The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-07-31
'R0AST BUGS TO
FEED CHICKENS
Pest of Switzerland Being Preserved
by Carioad--Bcat Adding
Machines.

Zurich. July 30--They used tc
brag about milk fed chickens. They
| have no standing since the new va
! riety arrived in Europe--the May
| bug fed chicken. May bugs are
plentiful in Europe this summer
There were SO many of them. why
they had to send to insane asylums
several arithmeticians who tried ia
figure out the population of bugdom.
The May bug In quite big bird.
| The larger ones are almost an inch
| long. He does not appear every year
| In great numbers. This was his good
/ year. extraordinarily so. Every
whore the home defence leagues had
to be modified against the bugs.
The children were sent out to collect
them. municipalities and village
trustees paid n certain price for
every liter collected.
The more the children, the home
defenders and other patriots collected
the more the May bugs multiplied.
Then some great mind thought of
iiized and did its very best. but this
arm of the service too was unable to
cope with the emergency. 1t was
then suggested to can the bugs and
serve them as chicken feed in winter,
but there was not enough tin TO make
the necessary number of cans
Roast Them Like Coffee.
Finally great genius brought
forth the idea of roasting the bugs.
They were to be dried by heat and
then roasted like coffee beans. The
ter. Three factories were soon turned
into May bug roasting plants.
The government then appealed to
all patriots in valleys and mountains
tod collect May bugs. Collecting pa
triots would not only remove a pest
that was destroying the leaves of
trees, valuable in themselves, but
wuld alike store a nutritive food for
the hen family, which would In the
end put chicken into each Swiss
cooking pot every Sunday. and at a
lower price too.
The patriotic idea worked like a
! charm. May bugs began to arrive in
carloads. The roasting factories had
to work overtime. There Is one fac
tory in the beautiful valley of the
Limmat One of the visitors who
saw and smelled the spot writes thus
to a Swiss newspaper.
The factory that roasts the May
bugs Is connected with the railroad
by siding. When we arrived there
were thirty freight cars on this sid
| ing. all filled with May bugs. All
the bugs were supposed to be dead,
| posed to be killed with sulphur
| fumes. but some of them have
| have been resurrected.
Factory Looks Like Fort.
! The factory looks like a fort, II
! is harricaded on all sides by heaps
Of boxes and barrels. From every
crack the bugs were crawlins
forth, They were filing the air, bug
ling and Tapping their wings. They
covered the ground, compelling you
to kill dozen or more with every
step.
And the smell of it all Yo,
are tempted TO put your hand
kerchief to your nose. but you de
sist when you see the laborers, tru'
patriots indeed, shovel the bugs intt
4 the chutes leading to the drying
room. If any one deserves q media
these heroes do. One of these he
roes told me;
We never expected anything lik
/ this. We thought we should get
; few carloads. And now every da
, simply fierce. We dry twelve car
, loads n day.
'In the factory office we listene'
to telephone conversation runninj
like this; What? Car empty-all es
caped--we can't help 1t. Send you
complaint to Berne. That is up t
the government. no. don't seal
them give them sulphur. What
Sulphur does not kill the bugs? Can
! help that. The government want
sulphur to he used. What? Yo
! want to send few more carloads
For heavens sake stop! Have n
more cars~-more than we can at
= tend to-.
2 I'VE left the place, but I had t
I spend a fortune for perfume to re
o. move an all too pervasive reminde
of the trip"