The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-07-12
CHRISTOPHER FACTS
Bv Frederic j. HasHn.

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food. The federal experts. in the
present Central American emergency.
state, that 1t is unnecessary that the
natives should suffer from hunger
and recommend that they use The
grasshoppers as a substitute for the
crops they devour.
In Missouri, Professor Riley found
that there was prejudice which he
held was baseless, against eating
| grasshoppers. During the time when
| the plague was at Its height he
brewed soup that was made OF
grasshoppers. He ate 1t himself, but
was unable to induce others to do so.
Finally he persuaded the proprietor
of a st. Louis restaurant to put II
on his bill of fare. 1t was labeled
sgrasshoppers soup but the words
were In French: Many patrons ate,
It and the walters were Instructed to
listen for comments. The soup was
generally pronounced a delicacy. The
story of its serving is here printed
for the first time.
Yet there are several American
precedents for the use of grasshop-
pers as food. They are sold in the
markets of many Mexican and Cen
trail American towns. The Digger
Indians are very fond of them. There
are innumerable other presidents
from all parts of the world. for there
are millions of people who prize
these creatures highly and class them
with that grasshopper of the sea, the
shrimp, which Americans and Euro
peans eat freely.
In Japan. grasshoppers are candied
and regarded as delicacy. In many
Chinese cities they are hawked about
the streets by peddlers with baskets
on their backs. The men of science
maintain that the statement of the
Bible that John the Baptist ate "lo-]
Gusts and wild honey" should be-
taken literally, for 1ocusts were an
ordinary article of food in his part
of the world. In this connection. It
should be remembered that the locust
is a grasshopper.
In Tripoli. peddlers come in Dom
the deserts with asses heavily laden
with grasshoppers. which they sell
as food. The bushmen of Australia
dry them and grind them into meal
from which they make cakes that are
regarded as great delicacy. In Per-
STA and Arabia they are sold in the
markets, and are compounded with
rice and dates in preparation for
the table.
In many countries they are dried.
the wings and legs having first been
removed. When ground UP a sub
stance results that appears not un-
like the yolk of an egg. An equally
popular method of preparation is
that of parching them in a hot pan.
The danger from grasshoppers as
a plague grows less as country
becomes settled, because cultivation
tnterferes with the development of
the young in the ground. The Uni
ted States has had but one grasshop-l
per scare in a quarter If a c1ntury.
and this occurred when swarm,
originating far up in Canada, came
go earth In Minnesota. The govern
ment Immediately provided $4,000
for poison. the swarm was sur
rounded and soon exterminated.
DR.. e. o. G. Kelly. of the depart-
ment of agriculture, witnessed bit
of drama of insect life on the plains
of Kansas some years ago, as re-
suit of which a new method of fight
ing grasshopper plague has been
developed.
He was walking among the weeds
of the roadside and grasshoppers now
and again would fly In front of him
and whirr away in the sunlight. Pres
emily. he saw one drop in its fight
sthough 1t had been shot. Watch.
ing more colsely he saw tiny flies
pursuing the grasshoppers on the
wing and singing them, thus bring
ing them to the ground. He took
1t that the grasshopper in flight left
itself open to the sting of the fly,
which was probably planting its eggs
in the body of its prey.
With net. the scientist succeeded
in catching grasshoppsrs and the
hot cts HTr
! able to find the eggs that he sur
missed had been deposited. But he
kept the bodies of the stung insects
and in due course of time the larvae
of the fly developed vigorously in
them. In the end the parasites
evolved into the flies of the attacks
he had witnessed.
Great numbers OF these militant
flies, called by the scientist sarcop-
hagid. may be secured by collecting
dead grasshoppers in the region
where they abound. These grass
hoppers have died from the sting of
sarcophagid. There are little ones
by the score within them Eventually
these little ones in the worm stage
of development. win emerge and
dig into the ground. When they come
out of it they will be ready for
business.
So Uncle Sans scientists show the
Central Americans how they may coll
lect these stung grasshoppers. They
direct that they be placed in flower
pots that the baby flies may have
dirt into which to creep ~ <he pro-
per stage of their existence
They advise that this dirt be trans
ported in Central America and that
when a searchophagid emerges 1t be
released among the grasshopper
hordes where 1t may stinS them unt;l
| 1t is surfeited. In the bodies OF these
victims of sarcophagid may come into