July, 1914 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



331 



appeal, especially 

 during such a winter 

 as that of 1911-12. 

 Then the ground 

 was frozen hard and 

 deep, and snow, 

 snow was every- 

 where and not a 

 bite to eat for weeks 

 together. The poor 

 birds sat around like 

 men out of work, 

 despairing. I broke 

 up dry bread and 

 would call from the 

 back porch, "Here, 

 birds, birds, birds!" 

 in a voice as near 

 high C as I was able 

 to attain, much to 

 the amusement of 

 the neighbors, no 

 doubt, if not to that 

 of the sparrows. 



After the first 

 month of that dread- 

 ful winter, there 

 were only a few of 

 our horde left to re- 

 spond. Many no 

 doubt were frozen. 

 But the survivors 

 must have told other 

 sparrows about The 

 Woman. Their 

 number was soon 

 augmented by five 

 or six, then by ten or 

 twelve or twenty, 

 coming from all di- 

 rections. 



My own flock no 

 longer waits for me 

 to call. They come 

 to the neighbors' 

 trees — the mulberry 

 of evil deeds and the 

 crab apple hard by 

 — and there they sit 



waiting, hoping that I will take pity upon 

 them. I rustle the paper in which I carry out 

 the bread. This is their dinner-bell. Then 

 the birds come from the other sides. But 

 the caution of all is as great as their hunger. 

 They have not yet forgotten the furry 

 monster that lives in the house. Some- 

 times they do not approach their meal until 

 two or three minutes after I close the door. 

 When they feel sure that Fritzi is not com- 

 ing out, a few of the bolder spirits peck at 

 the food where it lies, but most of the birds 

 fly away with a piece into the neighbors' 

 yards or around to our front porch. 



VAGRANT CATS 



It seems to me that our neighborhood is 

 infested to an unusual degree with cats, 

 mostly homeless ones, judging by their lik- 

 ing for a snatch from our garbage can. I 

 need not say that their presence in a garden 

 is most destructive. 



We were greatly troubled with cats until 

 we hit upon the plan of fastening poultry 



We keep our dog despite an occasional loss in the flower beds; just because we like dogs- 



the sparrows 



netting two or three feet wide to strips of 

 wood nailed to the fence, letting the chicken 

 wire extend a foot above the latter. The 

 netting serves a double purpose. Vines 

 may be trained upon it and the added height 

 of the fence screen gives greater seclusion 

 to the yard. Hollyhocks and golden glow 

 rudbeckias may be fastened to it, and, I 

 think, appear more graceful than when tied 

 to stakes. It is used only on the sides of the 

 yard where we have observed cats to enter. 

 We no longer suffer directly from the 

 ruin wrought by the feline race when the 

 netting in good condition is in place. But, 

 unfortunately, the chicken wire does not 

 shut off a view of the cats as they prome- 

 nade on the high board fences that mark our 

 neighbors' boundaries. Until the vines 

 have made a luxuriant growth or the peren- 

 nials reached a good height, they bask there 

 in the sun in plain view or parade with 

 exasperating calmness on the fence tops 

 around us. The sight is as electrifying 

 to our dogs as was the gradual appearance 



of the Cheshire Cat 

 in the atmosphere 

 when Alice played 

 croquet in Wonder- 

 land. At the excit- 

 ing spectacle, they 

 are literally up in the 

 air. And when they 

 come down it is upon 

 foxgloves or bleed- 

 ing hearts or some 

 other plant dear to 

 me . Admonition 

 and punishment are 

 alike unheeded and 

 forgotten. 



I have now planted 

 golden glow rud- 

 beckias in the cor- 

 ner that suffers most 

 severely. These will 

 stand a great deal. 

 And they are easily 

 obtained and in- 

 crease rapidly. I 

 am not so deeply 

 stricken when they 

 are destroyed. Yet 

 it seems a mean 

 trick. They meet 

 with the usual fate 

 of patient, easy- 

 going folk. Come 

 to think of i t , 

 though, in their 

 case, it is but poetic 

 justice, for they try 

 their best to jostle 

 and crowd their 

 gentle and delicate 

 companions from 

 the border, being of 

 an order that among 

 human beings strives 

 to occupy two seats 

 in a street car when 

 entitled to but one. 

 Even amongflowers, 

 greed, if not graft, 

 obtains. Who that knows them can doubt 

 the existence of the Golden Glow Trust and 

 the Hardy Sunflower Monopoly? 



A board nailed to the top of the fence 

 now cuts off the view of a favorite lounge 

 for cats until the rudbeckias have reached 

 sufficient height to screen it. 



People say to us, "I wonder that you 

 keep dogs when you are so fond cf flowers." 

 Of course they wonder. Very often they 

 are of the half of the world that dislikes 

 dogs. We are of the other section. So, 

 we reflect that there are not many persons 

 who have all of the fine qualities of a good 

 dog, and say nothing, but retain our canine 

 friends, in spite of occasionalfloral casualties. 

 The faithful race can be trained to keep 

 off the flowers except during these little 

 periods of excitement. I have often seen 

 our old dog jump over a hedge of four 

 o' clocks around which she was too lazy to 

 walk, when she thought herself unobserved, 

 instead of breaking through it. 



{To be concluded in the August number) 



■ and then Fritzi also chases 



