164 Wild Life in a Southern County 



do not store up anything approaching to the same quantity 

 of honey. There is a superstition that if a humble-bee 

 buzzes in at the window of the sitting-room it is a sure 

 sign of a coming visitor. 



Be careful how you pick up a ripe apple, all glowing 

 orange, from the grass in the orchard ; roll it over with 

 your foot first, or you may chance to find that you have got 

 a handful of wasps. They eat away the interior of the fruit, 

 leaving little but the rind ; and this very hollowness causes 

 the rind to assume richer tints and a more tempting ap- 

 pearance. Specked apples on the tree, whether pecked by 

 a blackbird, eaten by wasps or ants, always ripen fastest, 

 and if you do not mind cutting out that portion, are the 

 best. Such a fallen apple, when hollowed out within, is a 

 veritable torpedo if incautiously handled. 



Wasps are incurable drunkards. If they find some- 

 thing sweet and tempting they stick to it, and swill till 

 they fall senseless to the ground. They are then most 

 dangerous, because unseen and unheard ; and one may put 

 one's hand on them in ignorance of their whereabouts. 

 Noticing once that a particular pear tree appeared to attract 

 wasps, though there was little or no fruit on it, I watched 

 their motions, and found they settled at the mouth of cer- 

 tain circular apertures that had been made in the trunk. 

 There the sap was slowly exuding, and to this sap the 

 wasps came and sipped it till they could sip no more. The 

 tree being old and of small value, it was determined to see 

 what caused these circular holes. They were cut out with 

 a gouge, when the whole interior of the trunk was found 

 bored with winding tunnels, through which a pistol bullet 

 might have been passed. This had been done by an 

 enormous grub, as long and large as one's finger. 



Old-world plants and flowers linger still like heirlooms 



