Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-06-10
Ehrntttg Gtat

While a good many people are
getting nervous over the appearance
or the seventeen-year-o locusts in
this section of the State, Professor
j. u. Sanders, the State zoologist,
VINO Is In charge of the investigation
OF the State Plant Industry Bureau,
says there is no occasion to grow
excited. The locust has been a per-
lodical visitor to the section and its
depredations have been as carefully
studied as the life history of tha
insects. When the locusts corr
mence to jazz around, as they have
been doing in some sections of this
county and Cumberland, the ony
thing is to kill as many as possible
and feed them to the chickens. AS
FAR as the researches of the folks
at the Capitol are concerned, no one
has ever experimental with them as
an article of diet here, although such
facts as announced by a Baltimore
professor who ate some and declared
that they were edible and not un-
pleasant, are well known. The state
ment of the Baltimore man that they
tasted like shrimp, however, is not
corroborated here. One man who re-
calls having tasted some broiled or
baked locust, says that it reminded
him of the time that he roasted
igraSshoppers when a boy and tried
them with salt. The locust, as haH
been pointed out, concerns itself
with laying eggs and to do so rips
open the tender bark of twigs and
causes serious damage to fruit and
shade trees. Much depends upon
the weather conditions and the num-
Der of locusts and when they start
to jazz. if one has the time, the best
way to do is to kill them off, burn
or make chicken feed of the bodies.
Some breeds of chickens are as fond
of locusts as quail are of potato
bugs. Many specimens of the locusts
have been sent to the Capitol and
all run true to form. The insects
are smaller than. the familiar singer
of summer time and have more red
about them, while their note is
slightly different in tone from the
strident sound made by the big green
perennial visitors, commonly sum-
moned to predict real hot, dry
weather.
Arnold w. Brunner, the architect
for the Capitol Park extension, VINO
is here looking after some details,
knows every stick and stone and
= every foot of the ground on the eX-
# tension and the old park. He studled
, that first and when he plotted the
q building lines for the new once
q structure he went all over the site
: half a dozen times and studied 1t
- from every angle. He has done the
s same thing. with the Memorial
bridge and the rest of the improve
:, ments and he worked out the de-
- tails of the Peoples Court" stand
!, ing in the middle of Fourth street,
:. lodging. trolley cars and automo-
II biles. "I like to get right on the
- ground and stay there, but I get the
', view from the outside as well as the
= inside and if there is any spot from
;. which I have not studied the situa-
- - ton, show me-" said he.
II There is very little time for the
e coal dredgers even on Sundays. The
q steamers and the barges have been
q on the jump the last three Sundays
: and one man explained it this way:
e There is a demand for coal and We
i have to keep up stocks. You never
u can tell this rainy weather just when
y the Susquehanna is not going to
q break loose and we are not taking
o any chances with it. So we are
r, keeping right at work, even If it does
n require some Sunday effort
/; The visit of the 20-mule team to
d Capitol Park extension over the
Is week END was the cause of delight
d for kids for blocks and blocks
It around all day long. The mules
n were turned out in approved West
l., ern style and the men in charge
a camped just as they do on the
W plains, although they said that the
10 electric lights were not as soothing
a as the stars and the railroad trains
e and trolley cars more disturbing
W than coyotes.
it Prothonotary Charles E. Pass is
? one of the few men who have at
tended every meeting of the State
organization of the Red Men in this
city. Harrisburg is a favorite place
for the Red Men to meet, but the
first meetings were rather long ago.
Mr.. Pass, however, remembers them,
e. although in some he may have been
on the side lines. OF late he has
Is been one of the prominent figures
q and has been Instrumental in add
A. ing to membership in tribes in this
a section and in seeing that invest
ments are on good substantial
-? basis.
The three-cent postage appears to
5; have been the cause of more than
a one department of the State govern
:, ment running shy on funds the last
II two years, according to what Chair
e man McCaig. of the House appro-
y priations committee hears in listen
- ing to statements on the general ap-
% preparation bill. 1t seems that no
y one figured on an extra cent on let
e ters and the reductions made in the
bill made a narrow margin. A big
= increase of letters due TO war and
an extra cent created shortages
. where unexpected.
h