The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1901-01-25
Grasshopper Cake.

formation concerning the way in which
Filipino makes up good dinner at a
low cost. He says:
Probably the most common article
of food that would not be desired by
Americans or others than the Filipinos
ia the grasshopper. In these islands
the grasshoppers not only grow in
great numbers, but the size of the in-
sect is large. There are those who
make business of catching the grass
hoppers during the best season for
them, which is in May, June, July and
later. At first the grasshoppers begin
to appear in swarms, but of small size.
As the grasshopper grows the proper
tionate increase in size of the. swarms
il noticeable. At first the clouds Of
hoppers passing overhead seemed
something like a hay atmosphere;
after few weeks growth the clouds Of
hoppers become dark and heavy. They
fly in large numbers, and the day is
dark tened as soon as swarms OF hop
pers appear in any vicinity. They
usually light in the pastures, where
they live on the smaller insects, the
grass, the vegetation in general. When
a swarm of full-sized grasshoppers
lights on farm or other productive
land the vegetation is almost COM
pletely eaten off. In the meantime,
however, the owner of the land, with
all his neighbors, have been hard at
work catching the grasshoppers.
1.-THE mode of catching the grass
hoppers in the Philippines is interest
ing. There are always two or three
bellboys stationed in the towers of the
big church of each city, town or barrio
of the Philippine group, these boys be-
ing there for the purpose of sounding
the various signal bells. There are
certain strokes for funerals, others for
births, and at present there are signals
for the approach of an army. These
boys in the tower keep sharp lookout
for indications of the approach OF
grasshopper swarms. During the hop
per season they are particularly active,
and announce the approach of the
swarms as soon as seen, for the grass
hoppers often merely pass over town,
but usually low enough to permit the
natives to catch many of them. AS
soon as the bellboys see that there are
some scattering grasshoppers in the
air, as an advance guard to the main
body, they sound the hopper signals
on the bells and hundreds of expert
grasshopper catchers with their nets
turn out.
'There are several methods used by
the natives for catching grasshoppers.
The most effective is the net. This is
q large butterfly net, arranged with
netting placed over hoop, and to the
latter is fixed long handle The ma
tive takes this handle, and with the
mouth of the net toward the grasshop-
pers he rushes forth, bagging consider
able numbers at each run. The grass
hoppers always go in swarms, except
the advance guard and the stragglers,
and if anything occurs to disturb
their fight they get confused and tum-
BILE into bags readily or fall into the
open mouths of nets. They fly SO
closely that they cannot well escape,
as when they turn slightly out of their
course they come into contact with
other grasshoppers next to them.
''The padder method for catching
the hoppers consists in using a long
stick to the end of which is fixed a
piece of fat wood, about ten inches in
diameter. If the grasshoppers pass
over ones property, then it is safe tc
use this affair, for then all of the grass
hoppers which are killed by swinging
this instrument through the clouds Of
insects as they pass, are dropped to the
groud, where they may be selected
and picked up later on after the sur
has thoroughly dried them out. An
other method consists in exploding
cartridges in the midst of swarms o.
the insects, for the shock stuns guam
titles of the grasshoppers, and after ar
effective explosion the ground is GOV
cred two or three inches deep with the
grasshoppers for a distance of from
twenty-five to thirty feet square.
"Grasshopper catching is profitabl,
business in the Philippines. Grass
hoppers sell at 81 per sack, gold, il
the larger cities of the islands, wher,
the people do not have chance to ge
at the insects in the fields. The sacks
of the islands hold about a bushel. Tn,
grasshopper is q regular article in tn,
markets for the entire year, as aftel
drying out the hopper can be kept in.
definitely. 1t is in the operation o
drying that the grasshopper is made
eatable. / never saw native eat
green grasshopper, but | have seer
them eat the dried ones by the pocket