1 886. 



POPULAR GARDENING, 



127 



Treeclimber's Talks. 



THE LADY-BIRD (OR BUGj AS A GARDEN 

 HELPER. 



I can hardly think that among all my young 

 readers — certain]}' not of these who live in the 

 country— there should be one who is not familiar 

 with the jjretty little beetle called the Lady-bird 

 or Lady-bug. It is very common in gardens and 

 about plants everywhere, and that it usually 

 finds friends in children because of 

 its neat innocent appearance I know. 

 I very well recall the little verse that 

 in my childhood was associated with 

 this insect and which no doubt is 

 familiar to childien everywhere. It 

 nuis with a pretty jingle as follows: 



Lady-bird, Lady-bird, fly away home. 

 Your house is on fire, your children will 



burn. 



Quite likely, however, some of my 

 many young friends who have ad- 

 mired the little bug may not happen 

 to know it by this name, so I have 

 made a drawing of one of the species, 

 to introduce it in this wa}', and this 

 the publishers have had engraved, as 

 seen herewith. In the engraving the 

 Lafly-bird is seen on the upper leaf 

 of the twig. 



My pai'ticular object in treating 

 on this little beetle here is that I 

 want all gardeners, and the children 

 especially, to know that besides being quite 

 pretty it is also a very useful insect, and on 

 this account is entitled to the respect and pro- 

 tection of all plant lovers. It is what is called 

 an insectiverous beetle, that is 



IT FEEDS UPON INSECTS, 



and hence is the natural destroyer of at least 

 one of the most common enemies that consumes 

 our plants. This is the Aphis or Plant Louse, 

 which in one form or another may be met on 

 almost every plant and tree in cultivation. All 

 you who have pot plants are familiar enough 

 with the.se plant lice, I have no doubt. 



But while our engraving will at once call to 

 mind the Lady-bird as found in one of its most 

 common forms, my readers should know that 

 there are many different kinds of these bugs, 

 as shown mostly by a difiference in their colors. 

 Those of a red color with black spots are met 

 perhaps as often as any, but there are others 

 that are yellow with black spots, and 



STILL OTHERS THAT ARE BLACK 



with white, red or yellow spots. These differ- 

 ent kinds together are very plentiful ai'ound [ 

 plants, and are all great consimiers of plant 

 lice, hence I speak of them here so that you 1 

 may keep a lookout for and cherish them, in 

 whatever colored coat they may be met. 



Now while it may be easy enough to excite a 

 favorable interest in the Lady-bird, being it is 

 such a pretty looking insect, I must go further 

 and introduce it in one of its other forms, 

 namely, 



IN ITS GRUB OR LARV'A STATE, 



plant lice, as a grub it is even more so. The 

 appeiirance of the latter is well shown by the 

 long dark object on the lower leaf to the left in 

 the engraving. As to color it is bluish or blue- 

 black and usually bears some red or yellow 

 spots. The form is nearly hemispherical, that 

 is, half round, the under surface being very 

 flat, a fact that may help my readers to better 

 distinguish these useful gnibs at sight. 



These grubs are hatched from little yellow 

 eggs laid by the Lady-birds. As a goose or 

 duck lays and hatches her eggs near the water, 

 to accommodate the young when they appear, 

 so the Lady-bird by instinct lays her eggs in 

 clustei-s in places where plant lice are present, 

 so that the grubs find themselves at once with- 



"(ih.but Iwouldcomniiine with myself! I should 

 always have great thoughts amW such grandeur." 



"You would y What do vou reckon you"d eat- 

 Tlioughts, now, aint very fllliii', an' the land 'round 

 here won't even raise tunu'ps, an' I reckon you'd git 

 sick enough of it if you had to cook three meals a 

 day on little or notliin'." 



"Oh, see that beautiful little stream! How it 

 breaks around and over that gray rock, and then 

 rambles on. singing as it goes!" 



" Yes. an' there aint even a catfish in it. an' I never 

 know what minnitacloud-burstorsoniethin' isgoin' 

 to send it out of its banks clean into my kitchen 

 I've mopped up after that treach'rous tittle crick 

 half-a-dozen times now," 



" I fear you don't quite appreciate the beautiful 

 in nature's works." 



" Slebbe not. But I know that them that want to 

 live here an' raise a family on moonshine an' lights 

 an' shadders an' foamy waves kin do it. We're goin' 

 back to ole Missoury this fall, if we have to walk 

 ev'ry step of the way! " 



I riscfnl Garden Imturt. The Ladij-hird: its different 

 stages illustrated. 



in reach of their prey. As there are usually 

 many of these grubs for each bug that exists, 

 and they voracious consumers of lice, it is 

 easily un<ierstood how very useful they may 

 be to plant growers. Indeed one thing must 

 be said of this insect's habits that 



DOES NOT .SOUND VERT WELL, 

 namely, that whenever other food fails, they 

 are sometimes driven to consume the helpless 

 pupa of their own kind. 



I think I have now treated on the Lady-bird, 

 or the C'tici-inclla, as scientists would say, at 

 sufficient length to draw the attention of those 

 who should be its friends to it in its different 

 forms. Some of my readers will no doubt 

 wonder what the suspended object to the right 

 in the engraving is. This is our insect in its 

 pupa or chrysalis state, that which precedes the 

 perfect insect. 



Timothy Treeclimber. 



and then see how well its friends will lie ready 

 to stand liy it. To dwell upon that wonderfid 

 change which takes place at different stages in 

 an insect's life is not mj' object now, further 

 than to say that Ijeginning first with the egg 

 state there is next the gi'ub or larva state, then 

 the chrysalis or pupa state and at last the 

 perfect or beetle state. Of the Lady-bird as a 

 beetle I have already spoken and now for the 

 grub or larva state. And here I must say at 

 the start that it is not a very pleasing object to 

 look at, but let us remember that 



HANDSOME IS THAT HANDSOME DOES. 



For if as a bug our subject is destructive to 



The Poetical and the Practical. 



It often is the case that poetical people are 

 not disposed to be really practical in their ideas, 

 and rice rer.ia. If this were not so generally 

 true there would be many more successful 

 amateur gardeners than are now to be found, 

 for we frequently meet persons who manifest 

 the most intense passion for flowers and fine 

 plants, who know nothing about how to raise 

 them. Happy are the persons who combine 

 both the poetical and the practical in their tem- 

 peraments, for the latter may very advantage- 

 ously offset and aid the other. 



"Oh. those motintains!" cried a sentimental, gush- 

 ing traveler to the Rocky Mountains, as she clasped 

 her hands and rolled up her eyes in ecstacy. "Beau- 

 tiful, grand, majestic!'" 



" Y'es, they're right purty," said the matter-of- 

 fact mistress of the house ; "an' there's real good 

 ros'berries grows on 'em, too." 



"How illimitable, how va.st!" 



" Yes'ni : they're big as all out-doors, that's so." 



"What hghts and shadows! what lofty sum- 

 mits!" 



" Y'es, they're lofty enough; that's a fact." 



" They seem to lift me up to their own heavenly 

 heights." 



" Well, I guess if they'd let you drap, like they 

 did an old cow of our'n. you wouldn't want to be 

 lifted up agin."' 



" It seems to me I'd like to dwell always in the 

 shadow of those mighty walls." 



"Well, you'd find it mighty poky, now I tell you. 

 Lights an' shadders is mighty pore comp'ny." 



PET BIRDS. ANIMALS, ETC. 



Keep the cages very clean. 

 Parrots are naturally greedy eaters. 

 Celery is a treat for birds now and 

 then. 



Hempseed freely fed tends to ini|)air 

 digestion. 



Ring doves are quarrelsome only 

 when more than one single pair are kept 

 together. 



As for feathered pets, scarcely any- 

 thing could please the youngsters more 

 than some Golden Seabright Bantams. 



A cat at New Berlin, Conn., weighs 

 thirty-two pounds, and ls believed to be 

 the biggest tame cat in the country. 

 Who says " No " to this? 



It is a mistake to suppose that be- 

 cause certain grains are natural to par- 

 rots or other birds in a wild state that 

 these are also the best in captivity. 

 Caging alters the constitution and di- 

 gestive organs of birds. Just as long 

 confmement at an ofHce desk would 

 work a change in the eating powers of 

 some sturdy wood-chopper. 



The mastiff is essentially a watch- 

 dog, and needs weight and .strength 

 rather than speed; light bones and a 

 j^ small head are therefore fatal objections. 



While easily made fierce bv chaining, 

 they are famous for their good nature w'ith children 

 and unswerving fidelity. Their unfailing dignity and 

 aversion to the human species of tramps ha\e made 

 them favorites in all country houses. 



In confinement the wings of birds are used less, 

 the feet more than in nature. This is why the feet 

 of cage birds are liable to ailments. If they are 

 warty and seem to be sore, bathe them by holding 

 in luke-warm water for three or four minutes, and 

 then grease them with vaseline or with sweet cream. 

 Sometimes dirt accumulates on the feet or legs, to 

 get rid of which, unmerse these members in luke- 

 warm water for five minutes daily, until the dirt 

 loosens and parts from the feet. 



An Oversight. " Wiien I bought this parrot you 

 told me that he would repeatevery word he heard," 

 said a bird dealer's customer indignantly. " Well, 

 I say so yet. He will repeat every word he hears," 

 replied the dealer calmly, " But he does not repeiit 

 a single word," returned the customer. "That's 

 because he can't hear a single word. He is as deaf 

 as a post. You forgot to ask if he could hear, and 

 I forgot to mention it. My motto is ' Honesty is 

 the best policy. ' Morn ing, ma'am. "— Te.ras Ni/tinys. 

 A Simple Aquarium. Speaking on this subject 

 the Xeir York Triliune says that anybody can have 

 one. A two-quart glass jar will answer for a begin- 

 ning. Go to the nearest pond that has fish in it, 

 and with a .scoop-net get fishes, newts and insects. 

 Also get some aquatic plant. Put into the gla.ss jar 

 a small plant, two or three small fishes and half a 

 dozen insects. Fill with rain-water. Put the rest 

 into some larger reservoir. Should there be too 

 much animal life in your jar enough of it will die 

 to make the balance of vegetable and animal life 

 even. .Set the jar in the light, but not in the hot 

 sun. You will see bubbles of oxygen all over the 

 plant, cau.sed by the action of the sunlight on it. 

 This the fishes breathe. Their e.\-cretious feed the 

 plant. With this little aquarium you can make a 

 beginning and learn to manage a larger one. Every 

 day feed the fishes with fresh meat. Take a tiny 

 bit of the tenderest part of the meat for breakfast 

 and cut it into the finest of fine bits with small scis- 

 sors, and give it an atom at a time to the fish. They 

 will soon come and eat it from your finger. Or 

 hang a bit of meat tightly tied to a stick in the jar 

 and they will bite little pieces from it. 



