THE CATERPILLAR PLAGUE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2722, 29 January 1910, Page 7

THE CATERPILLAR PLAGUE.

DEPREDATIONS IN NORTH CANTERBURY.

Armies of caterpillars have been playing havoc with cereal crops in North Canterbury. The chief crops that have suffered are barley, oats, Italian rye-grass, perennial rye, wheat,and cocksfoot, the distinction being on a sliding scale of severity, the firstnamed' having suffered the most. A representative of the Christchurch “Press” who made a tour of inspection gives the following account of the depredations of the pest. One farmer found that, after threshing a fifteen-acre paddock of barley, l:ii had-a tally of twenty-eight bags! Of these nine were bags of socondsj and of the seconds five "were practically bags of caterpillars I Another lias a twenty-acre paddock in oats that at one time gave promise of a yield of about 50 bushels. The caterpillar attacked it when the grain was in the milk, when it was far too soon to think of cutting it, and now that paddock is covered with brown and decapitated stalks, while underfoot tlie ground is carpeted with the snipped-off grain. Later on the binder was run through a littfe of the crop to try and save a- few sheaves, but the insatiable caterpillar, not content with attacking the standing grain, climbed the stooks and made a clean sweep of the few bushels of grain, that were left, cutting it neatly off, when, of course, it fell upon the ground and was spoiled. The grass paddocks were also ruthlessly attacked, and acres upon acres of Italian and perennial rye have been denuded of the seed heads, in consequence of which it is hardly worth while trying to save any of the seed. Where it had been attempted tlie strippers were soon clogged with a glutinous and evil-smelling mass of crushed bodies of caterpillars, just in the same manner as the binders and threshing machines have been. Threshing-mill owners and hands say that they have never experienced anything like it before. One, who lias been in the district, man and boy, for over forty years, and is therefore well qualified to speak on the subject, said that usually lie put in at least 100 hours in the season threshing grass seed; this year he would not have twenty hours. In threshing caterpillar infested grain crops, he had to have a thorough clean out of all riddles, etc., in the machine at least once a day, otherwise no sort of progress could be made at all. Other men corroborated, and added to this statement, some stating that in some crops they liad had to clean the riddles every four hours, while so small had been the yield in some cases that they had worked over eighteen hours, and made tlie munificent sum of 8s Gd !

Tho caterpillars in this district are evidently much the same species as was described as being found in tho Yaldhurst and Templeton district, hut they are incalculably more numerous, and are, on the average, considerably larger. INSECTS WORK AT NIGHT. The bulk of their nefarious and destructive work is carried on in the evenings, and on a quiet night an acute listener in a grain field can hear a weird rustling sound, and the innumerable tiny taps caused by the severed grains falling on to the dry leaves beneath. The manner in which a few million caterpillars will suddenly appear in a field is extraordinary. One day a careful inspection will not reveal any in the crop, but two or three days later the whole place is crawling with them. The army moves on, apparently definitely directed, and, so far as has been observed, generally in an easterly direction, while perhaps only a corner of a paddock will be touched. The bright spot in this gloomy (picture is the fact that comparatively little harm has been done to the wheat. Not that the plague does not do its best to destroy it, but apparently the hard, silicious wheat stalk is a bit too tough a proposition for the caterpillar, and all but the largest and most determined give it lip as a. bad job. Nevertheless many headless stalks can he seen, and a favorite point of attack seems to be on the awns or beards of the wheat husks, which in many cases are neatly nipped off. This results in the husks spreading, and although the caterpillar does not apparently eat the grain, yet 1 it is spoiled by the premature exposure. In the barley tlie whole bead is cut off bodily. Of the grasses, cocksfoot seems almost immune, whilst Italian and perennial ryes suffer very much, whole paddocks being cut down short. The monetary loss to the farmers all.over the district must be enormous. THE SPARROW AND THE CATERo PILLAR. There is a great difference of opinion as to the part taken by the small birds in this question of tlie .caterpillar, and it is not at all easy to judge how much of the information obtained is worthy of credence. Not that it is suggested that any statements were knowingly untrue, but capable and unbiassed observers are rare, and to form approximately correct conclusions it is necessary that reliable observations bo made. Resolved ‘to its elements, the bulk of the information gathered seemed to prove that the sparrows were not of much service in lessening the ranks of the pest, and that they seemed to prefer a diet of grain to that of insects. However, it is only fair to the reputation of that much-abused importation ,the sparrow, to say that several farmers who were questioned on the matter were fairly emphatic in thenassertions that these birds did a considerable amount of good in assimilating the caterpillars, but they were in the minority. On the other hand, the evidence as to the good work done by the starlings, larks, terns, magpies, and to a lesser extent the yellow-hammers, was fairly unanimous, and rarely was anyone met with who roundly condemned the whole class of feathered bipeds as “a useless lot of pirates.” The trouble is that the number of small birds, even supposing them to be all willing to eat the larvae, and continuously and ravenously hungry, are quite insufficient to make much impression on the myriads of caterpillars, nor does there seem any cheap and practical way for the farmers to try and suppress the plague. Any remedy that would kill the caterpillars on the standing crops (such as a powerful spray) would harm the grain, but it seems that a heavy roller might be used with advantage on pastures.