138 
GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 
been toadless, it will really pay to import a few toads. There- 
fore go on a still hunt some day and bring them home in a 
bag. These adopted children are not apt to thrive so well, 
however, as those born and bred in the garden, but this, 
in the cases we know, may have been largely a matter of 
luck. An arrangement for breeding them in a little pool, 
where they may be raised from the egg, has afforded one 
family many an entertaining hour. In any case, since the 
eggs are always laid in water, at least some contrivance to 
encourage breeding should be provided. Nobody can help 
enjoying Mrs. Thaxter’s amusing account of establishing a 
colony of toads in her garden. 
One other animal, so useful that it might be properly named 
the "First Aid to the Garden," remains to be properly men- 
tioned. It is a creature that associates itself with the earliest 
principles of agriculture. This is the earthworm. How to 
make children appreciate at first hand the almost priceless 
value of earthworms to the world deserves more than passing 
consideration. "It may be doubted," says Darwin, "whether 
there are any other animals which have played so important a 
part in the history of the world as have these lowly organized 
creatures." ^ Their activities are indicated by many signs. 
The little mounds of castings show us where their burrows 
lie. Brush away the stray leaves and grass that they have 
pulled down into their burrows, and you will find a channel 
extending many inches below ground. 
In the course of making a burrow, not only has the earth 
been crumbled up and enriched, but the holes afford easy pas- 
sage for air, for water, and for rootlets. The morning after a 
warm rain is the time to find belated earthworms that have 
been tempted, through their enjoyment of refreshing draughts 
of water, too far away from their burrows. But to find them 
1 Charles R. Darwin, The Formation of Vegetable Mould. 
