98 THE HOME ACRE. 



them and wish them godspeed. In their destruc- 

 tion of aphides and thrips they are among our 

 best friends. The camel-cricket is another active 

 destroyer of injurious insects. Why do not our 

 schools teach a little practical natural history? 

 Once, when walking in the Catskills, I saw the 

 burly driver of a stage-load of ladies bound out 

 of his vehicle to kill a garter-snake, the pallid 

 women looking on, meanwhile, as if the earth 

 was being rid of some terrible and venomous thing. 

 They ought to have known that the poor little 

 reptile was as harmless as one of their own garters, 

 and quite as useful in its way. Every country 

 boy and girl should be taught to recognize all 

 our helpers in our incessant fight with insect ene- 

 mies, a fight which must be maintained with 

 more organized vigor and intelligence than at 

 present, if horticulture is ever to reach its best 

 development. 



Wasps and hornets often swarm about the sweet 

 and early ripe varieties. A wide-mouthed bottle 

 partially filled with molasses and water will entrap 

 and drown great numbers of these ugly customers. 

 Some of our favorite birds try our patience not a 

 little. During the early summer I never wearied 

 of watching the musical orioles flashing with their 

 bright hues in and out of the foliage about the 

 house ; but when the early grapes were ripe, they 



