Mine Enemies 121 
stitutional after a full meal. So I take any convenient dewy 
morn for my operations, as I have to battle with them inter- 
mittently from early spring until other pests arrive to divide 
my attention. 
The white grubworm is, in a way, worse than the brown 
cutworm, for it works below ground, eats the roots of plants, 
and cuts through the stem so near the roots that a plant seldom 
recovers from its tooth. It isa wholly unnecessary by-product 
of a garden, provided one takes the precaution never to use 
fresh manure directly in the beds. Prepare a compost heap 
where loads of sand, leaf mold, loam and well-rotted manure 
are deposited and worked over from time to time. When a 
year old, add this mixture as a fertilizer and you will have no 
grubs. During my first two years of gardening I made the 
mistake of using fresh horse-dressing, and the white grubs 
were everywhere. Since I have established a compost"heap, 
the grubs have entirely disappeared. They have to be dug out 
and despatched, unless you are fortunate or unfortunate 
enough to have moles also, which follow a worm as the day the 
night. 
If animals could only be taught how to use a garden prop- 
erly all would be well with my world: but dogs do not stand 
at the edge and wag their tails in mute admiration of its 
beauty; cats will not avert their eyes from birds and concen- 
trate on mice and moles; and moles will not pick their way 
guardedly between rows of plants and shoo their prey in well- 
defined runways. Hence, dogs, cats and moles are anathema, 
and I will have none of them. 
“Ah, very nice,” exclaims the gentle reader, “we do not 
like moles either, but what can you do to drive them away?” 
Before I answer that question, let me relate my early experi- 
ences with the mole. 
My garden was constructed from a stone heap, and a stone 
