The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-06-06
THK LOCUS
A Rambling but Truthful Comment on
 the Most Wonderful of all Insects,

the Most Wonderful of all Insects,
 The thirteen-year locus, has made his appearance in Arkansaw. The locust al says wears his shirt open in the back, and a recent srtiele in the SeiTnhR. iS- Seef<ffrisf, declares that the locust led to the discovery that shirts which open in the back are the most convenient. There arc two species of locusts. One class is seventeen years old at the time of birth, the other class only shows a registration of thirteen years. There is very little difference between the two classes, that is, human investigation de- velops but little difference, but the locusts themselves maintain a social breach which years have failed to bridge over. A I7 locust and B locust, although their clothes are cc. :n very much the same fashion, do not finger in each others society.
 The locust does not eat corn, cabbages or cueumbers, but goes into the woods and splits rail timber. How he can spli, piece of wood that would daunt the courage of the professional rail maker has not been explained He may have an improved maui and wedge which he keeps carefully concealed from the med dleseme eye of the curious. While at work he sings a low. droning song, never attempting to change his tune, but with his unwinking eye on the business in hand, he does his best to prevent his neighbor from singing more discordantly than he himself is doing.
 One time, in Tennessee, locus,s were so numerous that the farmers turned them under with blow to iertilile the grou nd with them. The farmers con. graduated themselves on the richness of their coming crops, but whea in the spring, they piowed the fertilized land, they were astonished to find, not a sign of increased richness, but sixteen round holes to the square inch. Since that time the land has produced nothing but holes. This has rendered the land prac tically worthless as no market for the product can be found.
 The syease.. damage done by the To- cust results from the attention which he pays to young apple trees. He would rather split young apple tree than to lead the festivities at german, and although this illustrates pernicious na. ture, yet sensible people do net blame him.
 As an article of diet, the locust has found but little favor in America, but in central Australia, the Bushmen eat them with great relish. If locusss must be eaten, it is said that they do best in board ing-house soup, for then ycu get so few of them.
 There is no affinity between the grass hopper and the locust The grasshopper is, in the broadest sense, a vegetarian. He illustrates the fallscy of the vegeta- rian principle for every one who has studied entomology knows that the grass- hopper is not so vigorous as the mosqui- to or the wood-tick.
 The digestion of the locust is wonder. ful. Although having filled himself with hard oak timber, he is not irritable, like Carlyle rsed to be, bat sings as merriiy as though his nav were as empty as the stomach of man who has partaken of refreshments at the lunch counter of . church fair.
 The locust can be traced back to the days of John the Baptist. John, it is said, ate locusss and wild hosey.
 At one time it was thought that if you planted locust, locust tree would spring up, but recent paper, published in the NorM Amsrieas R<viev, exploded this idea.
 What the future of the locust will be, l 10 man tell Prof Donnelly, ~ho con- firms the rumor that Bacon wrote the | plsys attributed to Shakespeare, says that the iocuss, with his great idea of l mathematics, will, during years to come, | continue to multiply under the face of the earth. He claims to have discovezed | a cypher by which he can plainly demon stTaae this theory. He is at present en- gaeed on . book devoted to this subject. The sales of the work win no doubt bs | vesy large, but the assertions and alleged | proof of the shrswd investigator should l be received with marked caution. Mat