﻿186 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT 



Nothing, however, will so surely insure those States subject ta 

 them, against the ravages of this insect, as irrigation. With water at 

 command, the farmer in all this locust area is measurably master of 

 his two greatest insect plagues, and full master of the young locusts ; 

 and if there were no other reasons to be urged in its favor, these are 

 sufficient to warrant those States included in said area, in using all 

 means in their power in having schemes for irrigation perfected and 

 carried out as far as the topography, soil, and other peculiarities of 

 the country will admit. 



Finally, in cases where, as in some parts of Kansas and Nebraska 

 last Autumn, famine stares the people in the face, why should not 

 these insects be made use of as food? Though the question will very 

 generally cause the reader to smile, and the idea will seem repugnant 

 enough to the tastes of most, I ask it in all seriousness. It is to be 

 hoped that none of the people of this grand and productive country 

 will ever be reduced to the diet of John the Baptist ; but it should not 

 be forgotten that the locusts may be made use of as food; that they 

 are quite nutritious, and are, indeed, highly esteemed by many peo- 

 ples. I do not intend in this connection to write an essay on edible 

 insects, though a very curious and startling one might be written on 

 the subject ; but I wish to insist on the fact that in many parts of 

 Asia and Africa subject to locust plagues, these insects form one of 

 the most common articles of food. Our own Snake and Digger Indi- 

 ans industriously collect them and store them for future use. 

 Deprived of wings and legs, they are esteemed a great delicacy fried 

 in oil, or they are formed into cakes and dried in the sun — sometimes 

 pounded into flour, with which a kind of bread is made. 



Love or dislike of certain animals for food are very much matters 

 of habit, or fashion ; for we esteem many things to-day which our fore- 

 fathers either considered poisonous or repulsive. There is nothing^ 

 very attractive about such cold-blooded animals as turtles, frogs, oys- 

 ters, clams, crabs, lobsters, prawns, periwinkles, snails, shrimps, mus- 

 sels, quahaughs or scallops, until we have become accustomed to them ; 

 and what is there about a dish of locusts, well served up, more repul- 

 sive than a lot of shrimps; they feed on green vegetation and are 

 more cleanly than pigs or chickens. Who can doubt but that the 

 French during the late investment of Paris would have looked upon a 

 swarm of these locusts as a manna-like blessing from heaven, and 

 would have much preferred them to stewed rat ? And why should 

 the people of the West, when rendered destitute and foodless by these 

 insects, not make the best of the circumstances, and guard against 

 famine, by collecting, roasting and grinding them to flour? Surely, 



