363 



Locusts appear once in eleven, or, as 

 some say, every fourteen years. They were 

 there the last summer I was in the country. 

 They corne, like an army, in one day ap- 

 parently; making such a noise and con- 

 tinual humming, that I wondered what was 

 the matter. Being so many thousands, they 

 cause a very great alarm. They remain 

 about one month, and do much damage to 

 all kinds of trees, by eating in a circular 

 manner round the bark of young shoots, of 

 every part of the tree, about three or four 

 inches from the end, and sometimes at a 

 greater distance. This causes great injury 

 to the fruit the ensuing season. They are, 

 from the Americans' account, eleven or 

 fourteen years generating; and, what is 

 very strange, not one is to be seen except 

 in those years. 



There are bugs, the same as the house 

 or bed bug, by thousands in the woods, 

 so that I should think there is not a house 

 in America without them. 



