WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 105 



THIRTEENTH WEEK. 



I FIND that gardening has unsurpassed 

 advantages for the study of natural history ; 

 and some scientific facts have come un- 

 der my own observation, which cannot fail 

 to interest naturalists and un-naturalists in 

 about the same degree. Much, for instance, 

 has been written about the toad, an animal 

 without which no garden would be complete. 

 But little account has been made of his value : 

 the beauty of his eye alone has been dwelt 

 on ; and little has been said of his mouth, 

 and its important function as a fly and bug 

 trap. His habits, and even his origin, have 

 been misunderstood. Why, as an illustra- 

 tion, are toads so plenty after a thunder- 

 shower ? All my life long, no one has been 

 able to answer me that question. Why, 

 after a heavy shower, and in the midst of it, 

 do such multitudes of toads, especially little 



