50 Next to the Ground 



more fatally. As between the spiders and 

 their various enemies, Joe decided that the 

 webs caught three hornets to one wasp, and 

 at least two wasps for every dauber. 



Nearly ever since the piazza was built sweat- 

 bees had made nests in the rails across the 

 east end. The rails were about three inches 

 through and nearly always damp from the 

 shade of the honeysuckle trellis outside. They 

 had been painted white. The paint was now 

 mainly a reminiscence. They were set ten 

 inches apart and had upon the bottom an inch- 

 wide flat space. It was in this that the sweat- 

 bees always began work. They worked in 

 pairs, and stuck to the second rail which they 

 had chosen first, weakening it so much that it 

 had had to be replaced more than once. There 

 were always three or four pairs of them, never 

 more nor less. In early June they began chip- 

 ping out a round hole as big as the finger. Each 

 pair made a separate hole, and the two took 

 turns at the chipping, one resting while the 

 other worked. For maybe an inch the hole 

 went straight up, then turned horizontally and 

 ran several inches right or left, with the grain 

 of the wood, and was shaped into a rounded 

 nest chamber. Sometimes they made two or 

 three false starts, so evidently they were not 

 over-easy to please. In boring straight up- 

 ward, their chips took care of themselves, but 



