CHAPTER VI 
PROTECTING PLANTS FROM THINGS THAT PREY ON THEM 
PLANTS are preyed on by insects and fungi; and they are 
subject to various kinds of disease that, for the most part, are 
not yet understood. They are often injured also by mice and 
rabbits (p. 144), by moles, dogs, cats, and chickens; and fruit is 
eaten by birds. Moles may be troublesome on sandy land; 
they heave the ground by their burrowing and may often be 
killed by stamping when the burrow is being raised; there are 
mole traps that are more or less successful. Dogs and cats 
work injury mostly by walking across newly made gardens 
or lying in them. These animals, as well as chickens, should 
be kept within their proper place (p. 16); or if they roam at 
will, the garden must be inclosed in a tight wire fence or the 
beds protected by brush laid closely over them. 
The insects and diseases that attack garden plants are legion; 
and yet, for the most part, they are not very difficult to combat if 
one is timely and thorough in his operations. These difficulties 
may be divided into three great categories: the injuries wrought 
by insects; the injuries of parasitic fungi; the various types 
of so-called constitutional diseases, some of which are caused by 
germs or bacteria, and many of which have not yet been worked 
out by investigators. 
The diseases caused by parasitic fungi are usually distinguished 
by distinct marks, spots or blisters on the leaves or stems, 
and the gradual weakening or death of the part; and, in many 
cases, the leaves drop bodily. For the most part, these spots 
on the leaves or stems sooner or later exhibit a mildew-like or 
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