Locusts : Season 1921-22. 



221 



Department to better gaug-e the probable extent of the next season's 

 outbreak. When the demand for supplies of poison became so heavy 

 and urgent, its manufacture was continued night and day, and no 

 stone was left unturned to endeavour to meet the demand, but it was 

 utterly impossible to avoid a temporary shortage. 



An additional explanation of the shortage was the wilful waste 

 that occurred in some of the districts. Had owners adhered to the 

 instructions regarding the mixing of the poison and not mixed it 

 unnecessarily strong, the supply would have gone much further. 



Co-operation of the Farmers. 



In no previous campaign have the farmers co-operated so well 

 with one another and with the officers of the Department. Taken as 



Masses of Voetgangers. 



a whole, they did excellent work, and only in a few isolated instances 

 was it necessary to institute legal proceedings. 



It would not be out of place here to insert a word of appreciation 

 of the manner in which the large stock-owners in the Karroo, who 

 have very little to fear from the locusts, combined and destroyed the 

 voetgangers. There is certainly some excuse for the stock-farmer 

 not being quite so enthusiastic over the destruction of the locusts as 

 the agricultural farmer, but the former complied with the spirit as 

 well as the letter of the law. There is no doubt that the agricultural 

 farmers in the other parts of the Union are inclined to blame the 

 stock-farmers in the Karroo for the visitation of the locusts to their 

 parts. Reference, however, to the statement appended to this report. 



