INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 27 



by which disease and insect pests are spread. My favourite 

 antidote, which may not appeal to everybody is a healthy, 

 vigorous pen of poultry the number of insects such birds 

 dispose of is marvellous ; and a brood of ducks, if judiciously 

 allowed to perambulate the garden under the watchful eye 

 of the gardener at dusk, will make terrific gaps in the ranks 

 of our enemies. Again, we must not despise the humble efforts 

 of the robin, starling, thrush, and blackbird. Despite the evil 

 reputation that surrounds such birds when the ripe fruit is in 

 evidence in our gardens, whatever damage they may do in that 

 direction is fully compensated by the enormous number of 

 insects these birds dispose of in the autumn, winter, and spring 

 months just the period during which the destruction of insects 

 is most opportune. If there is a choice, I would rather allow 

 Mr. Blackbird or Mrs. Starling to appropriate my Plums and 

 Cherries than a rascally wasp or wriggling maggot ! And I 

 really think that is what it generally amounts to. Let us be 

 lenient with our birds, even if some of them are incorrigible 

 thieves ! If we destroy our feathered allies, there is far worse 

 indeed, something unmanageable to follow ! 



But I maintain that the worst of all, the most insidious, 

 disseminators of insect and disease troubles are weeds. It 



is a notable fact that when weeds are allowed to grow 

 Weeds in close proximity to vegetables that belong to the 



same family group of plants, those vegetables often 

 fall a prey to disease and insect pests. The weeds, of course, 

 spring up in advance of the good, useful plants, and are attacked 

 by garden enemies, which are at once attracted to so plentiful 

 a stock of food ; moreover, weeds occur in such numbers, so 

 crowded are the plants, that most of them have not sufficient 

 stamina to withstand attacks of disease, and become infested 

 in a wholesale manner. One can test this almost anywhere 

 weeds, grasses, and other undesirable plants are always a home 

 for greenfly, blackfly, mildew, slugs, caterpillars, snails, etc. 

 When the enemy has worked his will upon the weeds, he is 

 faced with a greater temptation in the shape of the more luscious 

 vegetables close by, which immediately become the object of 

 attack. The cultivator may, by thinning out quickly by culti- 

 vation, and by the use of insecticides, ward off or prevent serious 

 developments of the attack ; but it is far better to remove the 

 weeds at the beginning. It behoves every gardener, then, to 

 quickly eliminate every seedling weed that appears in his 

 garden, v/hether on the pathways^ vacant or unused ground, the 



