The Rescue of an Old Place 



of which they will completely destroy in 

 a few hours. We tried the experiment 

 this year of tying ours up in mosquito-net- 

 ting, but it seemed to accomplish nothing 

 better than the excitement of the curiosity 

 of passers-by, who could not make out 

 whether it was a ghost on the lawn, or a 

 balloon waiting for a Fourth of July infla- 

 tion. The indomitable chafers perched 

 on the outside by the hundred, and chewed 

 at the blossoms through the meshes, so 

 that, what with their attacks and the 

 confinement, the smoke came to nothing 

 after all, for when the cover was removed 

 nothing was to be seen of the fringe but 

 a few bare green stems. 



Probably the rose-bugs do not publish 

 a - a morning paper, or they would learn that 

 the lawn at Overlea is an unhealthy situa- 

 tion for their race, and that their unprece- 

 dented mortality in that region ought to 

 be a warning to them. Certainly in the 

 height of the season the hecatomb of vic- 

 tims amounts to a thousand a day, but 

 the cry is still, They come. 



We hoped that the long, cold, easterly 

 storm of June would prove a discourage- 

 182 



