142 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



praying will do nothing with this worm. Then again 

 you must be a little ahead in the fight, and if you 

 would keep them out of your property you must meet 

 them the other side of the fence. It is possible to 

 be victorious even against such odds, for we saved our 

 nine acres of berries and fruits, like an oasis in the 

 desert. 



There is a large class of sporadic rivals that we 

 must discover for ourselves. They come at any time 

 and there is no law about them. Most, however, 

 come by periods, so that we may as well be ready be- 

 forehand. The May beetle has the habit of brood- 

 ing in the ground and going through with some of 

 his transformations there, emerging only every third 

 year. That is, you will find a few May bugs, or 

 June bugs as some call them, tumbling against your 

 lamp shade any year ; it is only every third year that 

 they emerge in vast crowds. 



Fortunately they are generally delayed by cold 

 weather until most of the trees have their foliage 

 pretty well developed and toughened. It is only 

 the butternuts and the white ash that are still tender 

 enough to furnish forage. These are sometimes 

 badly cut up or stripped. Here again comes in one 

 of Nature's handsome helps. When the beetles are 

 in the ground, working slowly up to the surface, the 

 moles will multiply astoundingly and you will find 

 their tunnels everywhere. Do not kill them, for 

 they are eating the larva that would otherwise be- 

 come the destructive May bug. 



