Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-08

that the struggle Is really desperate,
and 1t promises to become more so as
man extends his dominion over the
tropics. which are the most productive
part OF the earth and have SO far been
kept in state of wilderness largely by
the insects who carry death to every
intruder.
Now In this struggle for existence, 1t
ia evident that our enemies have one
great advantage over us In that they
live upon the spoils of war, while We
do not. A pest Of grasshoppers
descends upon Kansas and lays waste
the country. The farmers go forth
with poison and traps to destroy them.
There is heavy loss on both sides. But
the grasshoppers live upon the sub
stance of the farmers, while every cent
which the farmer spends in destroying
the insects is a complete loss. Now
just suppose that roasted and sailed
grasshopper was staple food with
civilized man as it is in North Africa.
Corporations would pay the farmers
large sums for the grasshopper rights
of their lands. The insects would be
gathered by the ton in huge machines
designed for the purpose and shipped
to all parts of the world. The crops
would be saved and the farmers would
make neat royalty to boot. 9&
This sounds bit Utopian; yet some
thing very like it Is being done in
parts Of Europe. where the cockchafer
Is very abundant. Children are there
employed to gather the insects which
are fed to the pigs. A recent traveller
in Germany reports that frequently the
peasant children will stop in this work
to pull the legs and wings of one OF
the luckless bugs and chew up his
thorax and abdomen with great relish
just as boy employed to pick cherries
will filch one now and then. With the
young generation thus learning the
food value of insects, and with Europe
threatened by shortage Of food, there
is reason to believe that insects may
become staple before long
Insects have been used as food Dy
primitive and savage peoples since
very early times and in some instances
they have been used by the civilized.
Thus DR.. Howard had an excellent pre-
cedent for his worm dinner II Aristotle
is to be relied upon; for that writer
records that the cicada was a favorite
Greeks, both in the larval stage and
when fully developed. The white gruo
Is simply the larya of the American CT
cada or June bug. This larva Is very
rich food consisting largely OF q very
delicate fat Most mature insects, on
the other hand, consist In an outer cas-
ing made of hard substance called chit
in. which contains no nutr1tlve ele'
n,ent, and of muscle, which Is white,
lean and ,striated and resembles the
flesh of Holsters and shrimps. Thls
muscle Is the edible part and analysis
would doubtless reveal that 1t Is an
excellent proteid. .-.,
i, The Chinese and Japanese are about
the only modern civilized peoples that
eat insects. The Chinese are fond OF
the chrysalis of the. silk worm, after
the silk has been, removed and also
regard as a delicacy certain species
CT hawk moth. Locusts are the most
widely eaten insects: The Arabs are
fond of them and they. are brought to
Fee in wagon loads. In some parts OF
japan they are eaten cand1ed. The
|Australian bushman finds them deli.
cacy and so do the. Moors. The locust
is the common grasshopper. II you
should desire to prepare dish OF
these succulent insects, here is re-
cipe which has been tried by time and
various races and found good.
Remove the legs and wings from the
insects. Boil them for half an hour:
then drain, sprinkle with salt, pepper
and vinegar and fry in butter. The
result tastes like very delicate ONE.
lette, according to reliable reports. .
The Hottentots eat white ants both
cooked and raw. The favorite way to
prepare them Is to roast them over a
slow fire, like coffee. In parts OF Swe.
den. according to an old writer ants
are distilled along with grain to make
some of the poorer grades of brandy.
Scientists have urged the eating OF
insects for long time. Halt cen
fury ago an Englishman wrote a book
on the subject and added an appendix
containing a number of insect1vorous
menus. in which were such dishes as
wasp grubs fried in the comb, new car
rots with wireworm sauce, stagebeetle
larva on toast and caulihower garn1sh-
ed with caterpillars.
These things sound all right, per-
haps they taste all right: but for some
reason they fail to arouse enthusiasm.
Prejudice ia always stronger than
logic. and 1t will probably take much
time and experiment to overcome the
prejudice of civilized man against III
sect food. s.s.