that it is mid-winter and might become zero outside, and inside 
green fresh springing grass, and the brilliant winter sun slanting 
golden through a tracery of vines on the shining tropical foliage. 
Gertrude S. Wallbridge. 
At a recent Experience meeting one of our members who Experience? 
makes a specialty of small fruit and choice vegetables said that 
she had been terribly annoyed by the birds which came in flocks 
early in the morning and ate her Peas and Plums, before the 
family were up to dispute their right to these delectable things. 
She placed an artificial snake or two twined naturally along 
the top of the Pea-vines, which seemed to protect them com- 
pletely; but the Plum-trees were still devastated. She secured 
a stuffed sparrow-hawk which she fastened on a pole so that it 
appeared to be seated on the topmost bough of the Plum tree. 
It worked like a charm ! The small birds were terrified, and not 
even a Robin dared come near the tree ! Such a hullabaloo, too, 
as the little thieves made over the ogre which seemed to be a 
never-failing source of horror to them. A string was attached 
to the hawk's leg, so that any passer-by might give it a realistic 
pull, always responded to by shrieks from any small bird in 
the neighborhood. 
At the same experience meeting another member said that her 
summer research work had been to find some hardy perennial 
that a cow- would not eat ! Her neighbor had a bovine prize- 
winner with a neck like a giraffe, whose determination no 
fence could control. It seems to have been a wonderful sight 
to see the rarest named Dahlias disappearing do\\Ti the throat 
of that pure-bred Guernsey whose inward urge seemed to lead 
her towards picking flowers rather than the more domestic 
accomplishment of giving milk. 
A Garden Club Member discussed sprinkling tobacco dust n^oRArro 
quite thickly on the earth in her conservatory, depending on Ty.,j,p.„ 
watering and cultivation for carrying the liquid dowTiward for 
the purpose of killing worms and bugs, and acting also as a 
fertilizer. No bad effect was shown on roses or other strong 
plants, but it should not be used near seedlings. Experts have 
approved of this idea. 
E. H. P. K. 
Garden Pests and Remedies 
"The whole art of successful gardening lies in doing 
operations before they are really necessary." (From A Book of 
Gardening for the Sub-Tropics by Mary Stuart and ^ladeline 
Agar.) The above quotation applies more particularly to this 
department than to any other branch of gardening. Too often 
113 
