Large port works have been constructed so that the docks have accommodation for a goodly number of boats, although not comparing at all with Buenos Aires in extent. From here the river lines carry passengers up and down the Paraná for hundreds of miles, and then they branch off to the Paraguay and Alta Paraná. Quite a network of railway lines also converge at Rosario, and altogether it is a hustling and busy place.
The large and rich province of Santa Fé is second in importance only to that of Buenos Aires. It is long and narrow, being several hundred miles in length from its northern to its southern boundary, and is almost as large as England. The capital of the province is the city of Santa Fé. For a long time this little city was an unimportant place, even though it was the provincial capital. To-day it is, after almost three hundred and fifty years of existence, a place of about twenty-five thousand inhabitants. It is proposed to deepen the channel so that ocean-going steamers can reach this port, but this project will not be done before “to-morrow.” The northern part of this province partakes of the character of the Chaco and is undeveloped. At least three-fourths of the state, however, is rich land, well suited for the cultivation of cereals, which form the principal product, and have contributed most to the wealth. There is usually sufficient rain in this province, but its nearness to the Chaco makes it subject to a visitation which is almost equal in its destructive qualities to that of the drouth.
The farmer everywhere thinks that he has his full share of troubles. But the American farmer has never had to contend with the locusts to the extent that frequently befalls the Argentinian. One who has never seen a plague of locusts can scarcely appreciate the troubles undergone by Pharaoh when the clouds of locusts appeared as a punishment for his disobedience. The farmer in Argentina, however, can heartily sympathize with the Egyptian king, and, like him, would be willing to do or promise almost anything to secure relief from this enemy to his peace and prosperity. During the past season these abominable insects destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of grain in that republic, and roused the people to greater efforts than ever to find some means of exterminating them. In travelling across the country last winter, which is their summer, I saw thousands of acres of corn absolutely stripped of all the leaves, and millions upon millions of the winged locusts were visible from the train, so thick in places as to almost cast a shadow.
The locust is blessed, or cursed, with a voracious and unquenchable appetite. This appetite is perhaps equalled in extent only by the hatred with which it is regarded by the farmer. Prior to 1905 Argentina had not had a scourge of locusts for several years, but since that time they have come almost every year. The first intimation of their approach is usually in October, when a few flying locusts will appear coming from the north. These seem to be the advance guard, for in a few days they are followed by increasing hordes, until the clouds of insects are so thick that they obscure the sun like passing clouds. Although these locusts are so numerous they do not do so much damage, as they are migrating and do not stay in one place long. A farmer may wake up some nice morning and find his beautiful shade trees stripped almost bare by the locusts that have alighted during the night. But in a day or two these will be gone, although others may follow. Future trouble has been laid up for him, however, for eggs have been laid by the millions. These are usually deposited in a small hole which has been bored down in a bare space of ground.
With the advent of the young locusts about six weeks later the real troubles of the farmer have begun, and matters begin to wear a serious aspect. The little gaudy-coloured creatures, with their yellow, green and black bodies and red legs, are shaped very much like grasshoppers. They cannot yet fly, and for that reason remain as the guests of the landowner for several weeks while they are awaiting their final development. They pass slowly along, jumping in grasshopper fashion from stem to stem, or leaf to leaf. They cling in clusters to each leaf and stem like a devouring army, and stay there until it is absolutely bare. The extent of the damage which they are able to inflict can be seen by inspecting a corn field after their visit. The transformation is as marvellous as it is tragic. Every shred of the rich, luxuriant leaves and tassels has disappeared, and only the thin, bare stalks, shivering and desolate, remain. Even the houses will be invaded by these unpleasant creatures (beasts, the Englishman would say), and to say that they are unwelcome but mildly expresses the real feeling of the farmer who sees the fruit of his toil thus disappearing before the hordes with insatiable appetites. The only vegetable growth that will not be touched, except as a last resort, is the Paraiso tree. They will eat everything else first, and only fall back upon the leaves and bark of this tree when all other food has failed.
In about six weeks the wings have developed and the “hoppers” become “fliers.” Their bodies have waxed fatter, but their colouring has become sobered. Then flights will again become noticeable. A swarm will sometimes resemble a vast smoke-cloud from a burning city or straw stack. They will oftentimes settle on the boughs of limbs in such quantities as to cause the limbs to bend and crack beneath their weight. Carriages, trucks and the fronts of locomotives will be thickly coated with the fragments of the bodies of the insects, which they have killed. In such armies, where numbers are countless, casualties go for nothing. A trifling loss of a few thousand or a few millions is only a drop in the ocean. You might as well try to stop a cloud passing across the sky by shooting at it as a swarm of these insects.
One newspaper account, which I saw, reported: “The north and centre of Entre Rios are simply covered with locusts both in the hopper and flying stages. The city of Paraná was invaded by a swarm calculated to be nine miles in front and several miles in depth, and so thick that the sun was partially obscured. Other cities are hurriedly being enclosed with screens in order to keep the locusts at bay. In places they have completely devastated the vineyards, orchards and maize. In many places a cry of desperation is heard. In the province of Santa Fé swarms of fliers passed Santa Isabel bearing east; enormous swarms passed General Lopez proceeding west; Monte Vera reports the passage of fliers towards the north and south. The work of destruction goes on successfully. To-day between Zarate, Pilar and Campaña were destroyed sixty-eight thousand kilos (more than seventy-four tons) of saltona (hoppers).”
The farmer is in a quandary what to do. If he had only a hundred acres to look after it would not be so difficult, but none of them have fewer than thousands of acres. How to secure the labour to drive these locusts is a difficult problem.
The government has passed laws requiring each landowner to maintain men to fight the locusts, on the basis of about one to each thousand acres. If this is not done the owner is fined. The general method is to dig pitfalls three or four feet deep, the outer edge of which is protected by overlapping sheets of corrugated iron. These traps run out for some distance. The locusts, while still in the hopping stage, are driven towards this trap until these pits are oftentimes nearly filled up with their bodies. They are then covered up with a coating of earth, and they die very quickly. If this work is thoroughly done it is quite efficacious, but it is oftentimes difficult to get sufficient labour, for it is unpleasant work because of the nauseating odour from the bodies of the crushed locusts. Unless the work is systematically and thoroughly done, however, it does not have much effect, for a few millions will not be missed. If one man does his work well, and his neighbour is indifferent to his duty, then his work is for naught, as they will soon swarm over his land again from his neighbour’s fields. United effort alone is efficacious, and that is what the government is endeavouring to either induce or compel the people to do. It has a commission at work studying this and other insect pests, and the best way to exterminate them.
The source of these insects is not positively known. They come from the north, in what is known as the Chaco, which is a vast wilderness little known, and covering tens of thousands of square miles. Some think that they come from the state of Matto Grosso, in Brazil, which is an empire in itself just north of the Chaco. Accurate knowledge of the location of their hatcheries is yet wanting. The insect is fortunate in having chosen the wild and unexplored portion of the country for its home. The wisest and surest method of getting rid of these locusts, in my opinion, would be to search out this place and destroy them there. In that way it might be possible within a very few years to absolutely rid the country from this scourge of locusts as it is to-day.