PLAGUE OF CATERPILLARS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1026, 16 January 1911, Page 8

PLAGUE OF CATERPILLARS.

TARANAKI INVADED. ... • It is reported that ~ caterpillars are 1 ploying havoc with.root crops on tho Wai-; ' mato Plains, in Taranaki. Accounts state j , that in some cases wholo, crops of man- , golds and carrots have beeu entirely ' eaten away. r , In, several previous years, Taranaki , farmers have been visited by caterpillars, ; and further down the coast towards -Wa- , nganui the plague has been in, evidence. - , A year or- tr-p ago myriads of caterpillars marched through -some farms noar ' ■Opunake. Their crossing'of tho Main 1 South Road was a uniquo sight. ' It has often been a favourite topic at } social gatherings of old West Coast set- .! tiers to tell, of the time when a train 1 was unable to climb a .certain hill be-, tween Waverley and Wanganui because i ah army of caterpillars was marching c across the permanent waj', and the wheels t of the engine were unablo to grip . the rail's.. "' ,i The appearance of' the pt'sts has not c always been associated with grain crops .. or root crops, but ■ .whenever they havo j corao on tho scene they- havo been ox- j traordinarily destructive. "'. However, .] Taranaki has not had frequent visits ( from them, and its. account against them t is not very large. - The' phaso most interesting to those c who havo no crops at stake is tho migrating of the millions and millions of tho plagues, which move in a mass slowly j and steadily, with an effect, which sug- ; gests that the whole paddock is drifting j ■ slowly. away. - '—— ,