Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-12-12
ADVANTAGE OF A COLD SUMMER
is THAT IT DESTROYS THEM.
PEST OF THE FRUIT GROWER
Just It's Merest Nibble Produces De-
cay-Destruction of the Queen
Bees Advised in Order TO Head
Off Their Ravaees-How 1t Can Be
Accomplished.


months of the year when we expect it |
to be warm and fine, but more or
less damp and sunless summer has
its advantages, says the London Elk
press. Not the least of these is the
effect which such a season has upon
what most of US consider the harmful
and unnecessary wasp, whose presence
annoys us annually from the latter
end of July until the cold nights of
early October put a period to its ex-
istence.
This year, for example, was conf
IDENTITY expected to be one of the worst
! on record in the matter of wasps,
looking at it from mans point of view.
For the wasps, on the other hand, a
season of great prosperity was pre-
dicted, and with good reason. In the
first place, there was large stock Of
wasps on hand from last season, for
the hot summer of 1906 suited them
exactly, and queen wasps by the
thousand were fed by their moribund
relations during min autumn, and
safely deposited I'm hibernis."
Second, the spring Of this year, and
especially the hot weather Of Easter
tide, was eminently favorable to the
fweu being of these alternating queens,
whose snug retreats are so we'll Sc
Elected that the severest frost seldom
breaches them. And, Lnird, there has
all along been the promise OF great
crop of plums, which has since been
Iamply fulfilled. Every countryman
knows that plum year" is always
Hooked upon as wasp year" the
supposition being that nature, In her
kindness of heart, provides plums
chiefly for the deleetation OF wasps.
Marrow Escape from plague.
Fortunately, however, the country
mans belief has been, on this occa-
sion at least, rudely upset; but how
narrowly we have escaped one of the
worst wasp plaques on record may
easily be judged from few statistics
given hereafter. Nearly every year
there is a more or less serious out
break o9 wasps in one part or another
of the country, but it is seldom that
We have such a general cutlery in the
spring concerning the enormous num-
bers of queen wasps seen abroad.
, II even half Of these prospective
mothers had had anything like sue
cess in their family endeaVors, this
: would have been a sad summer indeed
for fruit growers and a trying one for
| all.
Of late years strenuous efforts have
J been made to capture and destroy the
queen wasps as soon as they emerge
} from their winter retreat, and the vii
t lage schoolboy, always ready to Kill
something, has been pressed into the
service with considerable advantage
To the neighborhood as well as to him
self. But it is not only the juvenile
portion of the community that has
taken up wasp. killing as useful dl
version in the spring. Sir George
Kekewich writes to the Field that ne
has been In the habit of hanging VI
annuallJ- in his garden during March
April and May wide-mouthed glass
jam ] 8, half filed with beer ane
sugar, and these traps have done
great execution.
How Plaques Could Be Prevented.
The first year he bagged seventy
s five queen Wasps and brace OF oGeSI
: hornets, the second year f1fty-six an'
the third twenty-five. He then move
to another locality and has caugh
"a seventy-one this season. These fe
Il ures give one some idea as to tn
g number of queens" that are abroa
e every year, and Sir George suggeste
s that If every owner of garden
: farmer and market gardener in tn
kingdom would follow his example
. wasps might be almost exterminatee
p In Herefordshire no fewer than 90
IS queen wasps have been destroye
d this year in the single parish OF Lex
- bury. But, of course, orchard eouI
= ties like Herfordshire, Worcester
? shire. Devonshire and Kent are
:. WAYS blessed with more than an az
= erage supply of these pests.
"a There is no necessity to go into a.
~ tails as to the damage that even
- single colony of wasps can commit 1
al a season, for every one knows ina
n few things eatable or drinkable com
re amiss TO them, and they spoil far nor
or than they devour Fruit that has bee
f. only just nibbled by a wasp is RUNE
Is and usually goes rotten in fe
ed hours. Besides this there is the eve
l. present and painful possibility of b
I'D ing stung, and every summer We hea
IN of a fatal accident to somebody VIII
ef while drinking, has swallowed lis
Is wasp and been stung in the throat.
u There are two things only that ca
be set against the many evil deeds
~ ~ wasps. One of them is the fact tn;
"a they help to some small extent In re
- tilizing the blooms of honey-bearir
- flowers, and the other is that they d
-, Istroy flies. The first Is of little In
an portance; but one must admit TIL
he the sight of a wasp bearing away
ne his nest as prisoner a detestable blu
bottle or house fly does give one
certain amount of satisfaction. IT
wasp seldom interferes OF Its own a
CF cord with horses or cattle, but 1t d