My New Zealand Garden 77 



head was seized from behind, the cold forceps 

 came down his sleeve and, in our frenzy our 

 mischievous hands would break loose, and, were 

 it not for the short time at their disposal, they 

 would certainly have had something to answer for. 

 A short space of time was allowed us to brood 

 over the agony and gross deception practised upon 

 us, and all was peace once more. The dentist 

 received his fee, and we our half-crown not 

 because we had been good, but because it had 

 been promised to us if we would go and have the 

 tooth out. Such torture would almost incline one 

 to patronize the American dentist, who, when his 

 patient entered, remarked to his assistant, ' Stun 

 him, Bill !' 



The curriculum of New Zealand garden 

 ' pleasures ' must include blight, and opinions are 

 divided as to the worst enemy we have to contend 

 against. The Codlin Moth plays dreadful tricks 

 with our fruit-trees. Its modiis operandi is to lay 

 the egg in the blossom, so that without much 

 further trouble it finds itself growing away in the 

 middle of the apple, where it plays high jinks, 

 and down falls the fruit half-size. The Physian- 

 thus, or Moth-catching Plant, acts splendidly, and 

 lately I found four moths securely held by their 

 tongues in one blossom, and two or three in 

 many more, but, unfortunately, when the Codlin 

 Moth is out and about, the Physianthus is not. 



