138 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



been toadless, it will really pay to import a few toads. There- 

 fore go on a still hunt some day and bring them home in a 

 bag. These adopted children are not apt to thrive so well, 

 however, as those born and bred in the garden, but this, 

 in the cases we know, may have been largely a matter of 

 luck. An arrangement for breeding them in a little pool, 

 where they may be raised from the egg, has afforded one 

 family many an entertaining hour. In any case, since the 

 eggs are always laid in water, at least some contrivance to 

 encourage breeding should be provided. Nobody can help 

 enjoying Mrs. Thaxter's amusing account of establishing a 

 colony of toads in her garden. 



One other animal, so useful that it might be properly named 

 the "First Aid to the Garden," remains to be properly men- 

 tioned. It is a creature that associates itself with the earliest 

 principles of agriculture. This is the earthworm. How to 

 make children appreciate at first hand the almost priceless 

 value of earthworms to the world deserves more than passing 

 consideration. "It may be doubted," says Darwin, "whether 

 there are any other animals which have played so important a 

 part in the history of the world as have these lowly organized 

 creatures." 1 Their activities are indicated by many signs. 

 The little mounds of castings show us where their burrows 

 lie. Brush away the stray leaves and grass that they have 

 pulled down into their burrows, and you will find a channel 

 extending many inches below ground. 



In the course of making a burrow, not only has the earth 

 been crumbled up and enriched, but the holes afford easy pas- 

 sage for air, for water, and for rootlets. The morning after a 

 warm rain is the time to find belated earthworms that have 

 been tempted, through their enjoyment of refreshing draughts 

 of water, too far away from their burrows. But to find them 



1 Charles R. Darwin, The Formation of Vegetable Mould, 



