140 GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 



spoiled. The garden teacher, with a quick eye for the situ- 

 ation, explained on the spot to the children the value of ani- 

 mals to the garden, sparing no pains to do the earthworm 

 full justice. Not many days after, the child was seen traveling 

 to and fro, intent, it appeared, upon some important business. 

 "What are you doing, Susan?" "I am collecting earthworms 

 for my garden." A zealous convert to the new thought, she had 

 been industriously gathering from all parts of the lot dozens 

 of writhing worms, which she was proceeding to " plant " in 

 'her own individual garden, a space six feet by eight. 



Perhaps, on the whole, a gardener's most faithful allies are 

 the birds, and if so, it is his duty to protect and to cultivate 

 them. Every bird, except the English sparrow, is what may 

 be called a "paying guest," and some birds are really price- 

 less. Farmers have shown themselves incredibly shortsighted 

 in not balancing fairly the virtues of birds against their mis- 

 chief, especially when their helpful acts would so clearly seem 

 to outweigh their troublesome ones. And yet mistakes are 

 inevitable when acting, as they have commonly done, on the 

 basis of snap judgments instead of the basis of actual experi- 

 ment. Admitting that birds, like children, have their trouble- 

 some moments, who is mean enough to refuse a modest 

 payment in cherries, if that is the currency preferred, to a 

 bird like the robin, which often consumes in a day hundreds 

 of pests ? Mr. George T. Powell says that he makes it a 

 point to set out a few shrubs which birds especially like, on 

 purpose to discharge his debt to them. 



If we hope to coax them to our fields and gardens, we can 

 only do so by studying their tastes. A pan of mud for swal- 

 lows and robins, hair for the chipping sparrows, as well as 

 bits of thread, yarn, and twine, will all be woven into some 

 dainty nest ; and all sorts of birds will find a drinking basin 

 and a bath most acceptable. 



