Carry a fountain with you

Chapter 503 Using Insects to Control Insects
Lao Shang only rented a house in Liujiagou a few years ago, and recently even his wife called him over, planning to live in Liujiagou for the rest of his life.

The couple usually have a lot of free time, so it's good to raise a bird to disturb them.

He took the little cuckoo and took it back happily, but the next day he came to look for Liu Junhao with a sad face.

"Xiaohao, you should raise this bird by yourself. After getting it back yesterday, it hid in the cardboard box without moving. This bird is wild, and it may like to eat insects. I caught a few crickets last night, but this little thing is still indifferent. If I continue to raise it, I guess it will starve to death in less than two days." In just one day, the little cuckoo has become lifeless , Old Shang sighed helplessly.

"I'm dizzy. I forgot to tell you yesterday that this bird doesn't need to be fed. Just poke a few thumb-thick holes in the cardboard box and hang it under the tree. It won't take 20 days. The little cuckoo will definitely fly." Liu Junhao patted his head Open your mouth and say.

"Hanging under the tree...then how do you eat it?" Old Shang asked puzzled.

"Do as I say, and other birds will definitely come to feed you. Just rest assured, this bird will definitely not be hungry." Liu Junhao reassured.

"Really, you're not fooling me, are you?" Old Shang still couldn't believe it.

"Is it true? You can try it when you go back to the village next time. If it doesn't work, come and find me." Liu Junhao waved him away directly.Just a cuckoo, this man really takes it as a treasure.I didn't see the large group of green villages in my courtyard, and I never took care of them, so I didn't live well.

Old Shang dubiously returned to the village, cut a few holes in the cardboard box with a knife according to the method taught by Liu Junhao, and hung it on the jujube tree branch in the courtyard.

This jujube tree was just planted last year. It is only as tall as a person, and it is just right for hanging a bird box.

After the bird box was hung, he moved a chair and sat under the tree to watch.The little cuckoo above the head kept screaming, but after more than half an hour, no other birds came.

Seeing that there was nothing to look forward to, Lao Shang had no choice but to turn around and go back to the house to watch TV.

Within 10 minutes of seeing it, the daughter-in-law yelled in the courtyard, asking him to come out to see the little cuckoo.

Good guy, it really made Liu Junhao talk.

Two gray linen sticks fell on the top of the bird box, and one bird was stuffed into the mouth of the bird box with a dragonfly in its beak.And the little cuckoo is more like seeing a long-lost relative, excitedly stretching its neck out of the bird box.

But their quarrel startled the two gray hemps, and they flapped their wings and flew to the big poplar tree not far away, not daring to come down for a long time.

This time the cuckoo screamed even louder. Old Shang knew that he was an eyesore, so he had no choice but to turn around and leave.

As soon as he entered the house, the gray hemp fell on the bird box again.

The little guy yelled and moved his head to the hole, his mouth sticking out as far as the elders.Hui Maza rushed the food into its mouth.The little cuckoo finally let out a satisfied squeak and swallowed the food in one gulp.

Old Shang watched in amazement in front of the window, and only after the two gray horses flew away did he realize that he forgot to take a photo as a souvenir.

But there is no need to regret, amidst the cry of the little cuckoo, soon another white-headed cuckoo flew outside.

The bird looked around and landed on the bird box, with something in its mouth fed the little cuckoo, and then spread its wings and flew away.

Now Lao Shang is completely relieved, it seems that the little guy will not die of hunger.

The whole morning, the couple kept taking pictures with their cameras.Finally, he counted roughly, and there were four or five kinds of birds that brought food for the little cuckoo.

This little rhododendron has become a rare sight, and many acquaintances came to visit it, but the more people looked at it, the more puzzled they became. After a long discussion, they couldn’t understand why other birds came to feed it. Could it be that the birds have also learned it? Helping each other.

They were discussing, when Er Mazi happened to pass by, Lao Shang immediately grabbed him and asked.

"What's so strange about this? It's so rare for you guys. Have you never heard of 'fine cuckoo, silly red-billed jade'?" Er Mazi knew this thing too well, and explained, "This kind of bird is born smart and never feeds itself. The children of the family lay their eggs in the nests of other birds for them to incubate. When the birds come out, they also imitate other birds, and the sound is very similar, which naturally attracts other birds to come and feed them.”

Children who have dug out the bird's nest in the countryside know that the young birds will definitely die within three days after being separated from the old birds, but this kind of little cuckoo doesn't even need to be raised after being caught. Can't die of hunger.

"So that's how it is. No wonder Liu Junhao said that he doesn't need to feed it." The bird was easy to raise, and Lao Shang finally felt relieved.

* * *
As soon as the heat dropped a few minutes in the afternoon, He Yifan took the bamboo pole and beat the cicada shells.

Liu Junhao and his wife stayed at home without going anywhere.

Now everything is centered on the children. The two little guys are very energetic. They can be noisy all day long, and they don't let them have any free time.

Zhang Qian found a movie on the computer, and the couple stayed in the house all afternoon.It wasn't until the heat subsided in the evening that Liu Junhao got in and started cooking.

It was hot, and he didn't want to start a fire, so he directly boiled some mung bean soup in the rice cooker, and then cooled the vegetables to finish.As for the two macular skins in the courtyard, I threw two big steamed buns for them to eat.

It was only past seven o'clock after the couple had dinner, and it was still dark.

So each of them took a chair and sat in the gazebo with the little guy in their arms to enjoy the cool.

The bigger the baby, the more interesting it is. Less than four months old, the eldest and the second have already learned to make noise.As long as the adults watched them talk, the two little guys couldn't stop laughing.

Seeing their family come out to enjoy the shade, Professor Zhao and his wife also came over with cattail fans.

Usually, Zhang Qian and Liu Junhao asked Professor Zhao to take care of the children when they had something to do, so the two little guys didn't recognize their children, and when they saw Professor Zhao, they still stretched out their little hands to say hello.

They were talking and laughing when they saw Liu Qiyong walking from the direction of the river embankment carrying a gauze cage.

"Qiyong, you won't be catching crickets on the river beach too, come here to rest for a while and eat a piece of melon." Liu Junhao greeted loudly.

"I caught a ghost cricket. Don't mention how unlucky I am this year. I'm worried." Liu Qiyong threw the gauze cage in front of them, grabbed a big flower skin and gnawed it all, then said with a sad face, " See for yourself"

"Grass snails, are you catching these things on the river beach? Say hello to Xiaohao if you want to eat them. You can have as many as you want." Mr. Zhao opened the veil and saw a large pile of grass snails, weighing more than ten catties.

"Old man, don't make fun of me, you know where I caught this snail. My cornfield was infested with snails..." Liu Qiyong took a breath and began to complain.

In the spring of this year, he had nothing to do, so he opened three acres of wasteland on the river beach, and planted corn after harvesting the wheat.Who knew that the field was evil, when the corn seedlings were less than half a meter high, snails started to grow up, and Liu Qiyong didn't pay attention at first.Who knew that the snails were only the size of rice grains in the beginning, and now they are as big as a one-yuan coin in diameter.And the number is increasing. After eating the leaves, they start to eat corn ears and corn silk.This thing can't pollinate the corn after gnawing on it, and it can't set seeds.

Only then did Liu Qiyong start to panic, Zao Jiu started to catch snails in the cornfield from [-] to [-].

"Then spray the medicine quickly, don't let this thing eat up the leaves." Zhang Qian suggested.

"Why didn't I use it? I have applied more than 200 yuan of medicine back and forth on my three acres of land, and it didn't work at all. You are strange... In the past, there were only a few grass snails in the cornfield, but this year it seems to be crazy. , all came out. And they still go to work on time. Every morning, they start to eat at four or five o'clock in the morning. When the sun comes out, they are all gone. After five o'clock in the afternoon, they start to climb again. It was a bit cloudy the day before yesterday, and I fell to the ground Look at it, boy, gnawed on corn all day..."

"Now every morning, we both wear raincoats and hats and go to the field to catch grass snails. After catching for more than half a month, there are no shortages. We can catch more than ten catties of snails in half a day, and take them all home to feed chickens and ducks." .I’m so worried these days, this year’s corn production will definitely be reduced.”

"The spraying should be done as early as possible, before the snails lay eggs or when the snails are young. Now that the corn plants are tall, it doesn't work anymore, and the effect is very poor." Professor Zhao interjected at this time.

"Then what should I do, the old man hastened to find a way for me." Liu Qiyong remembered that Professor Zhao was an expert.

"The method is very simple. It is to use insects to control insects, and find the natural enemy of grass snails, walking insects. Our ancestors have used this. Shen Kuo mentioned walking insects in "Mengxi Bi Tan"... Yuanfengzhong, Gyeongju Jieshengzifang Insects are the harm of autumn fields. Suddenly there is an insect, like a dog and scorpion in the soil, with pincers in its beak, covering the ground ten thousand times. When encountering a square insect, it will be beaten with pincers, and it will be divided into two parts. It will be exhausted in ten days. , the old age is big. The worms used to exist, and the natives said that they would not be close."

Seeing Professor Zhao start shaking his head and dragging the text, Liu Junhao urged directly: "I'm talking about the old man, you can just say the native name of the walking bug."

"As far as the clip insects we often say, they are considered beneficial insects. They have long and thin hooked mouthparts, which can hook snail meat out of the thick carapace. Just catch a few hundred and throw them in the ground, and keep them for a few days In time, the snails in your few acres of cornfields will be clean." Professor Zhao explained.

"Clip bugs, this village is not everywhere. These bugs really eat snails, don't fool me, old man." Seeing how easy he said, Liu Qiyong couldn't believe it.

There are a lot of these things in the firewood pile, also known as ground stinkbugs, and they will emit a foul smell when they are in danger.When I was young, the children in the countryside often played with it, which made their hands stink.It's really incredible that this kind of ugly bug can eat snails.

"What are you doing, you will know if you try."

"It seems to be really possible. I remember that many grass snails in my backyard were eaten by them." Zhang Qian also interjected.

"Okay, I'll go back and catch a few hundred of them and throw them into the field." Having received the guarantee, Liu Qiyong happily wanted to leave.

"Wait a minute, after you catch the worms, don't scatter them directly on the ground. You should make more haystacks in the field, and then put the walking worms in it. The snails like to be shaded during the day, so they just hide in it and feed the walking worms."

(End of this chapter)