Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1874 — Locusts in Algeria. [ARTICLE]

Locusts in Algeria.

An Algerian paper, says the London Echo, gives an interesting account of a struggle between the farmers of the colony and one of the most tremendous swarms of locusts that have ever descended upon the plains of Algeria. As soon as the distant cloud of invaders was perceived every effort was made by the terrified agriculturists to prevent the descent of the hungry myriads upon their pastures, while on the other hand the locusts w'ere equally determined to alight and take refreshment. In order to keep the insect host in the higher strata of the atmosphere, where a change of wind might at any moment carry them away, the farmers lit fires with damp weeds, and by collecting all their kitchen utensils, ringing all the bells, and shouting at the top of their voices the; - produced such a concert of hideous sounds that for a time the locusts preferred famine to the din and remained in the air; but at length hunger and fatigue overpowered them, and they decided on braving the worst and falling to the ground, when the green fields ana trees suddenly turned yellow under the multitudes which instantly covered them. All through the night was heard one continuous and portentous soubd —that of myriads of invisible jaws engaged in mastication—the next morning the battle commenced, but the latest advices are of a discouraging nature, as they report that the locusts are engaged not only in eating, but in laying eggs. -s w - Thebe is an old maid in Lowell, Mass-, who shows the documents to prove that she has refused over forty offers of marriage.