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weed. Thej^ come when least expected, remain for a 

 time and disappear without any visible cause. There is 

 nothing more vexatious than to see our choice plants cut 

 down by some destructive vermin that spring into exist- 

 ence as if by the sudden bidding of Omnipotence. 

 Scarcely do our young sr[uashes show themselves above 

 the ground, than the striped bug appears and gorges 

 himself on their tender leaves. We sift on some plaster, 

 and congratulate ourselves that the plants are saved, 

 when we find a creature on them more disgusting than 

 imy substance we can apply to drive him away. 



We place a shingle in the hill, and by carefully watch- 

 ing every morning, and crushing every squash bug with 

 ^i stone, our vines are at last free from bugs and in the 

 full tide of luxuriant growth. We feel sure of a crop ; 

 but some fine day we see the vines begin to turn yellow 

 and droop ; we examine and find a worm in the stem 

 against whose ravages we are helpless. We see our 

 vines Avither away one by one, until our plants and ex- 

 pectations of a plentiful crop are dead together. 



And so almost every crop we raise, has one or more 

 insect-enemies. What the canker-worm leaves the cater- 

 pillar eats ; and if we protect our trees — as we may — 

 against these crawling abominations, the curculio and cod- 

 ling moth attack the fruit, and it drops before half grown. 



The flea and the cut worm eat the young cabbages ; 

 the white grub cuts the roots from the strawberry, while 

 we helplessly look on and see the plants wither away ; 

 the currant worm deprives us of one of our most delic- 

 ious summer fruits ; the European cabbage worm has 

 made its appearance, and we are told that we can neither 

 prevent its ravages or make use of the plant after it has 

 been tunneled by this destroyer ; and worst of all we are 



