GARDEN ENEMIES 



which built in the syringa bushes when I was 

 a child. I have seen one of these beautiful 

 and friendly birds clear a big rambler rose 

 of aphids in a single day, which had defied 

 its gardener for the whole previous summer. 

 Now, alas, these birds are very scarce, and 

 the aphids are correspondingly troublesome. 

 The aphids are doubly difficult to deal with 

 because they are under the protection of 

 the ants, whom they serve in the capacity 

 of cows, and ants, as everyone knows, are 

 not easily outwitted. The canny ants really 

 milk the little tubes which protrude from 

 the abdomens of the aphids, and are so ex- 

 travagantly fond of the sweet liquid they 

 afford that they take good care to preserve 

 their cows from extinction. I have actu- 

 ally seen, on turning over a stone which 

 covered the winter home of a colony of 

 ants, a drove of these tiny green cows, care- 

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