DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70266#0414
368
KIRBY’s WONDERFUL MUSEUM.
ing to the age and state of these insects; for some will be
effectual as soon as they are hatched; others when they begin
to crawl j and others, again, when they begin to fly. And ex-
perience has taught the Transylvanians, that it would have
been of great service, to have diligently sought out the
places where the females lodged; for nothing was more easy,
than carefully to visit those places in March and April, and
to destroy their eggs or little worms, with sticks or briars;
or if they were not to be beaten out of the bushes, dunghills,
or heaps of straw, to set fire to them, as it has been in other
places. But in the summer, when they have marched out
of their spring quarters, and have invaded the corn-fields,
&c. it is almost impossible to extirpate them, without tho-
roughly thrashing the whole piece of land that harbours
them with sticks or flails, and thus crushing the locusts with
the produce of the land.
Finally, when the corn is ripe, or nearly so, there is no
other method of getting rid of them, or even of diminishing
their numbers, but to surround the piece of ground with a
multitude of people, who might frighten them away with
bells, brass vessels, and all other sorts of noises. But even
this method will not succeed, till the sun is pretty high, so
as to dry the corn from the dew; for otherwise they will
either stick to the stalks, or lie hid under the grass. But
when they happen to be driven to a waste piece of ground,
they are to be beaten with sticks or briars; and if they gather
together in heaps, straw or litter may be thrown over them,
and set on fire. But this method seems rather to lessen
their numbers, than totally destroy them ; for many of them
lurk under the grass, or thick corn, and in the fissures of the
ground, from the sun’s heat: hence it is requisite to repeat
this operation several times, in order to diminish their num-
bers, and consequently the damage done by them. It will
likewise be of use, where a large troop of them has pitched,
to dig a long trench, of an ell in width and depth, and place
KIRBY’s WONDERFUL MUSEUM.
ing to the age and state of these insects; for some will be
effectual as soon as they are hatched; others when they begin
to crawl j and others, again, when they begin to fly. And ex-
perience has taught the Transylvanians, that it would have
been of great service, to have diligently sought out the
places where the females lodged; for nothing was more easy,
than carefully to visit those places in March and April, and
to destroy their eggs or little worms, with sticks or briars;
or if they were not to be beaten out of the bushes, dunghills,
or heaps of straw, to set fire to them, as it has been in other
places. But in the summer, when they have marched out
of their spring quarters, and have invaded the corn-fields,
&c. it is almost impossible to extirpate them, without tho-
roughly thrashing the whole piece of land that harbours
them with sticks or flails, and thus crushing the locusts with
the produce of the land.
Finally, when the corn is ripe, or nearly so, there is no
other method of getting rid of them, or even of diminishing
their numbers, but to surround the piece of ground with a
multitude of people, who might frighten them away with
bells, brass vessels, and all other sorts of noises. But even
this method will not succeed, till the sun is pretty high, so
as to dry the corn from the dew; for otherwise they will
either stick to the stalks, or lie hid under the grass. But
when they happen to be driven to a waste piece of ground,
they are to be beaten with sticks or briars; and if they gather
together in heaps, straw or litter may be thrown over them,
and set on fire. But this method seems rather to lessen
their numbers, than totally destroy them ; for many of them
lurk under the grass, or thick corn, and in the fissures of the
ground, from the sun’s heat: hence it is requisite to repeat
this operation several times, in order to diminish their num-
bers, and consequently the damage done by them. It will
likewise be of use, where a large troop of them has pitched,
to dig a long trench, of an ell in width and depth, and place