PLAGUE OF GRASSHOPPERS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 267, 12 November 1907, Page 6

PLAGUE OF GRASSHOPPERS.

The farmers in Ne^y South Wales have trouble on hand in the shape of a visitation of grasshoppers, which have, descended upon the green earth in thousands, and are eating everything before them in the north-west. So extensive have oeen their depredations in the Narrabri district that graziers have had to look for relief country elsewhere, because it is imperative to remove their stock at once,

since the green feed has been devoured by the pests. Many farmers in the Narrabri district who intended to hold their crops on the chance of rain coming, have been compelled by the ravages of the grasshoppers to commence cutting for hay. The pest is seriously felt in the town of Warren, where the insects have even invaded houses and destroyed window curtains and cloths. West of Dubbo, and along the Bogan, in its confluence with the Darling, grasshoppers are to be found in immense numbers, and storekeepers and residents of several small towns have been at their wits' end to keep the pest out of their shops and homes. In many places the insects have had to be shovelled out of the houses, and sheep dip has been freely used. Around. Tangie, Dandaloo, Nevertire, and Warren, the crops have all been eaten, one crop of 400 acres at Trangie having completely disappeared. The other day near Narrabri the grasshoppers swarmed on to a railway engine in such numbers that the brakes refused to act, and the engine crashed into some empty trucks, damaging three of them.