INSECTS. 55 



acres, and in a single night, 30,000 moths were killed and found 

 dead on or about the vessels. By continuing his process through 

 the season, it was estimated that he had destroyed female moths 

 sufficient to have produced a progeny of over a million of cater- 

 pillars. In our orchards, myriads of insects may be destroyed 

 by lighting small bonfires of shavings, or any refuse brush ; and 

 in districts where the apples are much worm-eaten, if repeated 

 two or three nights at the proper season, this is a very efficient 

 and cheap mode of getting rid of the moth which causes so much 

 mischief. Dr. Harris, knowing how important it is to destroy 

 the caterpillar in the moth state, has recommended flambeaux, 

 made of tow wound round a stake and dipped in tar, to be 

 stuck in the fruit garden at night and lighted. Thousands of 

 moths will find a speedy death, even in the short time which 

 these flambeaux are burning. The melon-bug may be extirpated 

 by myriads, in the same way. 



A simple and most effectual mode of ridding the fruit garden 

 of insects of every description, which we recommend as a gene- 

 ral extirpator, suited to all situations, is the following. Take a 

 number of common bottles, the wider mouthed the better, and 

 fill them about half full of a mixture of water, molasses, and 

 vinegar. Suspend these among the branches of trees, and in 

 various parts of the garden. In a fortnight they will be found 

 full of dead insects, of every description not too large to enter the 

 bottles wasps, flies, beetles, slugs, grubs, and a great variety of 

 others. The bottles must now be emptied, and the liquid re- 

 newed. A zealous amateur of our acquaintance, caught last 

 season in this way, more than three bushels of insects of various 

 kinds ; and what is more satisfactory, preserved his garden al- 

 most entirely against their attacks in any shape. 



The assistance of birds in destroying insects should be duly 

 estimated by the fruit-grower. The quantity of eggs and in- 

 sects in various states, devoured annually by birds, when they 

 are encouraged in gardens, is truly surprising. It is true that 

 one or two species of these, as the ring-tail, annoy us by prey- 

 ing upon the earlier cherries, but even taking this into account, 

 we are inclined to believe that we can much better spare a rea- 

 sonable share of a few fruits, than dispense with the good ser- 

 vices of birds in ridding us of an excess of insects. 



The most serviceable birds are the common sparrows, the 

 wren, the red-breast, and, in short, most of the birds of this class. 

 All these birds should be encouraged to build nests and inhabit 

 the fruit garden, and this may most effectually be done by not 

 allowing a gun to be fired within its boundaries. The introduc- 

 tion of hedges or live fences, greatly promotes the domestication 

 of birds, as they afford an admirable shelter for their nests. Our 

 own gardens are usually much more free from insects than those 

 a mile or two distant, and we attribute this in part to our practice 



