' LADYBIRDS AND TOADS 99 



In our gardens several varieties of this darling 

 beetle make themselves useful. The spotted 

 ladybird is death on the asparagus beetle, 

 which, if not checked, will destroy a whole bed 

 of this delectable vegetable. These ladybirds 

 are pretty creatures, rose colored, with black 

 spots. I catch them in the vegetable garden by 

 the handful and carry them to the asparagus, 

 or sweet pea, or poppy beds, or wherever else 

 they are most wanted. That the sweet peas 

 need them badly sometimes may be gathered 

 from the fact that a single green aphis of the 

 kind which destroy the leaves of this plant 

 may in one season become the progenitor of 

 nearly half a million aphides. I hate particu- 

 larly the black aphides which cluster around the 

 stems of poppies. Arsenic kills them, but I 

 don't want to spray my choice blossoms, so I 

 rely on these beetles, and they do the job 

 efficiently. 



TOADS, YES SNAKES, NO 



Toads I also carry (in tin cans) to my favorite 

 garden beds. To be sure, they may swallow the 

 betes a bon Dieu along with beetles that come 

 from the "other place," but that cannot be 

 helped. Toadie must be fed even if we have to 

 throw in a few of our best friends to fill his 

 capacious maw. Snakes, on the other hand 

 who wants snakes in his garden? I kill them 

 always. To be sure, they are insectivorous, but 



