"Gourds are easy to be eaten by insects, and the residue in the gourd should be cleaned out after raising insects to keep the inside clean. As a rule of thumb, gourds that have been boiled have fewer worms, probably because they have been sterilized. Put a few peppercorns in the gourd, which has a good insect control effect; It can also be washed with strong tea before the insects, which will not have an adverse effect on the insects. ”

Whether the gourd is used or collected, it should be rubbed frequently or wiped with a muslin cloth. The more sweat on the hands, the better, so that the sweat can soak under the skin, and the color of the gourd will become heavier.

Before wiping with a cloth, you can apply a layer of walnut oil or toothpaste, soak it for a while, and then rub it vigorously. The cloth should not be too coarse, and woolen fabric is the best. Over time, the gourd will become more polished and lovely.

Along the way, Lao Li gained the most, and chose two good gourds, Xiao Zhang can also choose a long hand twist. There is only one female player left, who wants to celebrate the old man's birthday, and when she sees that everyone else has gained something, she strongly asks to choose a songworm.

"Boss, how do you sell this worm?" Zhang Yang took everyone to a stall and picked up a random one to ask for a price.

"Cultural play financial management, right? Do a songworm show today? The stall owner was an enthusiastic audience at first glance, and he was very excited when he saw the camera: "Your kind of thirty-one, fresh, energetic and loud, you want to be cheap." ”

The female audience looked at it, compared it, and picked up one herself to ask for the price.

"You really have eyesight, this one is a good insect at first glance, and the price is also more expensive, three hundred."

"So expensive?" The female audience was shocked and puzzled: "It looks similar, why can the price be ten times worse?" ”

Zhang Yang looked at it and hurriedly asked Cao Ming to let the expert explain.

"Songworms are divided into autumn insects and winter insects, which are divided by players in the practice of playing and appreciating songbugs for hundreds of years. Autumn insects refer to the songworms caught from nature after the beginning of autumn, and there are other species such as frogs in addition to crickets. Winter insects are songworms that are artificially raised in winter and carry to listen to their calls. ”

"Songworms can be divided into two categories from entomology, namely crickets: such as crickets, Admiralty, oil hyacinth, bangzitou and various southern species of sandflies, about 1,000 species; Mantis: including gnats, prickly mouths and weavers. The grasshopper is the main representative of the chirping insects of the class of mantises. Kyoto players refer to crickets, admiralty, oil gourds, and grasshoppers as the "four great songworms".

Cao Ming picked up two grasshoppers, put them together, and began to compare: "Among the songworms of the mantis class, the grasshopper is the representative, with a large body size, flattened antennae filamentous, more than the body length, colloidization is more fragile, the leading edge is inclined downward, and there are long wings and short wings. ”

"The species and distribution of grasshoppers are also different, such as black grasshoppers and green grasshoppers. Most of the black grasshoppers are distributed in the Yanshan Mountains in northern Beijing, such as Miyun, Fangshan, and Pinggu are the source of black grasshoppers. The green grasshopper is mainly distributed in the Beijing-Tianjin Plain, and its call is not as strong as the black grasshopper, but the appreciation value is higher, and the varieties are bean green, emerald green and grass white. ”

"There is a five-character mantra for choosing a grasshopper, high, strict, wide, thick, and long! Width, that is, the width of the grasshopper's shoulders; High, now everyone generally plays with a bobbin, so you have to choose a high shoulder; Strict, the so-called strictness is the combination of the shoulders, but strict is sometimes not a good thing, unable to make a sound, it must be relatively moderate. ”

"Deep, deep is to look at the depth of the bar pressure dù, the bar is directly related to the size of the friction area between the shoulder and the shoulder when the insect chirps, so that the sound of the insect is not the same, this is the difference between the bright call and the hearty! Thick, the wing is a tool for the insect to chirp, so the wing shell must be thick! ”

Cao Ming specifically compared the difference between the two gnats, and the camera also gave close-ups, so that players could know why they were both gnats and the price difference was more than ten times.

"It's all called a whoopian worm, how do you calculate it?" The female audience is still a little worried, don't spend a few hundred to buy one, and die within a few days of going back, that's a big loss, right?

"The 100 days are generally counted from the beginning of autumn to the beginning of winter, exactly three months." Cao Ming explained: "Worms can be unsheathed normally at a natural temperature of 18~22 degrees, and only natural unsheathing is the best for adults to grow." It should take seven days for the worm to shed its shell, and it may take 8 or 10 days for the temperature to be low. But now most of the insects from Tianjin are insects that are caused by heat and hormones, and in such cases, the insects can even be unsheathed in 5 or 6 days. ”

"So how do we know how long this worm has lived? Will you go back and die as soon as you buy it back? ”

"Let me tell you!" When the stall owner saw the stitches, he also wanted to be on TV, so he quickly explained: "Look here, it is the position where the head and shoulders are handed over, and the jargon is called Anzi!" The whiter and brighter Anzi is, it means that the worm is younger and younger. If it turns grayish-white, it means that the time is almost up, and the life span is short. ”

Wu Shixiang nodded and agreed: "The selected grasshopper must be taken out of the jar or gourd to listen, if the stall owner doesn't let it out, then don't even buy it, the so-called real gold is not afraid of fire." The new detachment of the grasshopper should be raised separately from the called grasshopper, and it can not be whiskered, generally in about half a month after the sound is completed, it is basically finalized, the new detachment should pick the toad sound heavy as well, there can be no noise, and you can not only listen to the front sound of the wings, you must listen to the back tone, see if you pull the open arms, the back sound is not noisy as well, generally the first few sounds are good after a few sounds on the batch of pulling, that kind of can not be wanted, the front and back sounds should be consistent. ”

"Boss Wu, you are an expert! Sign me in a moment, Mu Yuanju baby is a cow. It seems that the stall owner is also a fan, and he has seen Wu Shixiang for a long time, so he hurriedly looked for an opportunity to pull closer.

With the help of Cao Ming, the female audience finally chose a 15-year-old gnats, and made a discount of 100 transactions. Now that she has a songworm, she can go and choose a gourd together.

"By the way, you have to remember that when you put the songworm into the worm or change the worm for the songworm, you should use appropriate methods to ensure the safety of the songworm; You must not grab it with your bare hands and stuff it into it. The bodies of all kinds of songworms are very delicate, and the slightest carelessness can damage their bodies. It is necessary to choose the method according to the habits of the insects and the characteristics of the insects. ”

Cao Ming suddenly remembered something and instructed the player to pay attention to a few principles.

"When raising crickets with gourds, flip the gourd to cover the crickets, leave some gaps at the mouth, blow gently, and the insects will crawl into the gourd. Grasshoppers are raised in gourds, but it is not easy to get them into the gourds of black holes, especially new insects. Hold the gourd in your hand with your mouth facing down, cover it from the front of the gourd and gently shake it. Often, this action has to be repeated many times before the gnats climb up into the gourd. ”

At this time, the gourd should be lifted to see if the gourd has entered the depths of the gourd, if it has entered, the gourd gall can be stuffed in, and then the gourd lid should be closed. When putting on the cover, you should also look at whether the insect whiskers are at the mouth to avoid squeezing off. Sometimes the gourd takes advantage of the opportunity that the gourd has not yet covered it, and suddenly sprang out, at this time, the gourd should be quickly moved upward, and then slowly cover it again. ”

"This matter should not be urgent, and it is most forbidden to catch the gnats with your hands and stuff them into the gourd. It is easy to break the hind feet of the grasshopper, and even if it is forced in, it will suddenly turn around and escape. It is not so difficult to raise grasshoppers that have been raised for a period of time and get used to the environment inside the gourd, and then let them in. ”

The female audience nodded, I really didn't expect that everything is learned, and a little grasshopper is so particular. Carefully put the box in your arms, waiting to buy a gourd to press home.

Everyone in the group has harvested, Lao Li received two long gourds, and Xiao Zhang also had one, he mainly wanted to come to the gourd this time, if he could find the grass gold.

"Hand twist? Also grass in gold? You're too greedy, depending on your luck, maybe there will be. ”

As the name suggests, the hand-twisted gourd must be small and suitable for playing with in the hand. The smaller the hand twist gourd, the better, the hand twist gourd is a rare variety, 8 cm or less is called the hand twist, the play is small and exquisite, the general hand twist gourd height is 4-7 cm.

The hand twist gourd is a kind of handle, that is, it can move the nerves and muscles on the fingers and palms. It can massage acupuncture points to achieve the effect of fitness and health. The natural beauty of the gourd is pleasing to the eye, and it is impossible to put it down, and there is a saying that "the rich have a gourd" in the past.

"The general meaning of good hand-twisted gourd, the market is divided into local hand-twisted and American hand-twisted. The height of the hand-twisted gourd, except for the dragon's head, is generally between 4 and 11 cm. The American hand twist is 4-7 cm, and the local hand twist is best not more than 11 cm. Of course, it is better to be under 4 cm, but it is rare to be naturally mature and perfect in all aspects. ”

"The navel is very important, the smaller the better, because the hand twist is small and exquisite, and the ornamental is strong, so it is required not to have a little flaw for the top grade."

Cao Ming selected a few from a large basket of hand twists, and compared them respectively, hand twists are generally very cheap, at most ten yuan a piece. You can choose by yourself, and you have the fun of Taobao.

"The dragon head is the gourd vine, the dragon head is thick or elegant, and it is like a pre-flight. A gourd without a faucet will greatly reduce its charm. The stout faucet, the gourd is closer to the root, receives more nutrients, and has a higher degree of maturity. The thinner faucet is the gourd that grows at the end of the gourd vine, and the nutrition will be poorer. ”

"When buying, be sure to carefully check the position where the faucet is in contact with the mouth, whether it is a natural growth? Some gourd faucets are broken, and some merchants insert a gourd vine and stick it with glue in order to sell it well. ”

"The mouth is located at the upper mouth of the gourd, and refers to a small section between the upper belly and the vine, and some gourds do not have it. The length of the mouth should be proportional to the gourd body, not too long or none, and the gourd without a mouth does not feel too good. When purchasing, pay attention to rotate the gourd a few more times, some gourd mouths are crooked, if you don't pay attention, you will choose a crooked gourd. ”

"The waist, the junction between the upper and lower belly of the gourd. It should also be uniform, proportional to the gourd as a whole, and the quality of the gourd with a long waist, thick waist or no waist is much worse. ”

"The umbilicus is the pedicle of the gourd. It is the small circle part at the bottom of the gourd. The umbilicus should be positive, round and smooth, without rotten umbilicus and fried umbilicus.

When purchasing, pay attention to the gourd that does not have a rotten umbilical cord or fried umbilicus. ”

"The skin, the outer skin of the gourd is delicate and smooth, the skin is dark yellow and slightly reddish, there is no large piece of pubic skin or white skin, no yellow skin falls off, and there is no large piece of mildew. On some gourds, there are vertical stripes, which are the natural lines of the gourd, which do not belong to the yin skin, and will fade when they are red. ”

Cao Ming pointed out the precautions one by one, so that players can choose a basic standard, and they can't let the merchants lead the way.

"According to my personal opinion, the various aspects of the gourd, in order: the first shape, to see if it is the shape you like, whether it is a "standard" gourd or a "special-shaped" gourd, the most important thing is to have an eye. ”

"The second is maturity and leather, because the gourd that is played well gives the first impression to the senses, which should be whether the color of the leather is beautiful? Can you play with the feeling similar to the luster of red agate? Without a gourd with good leather and a high degree of maturity, it is impossible to play with this effect. ”

"The third is the faucet, a complete good faucet, which can play a very good role in embellishment, add the beauty and charm of the gourd, and also reflect the owner of the gourd, the love of the gourd."