GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS 
sion or tobacco water, or else sprinkle with clear 
water and then dust with tobacco dust. 
Not all of the live things that you find about 
your plants and flowers are injurious, however, and 
you must learn to recognize those which are bene- 
ficial. The ladybug, although a beetle, lives on 
aphides, and so is your helper in destroying them. 
Several beetles, like the fiery ground beetle, sub- 
sist on cutworms, and the soldier bug dines on the 
destructive offspring of beetles and moths. The 
daddy-long-legs and the spider are also friends to 
your garden, together with many wasps. 
As for the bees, many, many plants are depend- 
ent on them for fertilization, as the insects in their 
search for honey go clear down into the flowers 
and carry with them the necessary pollen from one 
blossom to another. Two stories I have heard il- 
lustrate this point. In Australia many years ago 
people tried to introduce clover, but they could not 
make it grow until some one thought of importing 
the bees also. The native insects did not have a 
proboscis long enough to reach to the bottom of the 
flower, so that the pollen had never been properly 
placed. Then, not very long ago, a farmer living 
near a railroad had his crop of tomatoes ruined be- 
cause the railroad used soft coal, the soot of which 
—settling on the tomato blossoms—kept away the 
98 
