268 



Fungus Infection of Locusts. 



IT HE following is a report by Stock In- 

 spector Hutchinson, dated 1st June, 

 1901, of fungus infection of locusts. 



Stock Inspector Plutcliinson to Minister 

 of Agricultiire. 



I received instructions from Principal 

 Veterinary Surgeon to infect as many 

 swarms of locusts as possible with fungus, 

 and forward accounts and reports direct 

 to Commissioner of Agriculture. 



On receipt of fungus in January last I 

 infected swarms in Hlangwini, and Um- 

 lotshwa and Amamguswa locations, and 

 the Crown Lands in the upper part of the 

 country ; Mr. Fayle, Superintendent, 

 Native Locations, was working in the 

 lower parts. I also sent fungus to 

 Messrs. Boddy and Furness, farmers, 

 whose crops were being destroyed l)y 

 young locusts, and to others in the neigh- 

 bourhood, and instructed them how to 

 use it. 



Al first, during the dry weather, there 

 appeared to be no result, but later 

 swaims began dying in Amamguswa loca- 

 tion and in other parts. 



I sent a sensible native who had been 

 working with me to the chiefs in the 

 locations, and he did very good work with 

 good results, using fungus, and also col- 

 lecting dead locusts and using them. 



I found after a few days' work that the 

 natives with my man's help and instruc- 



tions were doing well by themselves, so 

 I left him to go from kraal to kraal and 

 instruct them, as it seemed a waste of time 

 and expense to do the infecting myself 

 personally. The European and half-caste 

 farmers also did good work after I had 

 sent or taken them fungus, and shown 

 them how to use it. I was altogether 

 six days at work. I started the native 

 Dumasile at work on the 11th January, 

 and kept him continuously at it, report- 

 ing to me every few days till 11th ?,lay, 

 at Is. per day. The locusts, by that date, 

 were on the move, and leaving the dis- 

 trict, so I did not consider that any more 

 could be done. 



I hoped at one time by sending the 

 man round from kraal to kraal that I 

 woidd be able to get all the kraals to help 

 in collecting and using dead locusts, but 

 the results "were not quick enough to 

 please them. When swarms died (in 

 reality from previous infection), they 

 worked enthusiastically, but lost faith in 

 it if swarms did not immediately die from 

 their work. However, on the whole we 

 partly killed a good many swarms. They 

 were" all willing to use the fungus, but 

 with the exception of Amamguswa's, 

 would not collect for use dead locusts. 

 Mr. Boddy had good results from my fun- 

 gus and instructions, and was greatly 

 pleased with the effect of the fungus. 

 1st June, 1901. 



The May Rainfall. 



EXCEPT in parts of the Coast, the 

 rainfall for May was insignificant. 

 At Ihe Cornubia sugar estate there was 

 sufficient to bring up the rainfall for the 

 eleven months to over 50 inches — the top 

 record of the returns. Mid-Ill ovo (Gor- 

 ton) stands at the other end, with a rain- 

 fall of 13.24 only. Our Ematoma cor- 

 respondent, writing on the first of this 

 month, states that no rain had fallen, and 

 continues: — " For the last 26 days the 

 weather has been very dry, and a most 



unusual season has set in, accompanied by 

 a strong north-west wind, lasting several 

 days, entirely stripping mealies of all 

 foliage, and giving them the appearance 

 of having suffered from a severe hail- 

 storm. Wii have had some very severe 

 frosts during the past ten days, thus 

 checkimx the h)ng spell of horsesickness 

 and' blauwionguc. The cold has been 

 very intense, causing stock to lose con- 

 dition rapidly. 



