Secretary's Budget. 363 



WIKEWOKMS. 



I was not aware until I read Professor Cook's article that wire- 

 worms are the grubs of spring beetles ; I supposed they propagated 

 after their own kind in the soil, year after year. There is much 

 ignorance regarding the names and habits of a multitude of familiar 

 objects, animate and inanimate, denizens of the eartli and air. 

 Why is not a practical knowledge of the names and habits of 

 familiar birds, beetles, bugs, also the names and uses of trees, 

 shrubs and weeds, taught in our country schools ? It seems to me 

 the study of these things \tould be exceedingly interesting and 

 useful. Children would enjoy an occasional "field day " spent in 

 the out-door study of the wonders of nature. I am very much 

 dissatisfied with my own ignorance and would like authorities to 

 suggest several practical treatises upon our native insects and 

 weeds, useful and injurious. — N. Y. Tribune. 



BUTTERMILK AND WATER AS AN INSECTICIDE. 



To get rid of the cabbage-worm I have successfully used but- 

 termilk and water the last two years — about one-third of the former 

 to two-thirds of the latter. My cabbages were also badly infested 

 with lice, but two applications freed them completely. The brown 

 and yellow striped bug, the great pest to cucumber and water- 

 melon vines, will do no damage if the vines are occasionally 

 sprinkled with the mixture ; but I think they require sprinkling 

 oftener and with a stronger solution of buttermilk than the cab- 

 bage.— r. C. C. 



A HOMELY FRIEND. 



It is astonishing how repulsive the toad is to most people. He 

 is a very homely fellow but like many other homely folks has some 

 great virtues. Tlie Toronto Globe tells us of some of them as 

 follows : 



" Tlie toad can be both tamed and trained to an extent which 

 will amply repay the necessary trouble and patience expended in 

 the undertaking. In proof of this let some plucky reader instead 

 of screaming and kicking the next specimen that crosses his or her 

 path into the wayside gutter, gently take it by the "scuff of the 

 neck " (it won't bite) place it on the window sill and watch the 

 results. Presently a fly comes within reach, when like a flash it 

 disappears on the tip of the creature's tongue, speared apparently 

 with a precision that would warm the soul of an Afghan. Another 

 and another shares the same fate, until the supply or capacity fails — 



