Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 240

                                
240 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REVIINISCENCES.

scribed plan, and thereby save
the bush for future fruit bearing.
In the accompanying photo, the
proper mode of gathering agaritas
is vividly depicted, showing one
of our party holding the berry-
laden branch with one hand, whilst
the other hand gently thrashes
them off by rapid strokes on the
branch. (The photo of this agarita
bush shows the branches blurred-
from a stroke it had received a
few  seconds before taking the
view.) The berries thus handled,
drop to the cloth below and the
bushes are not mutilated to any
extent, and the same thrashed
branches will bear fruit again
the following year.
At some seasons, especially in
droughty times, these agaritas,
as well as other fruit-bearing bushes
are invaded by myriads of various
insects which feed on the berries,
and these insects in return are
a great boon to our mockingbird
and other warblers of the Texas
plains.
The other photograph represents

parts of one of the agarita bushes
and also branches of the wild
persimmon with ripe fruit. The
best way   to rid the thrashed
berries of all I)rush  lcebris and
insects was invented by one of
the gentlemen seen on the first
photograph. After the berries had
been gathered as described, (and
they had a large tin bucket and
a box filled to the brim,) one of the
boys suggested to try a screened
window-frame (which happened to
be at the farm where the berries
were gathered) and it worked fine!
After elevating one end of the wire
screen, several handsful of the
gathered berries were put at the
top, and after tapping the screen
with the hand, all the berries
rolled down into a large kettle
below, whilst the debris of leaves
and small fragments of branches
and numerous insects remained
on the surface of the wire screen.
In this way the greater part of
the large bucket full of berries
was soon cleared in a comparative
short time of all deleterious ma-
terial.

Midsummer Outing at the Beautiful Guadalupe
River---Insect Plague in Camp

Texas, and   admirers  of na-
ture in general, are proud of the
many romantic rivulets and for-
est sceneries we possess, travers-
ing the great State of Texas, and
the pleasure they afford to outing
parties. This pleasure, however,
of hiking into the woods, especial-
ly during hot summer days, is not
at all times a pleasurable one-by
no means!   Often unforseen ob-
stacles must be contended with.
and one, therefore, has to be pre-
pared for such emergencies during
outings in our hot summer days.
Above all, one should be provided

with plenty of wholesome drink-
ing water and the necessary food
supplies, of course, especially if
intended to camp out far off from
some farmhouse or a cool spring.
For drinking purposes, there is no
better contrivance on the market
than the so-called "African wa-
ter cooler bag," holding about two
gallons of water. Such   water-
bag (seen attached to buggy, on
one of the original pictures here-
in) keeps the water just right,
cool-the hotter the atmosphere.
the cooler the water in the bag--
and it is more handy and trans-