182 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Trith man in his cultivated grounds, they are there his most use- 

 ful co-workers. If not already in the garden, man should collect 

 and carry them there. A few toads in a vine patch, soon rid it of 

 its worst enemies, the bugs. The young of frogs, while in the 

 tadpole age, breathe by gills, under water. After they lose their 

 tails, and become perfect frogs, they are air breathing animals, 

 and not amphibious. If they dive, it is only suspended inspira- 

 tion. They must come to the surface to breathe. In spite of all 

 that Shakespeare has said to sustain the prejudice against toads, 

 they are not poisonous, nor hateful. Our antipathy all comes 

 from faulty education. We should teach our children not to hate, 

 but to protect toads. We should also try to overcome the pre- 

 judice against eating frogs. They should be the cheap and plenty 

 food of the poor, instead of, as now, the choice dainties of the 

 rich. They might as well be grown for food as chickens. Frogs 

 would only need a fit place to live. They would need no food 

 nor care. If the idea of cultivating frogs is thought absurd, it is 

 not more so than the idea of sending ice to the tropics was thought 

 to be a few years ago. It was made to pay, and a frog pond, as 

 well as the ice pond may, and frogs should be an article of food 

 in every market." 



The paper of Dr. Smith, of which the above is only a brief 

 sketch, was listended to with that kind of attention that proves 

 its lessons were received with satisfaction, and several members 

 related anecdotes and commendations of the toad. Prof. Nash 

 recommended making toad houses in the garden, by placing four 

 bricks together and covering so as to form little caves. Solon 

 Eobinsou related an anecdote of one that the children learned to 

 respect as "father's old toad." 



The Ailanthus. 



Mr. F. G. Skinner, New York, anathematizes the ailanthus tree. 

 '• Do, pray, at the next meeting of your club, bring this infernal 

 Indian Upas to trial, and down with it. What plea can be put 

 in mitigation of the sentence which I claim at your hands ? Though 

 an ardent lover of trees, I confess I can find none for this vile 

 tree, which at this moment pollutes the air which I breathe, 

 afflicting every member of my family with headache and nausea." 



Mr. Solon liolnnson. — I sympathize with you and your family, 

 yet I cannot recommend the destruction of this tree, because it is 

 the only one that can be depended upon to grow in our city pave- 



