28 THE DOMESTIC CRICKET. 



during the last two ^^ears. This happy condition of affairs 

 has ceased to exist and in many places the potato-beetle will 

 be almost as numerous as ever. Still this is not the case 

 every whv^re, and there may be broad acres where the insects 

 still appear only in very small numbers. If there is an^^thing 

 in the common saying "an ounce of prevention is worth 

 more than a pound of cure" it can now be demonstrated. 

 By killing the few beetles and their larvae as soon as they 

 appear on the potato vines, we can prevent their increase in 

 that locality for a number of years. This is necessary, even 

 if there should be but few insects and not enough to cause 

 anv injury. Knowing that most insects are famous on ac- 

 count of their fecundity, and that if left alone they soon 

 increase past belief, a sensible farmer will take time by the 

 forelock and prevent these enemies from increasing without 

 let or hindrance. A good farmer will always do so and a 

 poor farmer ought to be made to do so. This is like having 

 certain contagious diseases prevailing in a given locality; an 

 educated farmer will take the necessary precautions and eith- 

 er prevent the introduction of such diseases among his own 

 animals or stamp it out as soon as discovered; and a poor 

 farmer ought to be made to do so by well framed laws thor- 

 oughly executed. 



Of course it is not necessary to repeat here that in such 

 substances as Paris green and London purple we possess in- 

 secticides that alw^ays are successful if properly applied. 



THE DOMESTIC CRICKET. 



( Or in us domedicus! Linn). 



Lovers of descriptions of the domestic life of European 

 nations always enjoy the remarks about the presence of the 

 musical insects so commonly found in the older houses and 

 homes of the middle classes and farmers, and no description 

 Avould be complete that did not mention the "cricket of the 

 hearth" which sings all night, filling the air with melody. 

 Now this reads very w^ell,but not every person is musicalhMn- 

 clined and what the one calls a sweet song is considered by 

 the other as a miserable noise. As long as there was no 

 chance to personally study the value of the music produced 



