AN ISLAND GARDEN II 



go so far as to exercise a gentle force in bringing 

 him back to the regions where his services may 

 be of the greatest utility." 



One of the most universal pests is the cut- 

 worm, a fat, naked worm of varying lengths. I 

 have seen them two inches and a half long and as 

 large round as my little finger. This unpleasant 

 creature lives in the ground about the roots of 

 plants. I have known one to go through a whole 

 row of Sweet Peas and cut them off smoothly 

 above the roots just as a sickle would do ; there 

 lay the dead stalks in melancholy line. It makes 

 no difference what the plant may be, they will 

 level all without distinction. The only remedy 

 for this plague is to scratch all about in the earth 

 round the roots of the plants where their ravages 

 begin, dig the worms out, and kill them. I have 

 found sometimes whole nests of them with twenty 

 young ones at once. Lime dug into the soil is 

 recommended to destroy them, but there is no 

 remedy so sure as seeking a personal interview 

 and slaying them on the spot. They are not by 

 any means always to be discovered, but the gar- 

 dener must again exercise that endless patience 

 upon which the success of the garden depends, 

 and be never weary of seeking them till they are 

 found. 



Another enemy to my flowers, and a truly for- 

 midable one, is my little friend the song-sparrow. 

 Literally he gives the plot of ground no peace if 

 I venture to put seeds into it. He obliges me to 

 start almost all my seeds in boxes, to be trans- 

 planted into the beds when the plants are suf- 



