140 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



about this way when I consider the last-named pest; 

 the trypeta must be destroyed, only who is going to 

 do it? I am afraid it is too much to ask of the or- 

 dinary farmer that he pick up all his summer-dropped 

 apples and bury them so deep that the larvae cannot 

 get out, or burn them so that no larvae can escape. 

 But this battle is a very serious one, and everyone 

 who lives in the country must think it out very clearly. 



Each year is pretty sure to bring about a special 

 trouble of its own an insect or worm that can 

 give us a lot of work to do, as well as a lot of think- 

 ing. Four years ago, without any warning, the pear 

 psylla appeared in immense numbers all over our pear 

 trees and lindens or basswoods. There were some 

 of them on other trees, but mostly they were confined 

 to those I have named. These hordes of sucking 

 insects took the vitality out of the foliage to such an 

 extent that many trees were defoliated, while not a 

 few were killed entirely. 



Then came in one of Nature's beautiful balances. 

 The leaves were covered with a sweet exudation, from 

 which our bees made a vast quantity of honey 

 perhaps not the very best in quality, but a fairly good 

 and a large storage. I do not think I should have 

 cared to eat it first hand from the leaves, but I rel- 

 ished it after the bees had worked it over. 



At the same time the white-faced hornet began to 

 build his paper nests all about our trees and porches. 

 How he found out the sudden presence of a vast 

 quantity of food I do not know, but he surely did. 



