The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-10-25
ABOUT ORIENTAL RUGS.

ABOUT ORIENTAL RUGS.
How These Popular ARTICLES Of UtfIitv
and Elegance Are Made.
One sometimes confounds the rugs OF
Karabagh with those of KAYAK. mas
much as they resemble each other in
appearance and designs, but when one
considers that the former are always
rectangular and the latter square their
distinction can be readily. determined,
despite the similarity in general ap-
pearapce.
The looms of the people of Afghan.
istan and Beloochistan vary much in
dimension, but in those from the lat.
ter country the length is always pro.
pOrtionate to the width. One does
not find rugs here greater than three
or three and one-half meters by two OF
two and one-half meters. The rugs
from Afghanistan are made on looms
much OF the same cheracter as the
Karabagh loom, and therefore the
width may not surpass certain limit.
In Oushak, Gordez and the other
countries of Turkey. fabric is made
Of almost any dimension. according to
the means at their disposal and the
progress which this industry has
made in the Asiatic provinces of the
Ottoman Empire. The operation oil
weaving as practised in Asia Minor
does not differ essentially from the
methods in use in the Caucasus, but
the popularity of Smyrnas can best be
attested by the fact that there is ex.
ported annually of these rugs about
three hundred thousand square meters.
This process is carried on, OF course,
without the aid of the shuttle, the only
utensils requisite being an iron comb,
large clumsy knife. stick of wood,
tokmak Ga kind OF mallet) and pair
of scissors. The fringe. which one
often sees at the two extremities of
rug, are the two particles of tn lead
which are bound around the bars O!
the loom, and which are cut on com.
pletion of the rug.
One can hardly form an idea of the
enormous work and monotOny in the
weaving of a rug, which. as is ex.
planned above, is made by the union
of millions of knots by the hand. So
familiar do these women become with
the operations of weaving. that it is
with difficulty one can see their hands,
so quickly do they manipulate the
threads. Y. Mail and Express
A Southern Writer Tells Western Farm
ers How to Utilize Grasshoppers.
The grasshopper plague in Mime
sofa has assumed so serious a charac-
ter that the farmers around st. Paul
have decided to pay STA bushel for the
insects, in order to stimulate the efforts
for their destruction. In Venezuela,
recently, prize of $4,000 was offered
to any body who would invent a means
of proftably converting locusts into
grease Or any other useful article. We
can not claim originality for the idea.
but why not adopt the Indian system?
The aboriginal farmers of the plains,
we have been told heretofore. do not
regard the grasshopper as an unqual-
ifel evil. When their wheat crops
grow undisturbed by these insects the
Indians eat the wheat after it has been
prepared in the usual way. When the
grasshoppers come and eat the wheat,
however, the Indians eat the grass
hoppers. In this way they are always
sure of a good crop of one kind or the
other, and are happy in any event.
There is authority for the statement
that fried grasshoppers are not unpal-
atable, the testimony of white men
who have dined on them being that
they have erich, nutty taste, " not UNI
like peanuts, or something of that sort,
and that the most squeamish person
would enjoy them if served up in bat
ter or under some other name. We do
not care to press the subject too far,
but why not give the frisky visitors a
chance to redeem their reputation by
transferring them from the field to the
kitchen-from the furrow to the frying
pan? The Indian holds the oyster and
shrimp in scorn, and his, we know. is
a blind and unreasonable prejudice.
Why not learn from him at the same
time that we teach him to esteem our
delicacies? Let our friends in Mime
sofa, then, name the grasshopper the
'prairie shrimp" for instance. and
gather him in and make the most OF
him. Charleston NesOs.