FRIENDS AND ENEMIES OF PLANTS 



189 



beans in the garden, which, they claim, will prevent the intrusion 

 of moles. 



Goats. Of all our domestic animals the goat seems the most 

 destructive on account of its gnawing propensities in addition to 

 its insatiable appetite. Goats usually strip off all the foliage 

 on young fruit trees that is within their reach and then finish their 

 work of destruction by gnawing off the bark around the trunk of 

 the tree. The only safe plan is to keep them out of the orchard 

 and the yard or flower garden. 



Beneficial Animals. There are some animals that are very 

 beneficial to plants on account of their living upon insects injurious 

 to plants. 



The Toad. A great many people look upon the common toad 

 as an ugly repulsive animal that is of no particular use to any 



one, but this is a wrong idea 



which we should lose no time 

 in correcting. 



Toads devour thousands of 

 insects and in this way do us 

 a great benefit. Flies, worms, 

 and bugs are the natural food 

 of toads; and when you reflect 

 upon this, you surely will feel 

 more kindly disposed towards 

 them. It is estimated that 

 insects destroy crops every 

 year worth at least five hundred million dollars. During the 

 day the toad usually hides away in some safe nook or shelter, 

 but as night approaches he creeps forth in search of his food. In 

 cities and towns we frequently see large numbers of toads sitting 

 under the arc lamps in the streets to catch the insects which then 

 flutter around these lights and fall to the ground. If you were to 

 count the number of insects devoured by a single toad in the course 

 of an evening, you would be surprised at the capacity of his stomach 

 and would learn to prize him more highly as a friend of plants and 

 indirectly as a benefactor of the human family. If we were to 

 domesticate toads and keep them in our gardens, we should have 

 much less trouble with insects and should have much better success 



Toad 



