11 THE LEAVES OF THE TREE Were FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS." 19 



border line, slowly but steadily making their way towards the settled 

 districts, and although the leading authorities were duly notified of the in- 

 vasion, little or no heed was taken of the warning the supposition being 

 that they would " perish on their way south." In a very short time they 

 developed into the fledged condition and forth with set about their devasta- 

 ting work in right good earnest as the following report from the Mel- 

 bourne Age of March 23, 1891 will show: 



AN AUSTRALIAN CONFERENCE RE-LOCUST PLAGUES. 



Said report refers to an extraordinary conference of leading vignerons 

 prchardists, agriculturists and shire councillors held in the Koyal Victor- 

 ian Society's rooms, Melbourne, on the 20th of said month, at which I 

 was present. The object of the conference being to, if possible, devise 

 legislative or other means to save the colony from continuous visitations 

 of destructive locust blizzards: "The chairman opened the meeting by 

 reading a " circular suggesting that the conference should be held, signed 

 by Mr. Samuel Trethowan of Nathalia, from which circular the following 

 is an extract. " In view of the deplorable destruction caused througout 

 the colony by the locust plague, I feel impelled to seek your valuable as- 

 sistance in devising means to prevent a repetition of such disastrous in- 

 vasions," (as during Dec. of the previous year). " I have been a settler 

 in the colony for thirty-five years, and never before saw such myriads of 

 locusts as have just passed over the land; devouring every green leaf and 

 shoot. I believe the time to be opportune for the taking of energetic and 

 concerted action to destroy these voracious insects before they turn our 

 homes and holdings into permanent scenes of bare and naked desolation. 

 I have, myself suffered to the extent of losing every leaf, shoot and bud 

 on an orchard and vineyard of one hundred acres in extent, besides the 

 loss of grass and substance for my stock on several thousand acres of land, 

 and also the loss of a considerable portion of my crop of grain as well. By 

 the visitation of this scourge a crushing blow has been dealt to the pros- 

 pects of intense culture in this fertile but insect infested region, and the 

 Government may well be asked to stay any further expenditure on vast 

 irregation schemes until some means are found to repress this terrible 



Eest, for the result of years of patient labor of an industrious settler may 

 e ruthlessly destroyed in a few hours by these destructive insects. I am 

 sure I am within the mark when I estimate the loss to the colony to be 

 several hundreds of thousands of pounds, for, apart from the destruction 

 of gardens, orchards and vineyards, graziers have been compelled to sell 

 their stock at a sacrifice, in consequence of the destruction of everything 

 that could be eaten in the paddocks by these ravenous pests. Practically 

 the whole of the northern part of Victoria is now denuded of every suc- 

 culent blade or shoot and the choicer and more careful the cultivation the 

 greater has been the havoc made. 



" Something must be done or the land will become an uninhabitable 

 wilderness, for the locusts are now breeding, and before the summer is 

 over they will be upon us again in even more overwhelming numbers than 

 those just passed over. The rabbits have been and are a terrible scourge, 

 yet their destructiveness pales into insignificance when compared to the 

 ravages of the vast armies of winged and wingless locusts. 



" The scourge is an Australian and the question of legislation a federal 

 one demanding simultaneous action by the governments of the several 

 colonies in order to be effectual." " The chairman said he agreed with 



