'^ LADYBIRDS AND TOADS 101 



trees played the usual aggravating seesaw be- 

 tween too much one year and nothing at all the 

 next. In 1920 New York had a bumper crop of 

 apples, while Maine — at least this part of it — 

 had only a bushel or two. Of our own trees 

 the only ones bearing that autumn were the 

 two which in the preceding fall got each a pail- 

 ful of enrichment from the henhouse. 



CHICKENS AND THE GARDEN 



In gardens, too, chickens would be desirable 

 if they would only behave themselves; but they 

 don't. They would be welcome to all the grass- 

 hoppers they could catch and all the worms they 

 could scratch; but when they eat young plants, 

 or ripe tomatoes, or dig out precious plants in 

 quest of insects, you gently but firmly drive 

 them back to their inclosure. What I do with 

 our flock of fifty is to let them out on the pasture 

 for an hour daily; the grasshoppers and moths 

 and other critters they swallow in that time are 

 a valuable addition to the diet which we don't 

 have to pay for. 



If the chickens are of no use to the garden — 

 except when all the damageable crops are in, 

 after which they should be turned loose in it all 

 day — the garden, on the other hand, is of great 

 use to them. In speaking of pigs I refer to the 

 now fully recognized importance of greens in 

 their diet because of their growth-promoting 

 food salts. Chickens, too, grow faster and are 



