CULTIVATION 177 



they wend their slimy way ? Not at all. But 

 yonder is a plant of Phyteuma comosum just 

 showing its purple leaves. What more 

 could heart (if it has one, which I doubt) of 

 slug desire for a luscious supper ? Or per- 

 chance it is a struggling plant of Campanula 

 Zoyzii^ or Erigeron^ or Symphydra pendula^ or ! ! ! 

 A volume could be filled with all the or's ! 

 How can we cope with such difficulties ? For 

 if the birds be destroyed, then there promptly 

 will be a plague of insects, and the last state 

 will be far worse than the first. So it were 

 better to destroy all the insects. But can this 

 be done ? The answer is short. Quite im- 

 possible. So let the birds live, or some of 

 them at least, to keep the balance of nature. 



Dire indeed would be the result if this 

 were lost. The one example of the rabbits 

 of Australia too easily proves the truth of 

 this. 



Many mixtures are advertised for destroy- 

 ing these pests, but personally I have not found 

 any of them very efficacious. Perhaps I did 

 not use them properly ; but, be that as it may, 

 the result was that neither slugs nor snails 



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