﻿[70J 
  EEPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  ENTOMOLOGICAL 
  COMMISSION. 
  

  

  my 
  convictions, 
  but 
  all 
  my 
  trouble 
  has 
  been 
  of 
  very 
  little 
  effect, 
  for 
  the 
  

   country 
  has 
  been 
  repeatedly 
  swept 
  of 
  all 
  verdure 
  by 
  the 
  scourge. 
  At 
  

   one 
  time 
  the 
  Queenstown 
  people 
  suffered 
  much 
  from 
  locusts, 
  and 
  a 
  

   draft 
  bill 
  was 
  framed 
  there 
  to 
  lay 
  before 
  the 
  Cape 
  Colonial 
  legislature. 
  

   The 
  draft 
  act 
  was 
  to 
  enable 
  fines 
  to 
  be 
  levied 
  upon 
  those 
  proprietors 
  

   of 
  farms 
  who 
  should 
  fail 
  to 
  destroy 
  the 
  locusts 
  which 
  should 
  appear 
  

   upon 
  their 
  properties. 
  In 
  the 
  Cajje 
  Argus 
  I 
  attacked 
  the 
  views 
  

   expressed 
  in 
  the 
  draft 
  bill, 
  and 
  showed 
  how 
  the 
  locusts 
  could 
  be 
  as- 
  

   sailed 
  and 
  destroyed 
  effectively, 
  and 
  pointed 
  out 
  that 
  the 
  population^ 
  

   as 
  far 
  as 
  need 
  be, 
  ought 
  •to 
  be 
  called 
  out 
  to 
  the 
  assistance 
  of 
  those 
  un- 
  

   fortunates 
  upon 
  whose 
  properties 
  the 
  young 
  locusts 
  should 
  appear. 
  

   The 
  draft 
  bill, 
  I 
  think, 
  was 
  not 
  brought 
  forward 
  in 
  the 
  Parliament. 
  I, 
  

   having 
  recognized 
  that 
  material 
  for 
  assault 
  would 
  be 
  needed, 
  should 
  

   the 
  farmers 
  desire 
  to 
  test 
  my 
  plans, 
  twice 
  addressed, 
  mercantile 
  houses 
  

   at 
  Port 
  Elizabeth, 
  explaining 
  my 
  views 
  and 
  suggesting 
  that 
  they 
  should 
  

   import 
  tin 
  plates 
  cut 
  into 
  strips 
  of 
  3 
  inches 
  breadth 
  and 
  6 
  or 
  8 
  feet 
  long, 
  

   in 
  boxes, 
  say, 
  of 
  one 
  hundred 
  sheets, 
  for 
  sale 
  to 
  the 
  farmers. 
  Nothing 
  

   came 
  of 
  this. 
  In 
  a 
  subsequent 
  year 
  one 
  Dutch 
  farmer, 
  in 
  the 
  district 
  of 
  

   Fauresmith, 
  when 
  the 
  marching 
  locusts 
  came 
  again, 
  went 
  to 
  his 
  district 
  

   town 
  and 
  begged 
  from 
  the 
  shopkeepers 
  the 
  tin 
  linings 
  of 
  packing 
  caseSy 
  

   which 
  are 
  generally 
  thrown 
  away. 
  He 
  got 
  a 
  quantity, 
  cut 
  it 
  into 
  strips, 
  

   armed 
  therewith 
  his 
  walls, 
  and 
  while 
  every 
  other 
  farmer 
  in 
  the 
  state 
  

   almost 
  lost 
  all 
  his 
  crops, 
  he 
  saved 
  everything. 
  My 
  suggestions 
  had 
  

   probably 
  been 
  communicated 
  to 
  him. 
  Later 
  on 
  still 
  I 
  satisfied 
  the 
  

   member 
  of 
  the 
  Yolksraad 
  for 
  Bethalie 
  about 
  the 
  effectiveness 
  of 
  tin 
  arm- 
  

   ing, 
  so 
  that 
  he 
  saved 
  his 
  gardens. 
  He 
  brought 
  the 
  matter* 
  before 
  the 
  

   Yolksraad, 
  and 
  that 
  body, 
  on 
  his 
  motion, 
  voted 
  £100 
  to 
  be 
  spent 
  in 
  the 
  

   purchase 
  of 
  rolled 
  sheet 
  zinc 
  in 
  Belgium, 
  under 
  condition 
  that 
  the 
  

   metal 
  should 
  be 
  resold 
  to 
  Free 
  State 
  farmers 
  at 
  cost 
  price, 
  to 
  enable 
  

   them 
  to 
  provide 
  armor 
  for 
  the 
  walls 
  of 
  their 
  cultivated 
  lands. 
  I 
  would 
  

   have 
  advised 
  iii 
  favor 
  of 
  tin 
  instead 
  of 
  zinc 
  had 
  I 
  been 
  consulted, 
  as- 
  

   tin 
  would 
  maintain 
  its 
  straightness 
  better 
  than 
  zinc. 
  However, 
  the 
  

   zinc 
  has 
  to 
  this 
  day 
  never 
  been 
  ordered, 
  and 
  the 
  next 
  visitation 
  will 
  

   find 
  no 
  one 
  prepared. 
  The 
  plans 
  which 
  I 
  had 
  brought 
  forward 
  included 
  

   measures 
  for 
  hostile 
  attack 
  upon 
  young 
  locusts 
  from 
  the 
  time 
  of 
  first 
  

   appearance 
  in 
  the 
  size 
  of 
  house-flies, 
  or 
  smaller, 
  to 
  final 
  extinction. 
  The 
  

   last 
  appearance 
  of 
  young 
  locusts 
  found 
  no 
  one 
  prepared. 
  The 
  district 
  

   of 
  Eouxville 
  was 
  attacked. 
  My 
  brother-in-law, 
  who 
  had 
  repeatedly 
  

   heard 
  my 
  explanations 
  regarding 
  defense 
  and 
  attack, 
  lived 
  there, 
  and 
  

   he, 
  from 
  Eouxville 
  and 
  Smithfield, 
  got 
  all 
  the 
  tin 
  linings 
  of 
  packing 
  

   cases 
  which 
  could 
  be 
  procured. 
  His 
  cultivated 
  lands 
  were 
  open 
  on 
  one 
  

   side, 
  and 
  thus 
  wholly 
  exposed 
  to 
  attack. 
  On 
  this 
  side 
  he 
  dug 
  a 
  trench 
  

   of 
  about 
  one 
  foot 
  deep, 
  and 
  heaped 
  up 
  the 
  soil 
  thus 
  obtained 
  on 
  the 
  

   inner 
  side. 
  He 
  cut 
  up 
  the 
  tin 
  linings 
  into 
  strips 
  of 
  about 
  one 
  foot 
  

   broad, 
  joined 
  them 
  together 
  with 
  rivets, 
  or 
  otherwise, 
  and 
  inserted 
  the 
  

   joined 
  strips 
  into 
  theheaped-up 
  earth. 
  IsTot 
  aTocust 
  got 
  into 
  his 
  land. 
  

   He 
  next 
  adojited 
  offensive 
  measures, 
  as 
  I 
  had 
  advised. 
  He 
  joined 
  a 
  

   few 
  strips 
  of 
  tin 
  together, 
  making 
  two 
  long 
  strips 
  of, 
  say, 
  30 
  feet 
  each, 
  

   and 
  with 
  the 
  assistance 
  of 
  a 
  few 
  natives 
  placed 
  these 
  upright 
  by 
  lean- 
  

   ing 
  them 
  against 
  some 
  wooden 
  pins 
  driven 
  into 
  the 
  ground, 
  and 
  thus 
  

   formed 
  a 
  funnel-shaped 
  alley, 
  or 
  an 
  alley 
  in 
  the 
  shape 
  of 
  a 
  truncated 
  V 
  

   in 
  front 
  of 
  an 
  advancing 
  swarm, 
  and 
  provided 
  a 
  hole 
  in 
  the 
  ground 
  

   with 
  perpendicular 
  sides, 
  at 
  the 
  narrow 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  alley. 
  He 
  then, 
  with 
  

   his 
  assistants, 
  gently 
  dioYG 
  the 
  swarm 
  into 
  the 
  ever-narrowing 
  alley, 
  the 
  

   whole 
  swarm 
  pressing 
  ^n 
  and 
  taking 
  the 
  fatal 
  leap 
  into 
  the 
  excavation. 
  

   Thus 
  at 
  a 
  distance 
  from 
  his 
  cultivated 
  lauds 
  he 
  completely 
  destroyed 
  

  

  