26 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



close to the ground, and ruins it without 

 any apparent advantage to himself. I 

 find him on the hills of cucumbers 

 (perhaps it will be a cholera-year, and 

 we shall not want any), the squashes 

 (small loss), and the melons (which 

 never ripen). The best way to deal 

 with the striped bug is to sit down by 

 the hills, and patiently watch for him. 

 If you are spry, you can annoy him. 

 This, however, takes time. It takes 

 all day and part of the night. For he 

 flyeth in darkness, and wasteth at noon- 

 flay. If you get up before the dew is 

 off the plants, it goes off very early, 

 you can sprinkle soot on the plant 

 (soot is my panacea : if I can get the 

 disease of a plant reduced to the neces 

 sity of soot, I am all right) ; and soot 

 is unpleasant to the bug. But the best 

 thing to do is to set a toad to catch 

 the bugs. The toad at once establishes 



