

VI. DISEASES OF FRUIT-TREES. 



and, in some years, most troublesome they are. They 

 fix upon the finest fruit, and, in some seasons, long 

 before it be ripe. They will eat a green gage plum to a 

 shell ; and, while they spoil your fruit, they will not 

 scruple to sting you if you come to interrupt their en- 

 joyment. The first thing to do, is, to destroy all the 

 wasps' nests that you can find any where in the neigh- 

 bourhood. These nests are generally in banks. Dis- 

 cover the nest in the day-time, open it with a spade at 

 night, and pour in boiling-water. There is a little 

 bird, called the red-start, that destroys the wasps ; but 

 boys are their great enemies ; and about sixpence a nest 

 will keep any neighbourhood pretty clear of wasps. But, 

 the great remedy, is, to kill them when they come to 

 the tree, and that is done in this way : you fill a pretty 

 large phial half full of beer mixed with brown sugar : 

 the wasps attracted by this, go down into the phial and 

 never come out again. The phials must be emptied every 

 day, if any thing like full, and put up again with fresh 

 sugar and beer. A string is tied round the neck of the 

 phial, which is thus fastened round some part of the tree. 

 There must, however, be a considerable number of these 

 phials attached to every tree. 



310. FLIES. Great flies, like the flesh-flies, feed 

 upon all the softer fruits ; and even upon apples and 

 pears. They are destroyed or kept down precisely in the 

 manner directed for the wasps. Some persons, in order 

 to preserve fine pears, cover them over with bunting, a 

 piece of which they tie completely over each pear : this 

 is a very troublesome, but a very effectual, method. 



