FRUIT TREES. Chap. V. 107 



& a handful of moss with honey or some syrup poured on it. Throw the bait into water 

 when a large number of ants have gathered on it. Other traps include a container filled 

 with honeyed water, &c. This contest requires less force than it does perseverance in the 

 pursuit of these pests. Its care can be entrusted to a child; if he doesn't exterminate them, 

 he'll at least reduce their number considerably. 



4°. Common caterpillars, furry caterpillars, & cockchafers sometimes devour all 

 the leaves on the trees & even attack its fruit. Destroying them is the only remedy. Soap 

 dissolved in water kills caterpillars. Many of them can be squashed or burned when they 

 congregate in bunches on the trees at sunrise. 



5°. Vine grubs & the small green caterpillars that chew up buds & flowers deserve 

 the same treatment. 



6°. Pear lace bugs are small winged insects with gray, brown, and purple &c. 

 spots that eat the parenchyma of pear tree leaves, especially those of the winter Bartlett 

 pear on south-facing espaliers. I don't know any drug strong enough to repel or to kill 

 them. When the leaves have fallen, they have to be burned & the bark of the tree scraped 

 or rubbed hard to remove their spawn. 



7°. Snails & slugs are fond of strawberries & peaches. They have to be caught by 

 surprise in the evening & in the morning, or after a light rain when they set out for the 

 day & when they retire for the night. A horsehair rope stretched along an espalier so that 

 it's always in contact with the ground & circles around the base of each tree creates a 

 barrier that they rarely dare to cross. They're afraid to injure their delicate bellies on the 

 rough bristly hair. 



8°. The bug that we're talking about here, very different from the insect that goes 

 by the same name, is identical to the orange tree bug 



