ENEMIES AKD DIFFICULTIES. 79 



sene ; it is then supported by wire over the middle of a 

 cheese-box lid, for instance, with a handle attached, the 

 lid being covered inside and out with fresh tar. Several 

 men, armed with these weapons of offence, proceed to the 

 meadow at night, and, with their lamps lighted, march 

 over the vines within touching distance of each other, all 

 the while moving their lights from side to side. The 

 insects are stirred up and killed in the flames, or caught 

 by the tar. For a new vine worm, see p. 133. 



Geasshoppbks and Ceickbts. 



Grasshoppers and crickets sometimes commit serious 

 depredations upon the growing fruit. When very numer- 

 ous, they have been known to destroy one hundred bush- 

 els of cranberries per acre. They do the damage by 

 eating a small portion from the side of the fruit, thus 

 causing it to shrivel, until nothing but a dry shell remains. 

 These are easily distinguished from the hollow shells 

 left by the fruit worm. Grasshoppers are most abundant 

 upon meadows containing a large amount of grass ; while 

 crickets prefer to work near turf fences, or on some locali- 

 ty which affords them a good hiding-place. These facts 

 offer strong inducements for having cranberry meadows 

 thoroughly cleaned, i. e., free from grasses, brush, etc. It 

 has been asserted that flooding will dispose of them ; but 

 as the season for their depredations, viz., during July and 

 August, is hot, this would be attended with great risk of 

 ruining the whole crop by scalding. The destructive 

 visits of grasshoppers and crickets have not been very 

 common to cranberry growers, and many have rested in 

 the belief that, when they did come, all that was neces- 

 sary was to raise the water, then hoist the gates, and let 

 them float down stream. But this will not answer, for 

 the reason that every recruit in that vast army has nimble 

 legs which render him quite competent to " paddle bis own 



