190 FRIENDS AND ENEMIES OF PLANTS 



with our plants. By surrounding the garden with finely woven 

 poultry, wire fencing toads may be confined within the premises 

 and we can satisfy ourselves as to the advantage of their presence. 

 If this is not done, the toads will make their escape. 



The Horned Toad. The so-called horned toad is really ' a 

 lizard found in the dry prairies and plains of the United States 

 and Mexico. In Arizona, California, Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma 

 they are very abundant and may be captured without much 

 difficulty. They resemble the common toads, but are much 

 smaller, and their bodies are covered with scales and spines of a 

 brownish, dusky tint. On each side of the animal's head is a short 

 heavy spine or horn, and on account of this fact it is known as 

 the horned toad. They feed on flies, ants, and other small insects. 



Frogs. Our common frogs are another class of animals that 

 do us good service in devouring insects. They look very much 

 like the common toad, but spend the most of their time in water 

 instead of living on land. 



Other Beneficial Animals. It is frequently found advisable 

 to turn hogs into our orchards in order that they may capture and 

 devour the grubs or larvae of objectionable insects that may 

 be present on the ground. It will be found advisable to adopt 

 some means of preventing the hogs from rooting up the ground 

 and doing too much damage in this way. This is usually accom- 

 plished by clamping an iron ring or crescent in each hog's nose. 

 Besides eating up the grubs, the hogs will also eat up any diseased 

 or decayed fruit that may fall from the trees. 



Sheep are sometimes turned into fields to subdue weed pests, 

 and they do the work very satisfactorily. Goats are frequently 

 used for the same purpose if there are no fruit trees around. 



EXERCISES 



1. Ascertain the cost of a formaldehyde solution for a bushel of seed oats, 

 and then calculate the cost for the seed required to sow a field of forty acres. 



2. Estimate the amount of I^rdeaux mixture necessary to spray an 

 acre of potatoes and calculate cost for a field of twenty acres. 



3. How many bushels of potatoes at seventy-five cents per bushel will 

 it take to pay for the Bordeaux mixture used in the above problem ? 



4. Estimate the labor required and calculate the number of bushels of 

 potatoes that will be required to pay for the labor. 



