This word is a modernization of the Anglo- Saxon boc, a beech tree, which provided hark for writing pur- poses. We are so used to hearing of charwomen that we never wonder how they got their name. They are women who do a chane, or turn of work. Shakespeare spoke of "the maid that milks and does the mean- est eltares." Honey and Moon Constables who pace the beat aro occupied very differently from the original holders of their office. Con- stable is a distortion of comes stab- uli, the count of the stable, once a high state official, There is, however, disagreement: among the authorities about the origin of the word honeymoon. A. charming explanation is that there was once a custom in northern Eu- rope of drinking mead (made from honey) for thirty clays after a mar- riage feast. But more people incline to the cynical view that a honeymoon is 'nerdy the time during which affec- tion first grows to a peak and then wanes, just like the moon after it has reached the full. People always admire a good pro- file. Literally this means in front of a thread. That Budget Bag A word which bas been much on our tongues recently is budget. This merely means a little bag, from the French bourgette. The term was first applied to the chan- cellor's leather case, but now when mean talk of a budget, we man only the contents of the bag. Exchequer, incidentally. is de- rived from the Old French for a chessboard. In the days when French was the language of the English court, accounting had not been brought to its present fine art. Not being very skilled at calcula- tion. the treasurer used to reckon up the king's taxes by means of counters on a board marked out in squares. The cltascellor himself was orig- inally an official in charge of a chancel, or latticed barrier, in the law courts. The Latin, cancellus, means a crossbar or grating. No Smoke, No Oil—Smokeless smokestacks at the huge oil refinery at Abadan, Iron, symbolize the fact that oil production there has dropped almost to zero since Iran nationalized the industry and Britain ordered its trained personnel and oil tankers out of Iran. GIVE 'ER. A+ SHOVE, POP. Ni513 ALL READY TOR.