THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



flowers, cabbage, tomatoes, and the like but are 

 destructive, indeed, to the tender leaves of the 

 lettuce, and as the garden advances and tomatoes 

 and melons ripen, they can be trusted to peck 

 everything as it ripens. Moreover, having formed 

 the garden habit it is nearly impossible to break 

 them of it, and fences that were considered chicken- 

 tight apparently form no barrier to them. I have 

 repeatedly seen Plymouth Rocks and American 

 Reds climb up a wire netting by hooking their 

 claws into the meshes, balance a moment on the 

 top wire, and fly triumphantly down into the for- 

 bidden land. Chickens which have never been al- 

 lowed in the garden seldom make serious trouble 

 in confinement. 



The past summer I have been greatly puzzled 

 to learn how certain half -grown American Reds 

 gained access to the garden, past a six-foot board 

 fence and a five-foot wire netting, but the mystery 

 was solved when I found that they were climbing 

 from branch to branch of a mulberry tree on the 

 park side of the fence, until they had reached a 

 sufficiently high altitude, when they flew down on, 

 or over, the fence. 



A flock of Buff Rocks, which came of stock 

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