278 On the Destruction of Wasps. 



farthing for each squib, but 2^. or Sd. each may be fairly- 

 charged by any person who takes the trouble of making the 

 squibs carefully. One of these squibs is generally sufficient 

 for taking a nest, but sometimes more ; for if the nest is in a 

 contrary direction to the entrance, which often happens, the 

 first squib may not reach the nest, which is usually found 

 between one and two feet from the entrance. A stick of two 

 or three feet in length should be furnished with a piece of an 

 old gun or pistol barrel, five or six inches long in the clear, for 

 receiving the squib and forcing it into the hole (or a slighter 

 ferrule will answer for slight explosions), and the squib will 

 burn from a quarter to half a minute: some little time, there- 

 fore, may be allowed for killing or maiming the wasps which 

 are seen at the entrance and thereabout, and the squib should, 

 on that account, be held about a foot distant, and opposite 

 to the entrance, for some seconds of time, and then forced as 

 far as it will go into the hole. A small clod or tuft of grass 

 should be got ready to stop the hole, as soon as the squib is 

 put in. The ingredients are calculated to smother the wasps 

 more than to kill them by an explosion, so that rock powder 

 is used in a greater proportion than would be necessary if fine 

 gunpowder were adopted. Wasps' nests are usually of a 

 spherical form, and sometimes larger than a foot in diameter. 

 If the squib has a good effect, the nest may be taken out 

 entire by the hands provided with strong gloves, and then 

 broken and crushed with a spade and some water. The other 

 accompaniments proper for taking wasps' nests are a lantern, 

 two or more candles, spade, pick, short screw for drawing the 

 cartridge paper left in the barrel, and at least three persons. 

 The wasps will recover from their suffocation, but there is 

 generally plenty of time to complete their destruction in the 

 manner above mentioned without the least danger of getting 

 stung. 



Notwithstanding the destruction of about seven dozen 

 nests the wasps were still so thick on the wall-fruit, that I 

 was obliged to have recourse to another expedient. I suspect 

 that wasps, when gorged with fruit, do not go to their nests at 

 night, so I made a successful attack upon them on their chosen 

 ground in the daytime, by means of some hyacinth glasses, 

 with about two inches of water in each. These glasses being 

 held partly under and partly in front of a plum or other fruit 

 full of wasps, every one tumbled into the glass, and shaking 

 them up with the water, you may make a few more casts, and 

 lastly roll them out, water and all, on the ground, entangled 

 together like a ball, and put your foot on them. In eight succes- 

 sive casts, I caught 128; the greatest number at one cast, 

 from a bunch of plums, being 27. I can credit the statement 



