THE HORTICULTURAL CLUB 159 



fly will think he is a chunk of mud, but when it is 

 near enough he snaps it. You would not think he 

 could make such a quick jump for it, but he does. 

 I have eight toads in my garden, and have not been 

 bothered much yet with slugs. People say that toads 

 make warts on your hands. They have n't made any 

 warts yet on my hands, but anyway I would rather 

 have warts on my hands than bugs on my flowers." 



"I think toads are nasty things," objected Elea- 

 nor. 



"Eleanor," said Mary, "that is only a a prejudice. 

 Toads are very useful." 



"You 're wrong about one thing, Finnan Haddie," 

 said Buddy Thomas. "A toad does n't jump. I 've 

 watched them lots of times. It just shoots out its 

 tongue so quickly that you can scarcely see it, and it 

 has something sweet and sticky on the end of its 

 tongue that catches the fly, like sticky fly-paper. 

 That 's the way he catches them." 



"But I never saw any slugs ! " objected Eleanor. 



"Of course you have n't seen them, unless you 

 were up very early," replied the essayist. "They 

 come out at night." 



"That 's ' because their deeds are evil,' " remarked 



