268 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



hatching. A remarkable fact in relation to the earwig is its great abundance at certain 

 times, and subsequent scarcity. This is accointed for from the circumstance that these 

 insects migrate in considerable flocks, selecting the evening for their excursions. Ear- 

 wigs prefer dry places to wet, warmth to cold, but they harbour almost anywhere, as 

 beneath bark, stones, cracks in walls, and similar places. Holes should be filled up, the 

 stems of the trees kept smooth and clean, and rubbish removed, so as to destroy eggs and 

 deprive the pests of shelter. There is need for watchfulness, care, and cleanliness in 

 contending with earwigs, especially as they avoid poisoned substances. After their 

 feasts, which are nocturnal, they retire to rest in the morning, comparatively few being 

 seen during the day. 



Earwigs are readily trapped, but they must be caught before the fruit is ripe if 

 the choicest specimens are to be saved from destruction. Beanstalks or hollow stems of 

 any kind, cut into lengths of 6 to 8 inches between the joints so as to form a tube, and 

 placed in the forks, or thrust under the branches of the trees so as to make them secure, 

 form excellent traps, and in these the earwigs hide. The traps must be examined every 

 morning, and the earwigs found in them blown out. The operator, having a deep jug half 

 full of hot water, holds one end over the water, applies his mouth to the other, and with 

 a sharp " blow" ejects the pests. They may be enticed with a boiled potato placed in a 

 flower-pot, covered with a little dry moss, and the pots laid on their sides at the foot 

 of the trees on which the fruit is approaching ripeness, also in the forks of the trees. 

 These baits must be examined daily. Shaking the earwigs out into a vessel containing 

 boiling water, or a glazed one narrowing towards the top and partly filled with cold water, 

 secures them. 



Millipedes. These are supposed to feed chiefly on decayed vegetable matter, because 

 found amongst leaves and other refuse ; but they prey upon living as well as dead sub- 

 stances, and are positively injurious to roots as well as to strawberry fruit. Their 

 introduction to gardens is generally through the rubbish heap ; hence the necessity of 

 strewing such with salt and lime as advised at page 51. The worst pest is the Spotted 

 Millipede (Julus guttatus or pulchellus), which is stated to have one hundred and seventy 

 legs, therefore well capable of migration, and both this and the Earth Millipede (Julus 

 terrestris), with its one hundred and fifty-six legs, easily cross dusty roads. Both 

 species, and others, have a special fondness for beet, and Miss E. A. Ormerod states in 

 her second edition of the " Manual of Injurious Insects and Methods of Prevention," 

 page 150 " Cotton-cake has been found to attract them from the attacked crops, and 



