INSECTS. 373 



when it continues for two weeks, as in the years referred 

 to. it seems to be rendered powerless for that season. 



10. Ants. These are not very destructive, yet they 

 sometimes do considerable injury to beds of seedlings, by 

 making their hillocks among them, and they also infest 

 ripe fruits. 



Boiling water, oil, or spirits of turpentine, poured on 

 their hillocks, disperses them ; and if wide-mouthed bot- 

 tles, half filled with sweetened water or syrup, be hung 

 among the branches of a tree when the fruit is attaining 

 maturity, ants, wasps, flies, and beetles of all sorts that 

 prey greedily upon sweets, will be attracted into them. 



Mr. Downing, who recommends this as a " general ex- 

 tirpator suited to all situations," says, " that an acquaint- 

 ance caught in this way, in one season, more than three 

 bushels of insects of various kinds, and preserved his 

 garden almost entirely against them." 



A gentleman in Detroit, who was very careful of his 

 garden, informed me that he had pursued this method 

 of trapping insects with results that perfectly astonished 

 him. He had to empty the bottles every few days to 

 make room for more. A very good way of trapping 

 and killing ants is, to besmear the inside of flower pots 

 with molasses, and turn them on their mouths near the 

 hillock ; the insects will soon assemble inside on the 

 molasses, when they are easily destroyed by a handful of 

 burning straw. 



11. The Peach Tree Borer. This is a most destructive 

 insect when allowed to increase for a few years without 

 molestation. We have seen whole orchards of fine trees 

 ruined by them. They sometimes attack even young 

 trees in the nursery, and commit serious depredations on 

 their collar, rendering them in many cases quite unfit for 

 planting. Their multiplication should be prevented by 

 all possible means. The eggs are deposited in summer 



