AND WINE MAKING. 113 



June, it stunts the vines for the next season. One of the 

 best remedies is to dig a trench 2 to 3 feet wide, at the 

 side of the vineyard, from whence they are expected, into 

 which they will tumble, and they should then be crushed 

 by dragging a log or roller along the ditch. If this is done 

 repeatedly they may be kept out. It is a strange occur- 

 rence, however, that in the districts which they invaded 

 in 1875, nearly all other injurious insects have since dis- 

 appeared, and the crop of last season was exceptionally 

 free from their ravages. 



Wasps and Bees are sometimes very troublesome when 

 the fruit ripens, wounding the berries and sucking the 

 juice. A great many can be caught by hanging up bottles 

 with a little molasses, into which they will readily crawl 

 and seal their fate. But while there are many injuri- 

 ous insects, we may also count some of them among our 

 best friends, which will greatly assist in destroying the 

 others, and which we should hold in grateful remem- 

 brance. Among these is the little Lady Bug, the small 

 red or yellow and black beetle, which is always on the 

 look-out and very active in destroying the Aphis and 

 White Thrip. These should be fostered, and not de- 

 stroyed, as is done by many ignorant persons. The Man- 

 tis, the Rear Horse, or Devil's Horse, as it is often called, 

 but the correct name of which is Camel Cricket, is the 

 friend of the vine-grower. It destroys countless num- 

 bers of injurious insects, especially the native grasshop- 

 pers and katydids, which are so apt to cut off the bunches 

 just before ripening. They and their eggs, which are 

 often found on the vines glued together in a mass, like a 

 rather square cocoon, should be carefully preserved, and 

 even colonized. We place our common toad among our 

 friends, as it is a great destroyer of noxious insects, and 

 always on the hunt for bugs of all kinds. The toads and 

 our common active little lizards, should be treated with 

 kindness by us, not killed, as they are by many unthink- 



