GARDENING FOE LITTLE GIELS 



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 



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