Locust by Jeffrey A. Lockwood Page B
Authors: Jeffrey A. Lockwood
Tags: Non-Fiction, Library
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operational. There was simply no way to effectively disperse the insecticides on the necessary spatial scale. Shoveling globs of poisoned mash was a terribly inadequate means of application. Chemical control was logistically impossible without insecticides formulated as liquids or dusts, equipment to deliver the poison efficiently, and vehicles to efficiently move the sprayers through the fields.
An entomologist of the time concluded, “There is yet room here for experiment, though, considering that in all historical times, the resources of many nations have been employed against Locusts without furnishing anything that will protect plants on a large scale—little hope can be entertained of discovering such a substance,” and he was right for nearly seventy years. The widespread use of synthetic organic insecticides came with the popularization of DDT in the 1940s, after which a flood of pesticides poured into American agriculture. The 1960s might have risked becoming the era of silent springs, but the 1860s seethed with the whirling cacophony of locust swarms.
The settlers were well aware that natural enemies often thinned the ranks of the locusts. The farmers saw an array of predators and parasites consuming their foe, most often witnessing legions of scarlet mites and swarms of buzzing flies emerging from the fallen locusts. In some cases, they drew erroneous but understandable conclusions regarding their most potent allies. In 1878 and 1879, astute Mormon farmers noticed that the locusts were dying in a most unusual and dramatic manner: “Brother John Dayes, of the 20th Ward, called this morning with a number of pests that had clustered together on the sprig of a currant bush, and were holding each other with a death grip. They were mere shells, the whole internal portion of their bodies having been gnawed away by an insect, which bores its way through the ironclad, outer covering and never leaves its prey until death ensues.”
They had observed a fungal epidemic, not the work of an insect parasite. This malady is now known as summit disease, so named for the propensity of the locusts or grasshoppers to climb to the top of vegetation in the terminal stage of infection. But our understanding of
microbial pathogens in humans, let alone insects, had barely dawned in the 1870s. The germ theory of disease had been advanced less than a decade earlier by Louis Pasteur, and Robert Koch’s first proof of bacteria causing disease (anthrax) did not come until 1876. So it is not surprising that the people of the frontier waged biological warfare against locusts using livestock rather than microbes.
The settlers found that chickens and turkeys could be used to protect gardens from some of the depredations of the locusts, although a full-fledged swarm quickly overwhelmed the domestic fowl. Moreover, tainted meat and lethally overstuffed birds were potential costs of turning the poultry loose on the locusts. After the swarms had moved on, cattle were herded into fields to stomp the buried eggs of the locusts. This pummeling proved quite effective if the soil was moist or friable, but only so much land could be trampled. Even pigs were pressed into service, as they proved to be nearly as enthusiastic about locust eggs as they are about truffles. The hogs happily rooted through the soil to scavenge the delectable egg pods. Again, however, there were not enough pigs in the nation to turn the tide of locusts.
The most potent allies of the farmers were the native birds, many of which reportedly consumed vast numbers of locusts. Indeed, birds were hailed as such effective forces in the battle against the locusts that several states revised game statutes and passed legislation to protect these locust predators. Such laws were necessary in light of the enormous numbers of birds that were being hunted. Although precise numbers are difficult to determine on a national or regional basis, local statistics provide a powerful
An entomologist of the time concluded, “There is yet room here for experiment, though, considering that in all historical times, the resources of many nations have been employed against Locusts without furnishing anything that will protect plants on a large scale—little hope can be entertained of discovering such a substance,” and he was right for nearly seventy years. The widespread use of synthetic organic insecticides came with the popularization of DDT in the 1940s, after which a flood of pesticides poured into American agriculture. The 1960s might have risked becoming the era of silent springs, but the 1860s seethed with the whirling cacophony of locust swarms.
The settlers were well aware that natural enemies often thinned the ranks of the locusts. The farmers saw an array of predators and parasites consuming their foe, most often witnessing legions of scarlet mites and swarms of buzzing flies emerging from the fallen locusts. In some cases, they drew erroneous but understandable conclusions regarding their most potent allies. In 1878 and 1879, astute Mormon farmers noticed that the locusts were dying in a most unusual and dramatic manner: “Brother John Dayes, of the 20th Ward, called this morning with a number of pests that had clustered together on the sprig of a currant bush, and were holding each other with a death grip. They were mere shells, the whole internal portion of their bodies having been gnawed away by an insect, which bores its way through the ironclad, outer covering and never leaves its prey until death ensues.”
They had observed a fungal epidemic, not the work of an insect parasite. This malady is now known as summit disease, so named for the propensity of the locusts or grasshoppers to climb to the top of vegetation in the terminal stage of infection. But our understanding of
microbial pathogens in humans, let alone insects, had barely dawned in the 1870s. The germ theory of disease had been advanced less than a decade earlier by Louis Pasteur, and Robert Koch’s first proof of bacteria causing disease (anthrax) did not come until 1876. So it is not surprising that the people of the frontier waged biological warfare against locusts using livestock rather than microbes.
The settlers found that chickens and turkeys could be used to protect gardens from some of the depredations of the locusts, although a full-fledged swarm quickly overwhelmed the domestic fowl. Moreover, tainted meat and lethally overstuffed birds were potential costs of turning the poultry loose on the locusts. After the swarms had moved on, cattle were herded into fields to stomp the buried eggs of the locusts. This pummeling proved quite effective if the soil was moist or friable, but only so much land could be trampled. Even pigs were pressed into service, as they proved to be nearly as enthusiastic about locust eggs as they are about truffles. The hogs happily rooted through the soil to scavenge the delectable egg pods. Again, however, there were not enough pigs in the nation to turn the tide of locusts.
The most potent allies of the farmers were the native birds, many of which reportedly consumed vast numbers of locusts. Indeed, birds were hailed as such effective forces in the battle against the locusts that several states revised game statutes and passed legislation to protect these locust predators. Such laws were necessary in light of the enormous numbers of birds that were being hunted. Although precise numbers are difficult to determine on a national or regional basis, local statistics provide a powerful
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