5h4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



insects. I had heard that boxes without any 

 thing over tlie top would keep off the bugs, 

 and lialf a dozen boys were sent for the boxes 

 in a lua-ry, I tell you. The bugs were scared 

 off, tlie boxes placed carefully over tlie vines, 

 and the soft mellow dirt banked around the 

 lower edges to make them tight. Tlie ])ugs 

 were foiled for three or foin- lionrs. Tlie 

 weatlun- was too hot to put in tlie glass, so 

 we tacked i)ieces of mosqnito-netting over 

 the tops. I didn't discover liow mncli harm 

 the bugs were doing again until after sun- 

 down ; Init I sawtlien tliere wasn't a moment 

 to lose. We couldn't even wait till morn- 

 ing. T found some of the women still in the 

 book-bindery at the factory. I asked them 

 to cut me 200 ineces of moscjiiito-bai- as 

 quickly as possible. Then I called the chil- 

 dren, aged ]-espectively 14, 8, and 4, got a 

 pocketful of small t-acks, and two or three 

 three-cent hammers. On the way to the 

 field we met one of our eldest daughter's 

 schoolmates, a youjig miss tliirteen or foiu"- 

 teen, and I secured her services. When we 

 got down by the carp-pond a small boy came 

 up with the oft-repeated qhestion, — 

 •' Ml'. Root, can't you give me a job? " 

 •• Yes, sir,'' said I. •' if you will go right to 

 Work now.'' 



lie replied that he liad not intended to 

 work until morning, but if I were very par- 

 ticular he guessed he would help. Tliis boy 

 was about six years old. Caddie's cousin 

 Mabel, also eight years old, made up the 

 number, and we seven had the mosquito- 

 netting put on nicely before it was dark. 

 Resides cliasing the bugs, we stopped up 

 the crevices below again. It was Saturday 

 night was one reason why I InuTied ; but it 

 saved our Hubbard squashes and Boston 

 marrow squaslies and cucumbers. Tlie bugs 

 swarmed all over the boxes, and looked 

 through the mosquito-netting, and probably 

 lamented that they were foiled. We left 

 part of the vines without the covering, to 

 see what they would do. .\.l)out half of 



them survived until Monday morning, and 

 then we made another disappointing discov- 

 ery. The yellow bugs, after working for 

 two days at the pioblem, discovered they 

 could get through tlie mosquito-netting by 

 dint of hard kicking, and Monday tliey could 

 be seen on almost every box, half way 

 through the netting, kicking their lieels up 

 in the air. They didn't get in, however, to 

 do very much harm, and the rest of the 

 vines were covered witli boxes protected by 

 grenadine, sncli as we use foi- bee -veils. 

 This fabric costs a little more pei' yard, but 

 it is absolutely secure. The vines under 

 tliese lioxes covered with grenadine were 

 the handsomest I ever saw in all my life. 

 Tliere was not a speck or blemish on the 

 brigiit-green leaves; and, oh how they did 

 grow ! In a little time they raised up the 

 netting so that it looked as if tliey might 

 raise the wooden boxes too, if we didn't 

 give them room, and in eiglit or ten days 

 the l)ugs were gone. We tumbled off tlie 

 boxes, put them into tlie wagon, and stowed 

 tliem away in the tool-house ; but they had 

 paid their cost in satisfaction if not in dol- 

 lars and cents. We have not sold tlie squash- 

 es yet, so we can not tell how they will come 

 out ; but tliere is a lot of them now, as big 

 as goose-eggs. 



There is a point 1 wish to make right here 

 in regard to (ighling bugs and insect ene- 

 mies. I do love to have something that is 

 absolute and certain. Where we use Paris 

 green, slug-shot, and most other poisons, 

 the matter is imperfect and uncertain. The 

 bugs are mostly killed ; but if a rain comes 

 we have to go over the same thing again, 

 and sometimes the poison does not seem to 

 work. It is true, it is some trouble to put 

 the squash-boxes on and take them off 

 again ; but it is absolute and sure ; and I 

 believe that next season we will use these 

 same boxes for our early potatoes, instead 

 of having children pick the bugs off by hand, 

 as we have done during this past season. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



TILTH VERSUS MANURE. 

 He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread. 



-Pro V. ^8:19. 



I have been making a good many experi- 

 ments during the past few months, to ascer- 

 tani how far tilth may take the place of 

 manure. In the previous chapter I spoke of 

 the dust blanket to mulch plants, as a rem- 



edy for drought. Now, we can't have a dust 

 blanket unless we have the dust ; and the 

 only way to get the dust is to make the soil 

 so line that it works like dust. It may be 

 damp dust, but it should be thoroughly lined 



