PLAGUE OF CRICKETS

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28253, 15 April 1957, Page 10

PLAGUE OF CRICKETS

Hauraki Plains Invasion

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 14.

A plague of crickets has swarmed over thousands of acres of Hauraki Plains farmland and pastures have been destroyed on a number of farms. ' Mr G. L. Banfield, the Agriculture Department’s extension officer at Thames, reported yesterday that on some properties there had been a known loss of up to 40001 b of butterfat since February. “Whole pastures have been completely eaten out,” he said. “On many farms there’s nothing now but browned-off ryegrass and bare dirt—mostly dirt.” Farmers have been besieged even in their own homes—paper stripped off the walls, and upholstery and clothing ruined. The plague is at least as bad as that which ravaged the district in 1948. “Between 50,000 and 60,000 acres are affected,” the officer said. “Many farmers are now having to oversow or resow their pastures.” Counter-Attack

Dairymen are fighting back, either with poisoned baits made of bran, molasses and toxic sprays.

* Unfortunately, many farmers delayed the counter-attack until two-thirds of their pasture was destroyed; resowing at this late stage of the season will be difficult, and production losses will continue until the new pasture is established. Where oversowing has been tried without poisoning, crickets had devoured the seed as soon as it hit the ground. In the untreated areas, the plague continued unabated. Only the onset of heavy frosts would effectively check the cycle.

Possible individual losses could be gauged from cases such as one in 1948, when one farm’s production fell from 22,000 to 60001 b of butterfat, cows were fed on brought-in hay; and the resowing bill was more than £lOOO.