The Toad as a Garden 
Benefactor 
THE HOMELIEST MEMBER OF THE ANIMAL 
KINGDOM, WHO IS WORTH HIS WEIGHT 
IN GOLD AS AN ASSISTANT IN THE GARDEN 
by A. C. Workman 
Photographs by Ella M. Beals 
T 
English gardeners import toads by 
the bushel to keep down injuri¬ 
ous insects 
l HE common toad, 
proverbially the 
ugliest animal form in 
nature and bearing the 
burden of many supersti¬ 
tions, is one of the most 
important animals we have, considered on the side of public 
economy and judged by the standard of good works. 
The American farmer and gardener have innumerable enemies 
to contend against; probably those assailing their crops and 
gardens in greatest numbers are the insects. While no actual 
statistics of the aggregate of annual losses due to insects are obtain¬ 
able, it has been estimated that they cause from three to four 
hundred million dollars’ damage annually. More than half of 
this loss might be saved by utilizing as a beneficent force this 
common toad that nature has provided as an efficient check on 
insect increase. The services that this much-despised animal 
renders are only beginning to be recognized, but will be more ap¬ 
preciated when the popular superstitions concerning it are accepted 
as fancy, rather than fact. It has been proved that the toad 
possesses no venomous qualities, no medicinal virtues; and the 
common belief that the toad produces warts is likewise a myth, 
having no foundation in fact. 
Possessing no beauty of form or color with which to win its 
way to popular favor, the acquaintance of the toad must be sought 
for other charms than those of beauty. One friend of this animal 
tells us that he “picks up a toad a hundred times a season just to 
enjoy looking at its eye — a living, sparkling, ever-changing jewel— 
and his music in the springtime brings a pleasure that nothing 
else affords.” The lover of nature finds the greatest interest of 
the toad in its development and habits. Zoologically, no animal 
has a development better adapted for study. 
After a winter spent under rocks, rubbish, boards, or hidden 
some distance below the surface of the soil, the toads bestir them¬ 
selves, crawl out of their winter quarters, and begin their annual 
migration to the breeding ponds. “That tremorous song of the 
toad,” that Hamilton has described as the “sweetest sound in 
nature ” is soon heard, and a visit to the pond will disclose the 
source of the music, for there will 
be seen hundreds—possibly thous¬ 
ands—of toads paddling about in the 
water, the males trilling at the top 
of their voices. These “cheeriest 
wedding bells of the season” are 
heard only for a few days. 
An almost incredible number 
of eggs are laid by the toad. Dr. 
Hodge, of Clark University, is au¬ 
thority for the record of 5,787 
and 11,545 eggs obtained from two 
toads. These eggs are about the 
size of a small pin-head at first, 
black above and light below, and 
are laid in ropes, enveloped in a 
Give the toad a bath-tub and a shel¬ 
ter from the mid-day sun for your 
garden’s sake 
The old superstition that the toad produces warts is abso¬ 
lutely without foundation in fact 
gelatinous c ov e r i n g that 
swells when it comes in 
contact with the water, 
forming a mass considera¬ 
bly larger than the parent 
toad. The eggs hatch in 
about two weeks, and the young tadpoles begin at once to feed 
greedily upon the gelatinous substance, then begin to eat the 
deposits of slime on the surface of the pond. 
This habit of eating the slimy growths from everything in the 
pond, keeps the water as clear as crystal, and has made toads 
known as good scavengers; it also recommends them for the 
purpose of cleaning surface waters during the spring, especially 
such waters as have been used for the dumpage of city waste. 
The tadpoles grow rapidly, and in a few weeks the hind-legs 
appear, the fore-legs develop, the tail is absorbed, and in less than 
two months after hatching, the little toads emerge from the water, 
rarely ever returning except for a few days at the mating season. 
It is said that the adult toads generally return to the pond in 
which they were hatched to lay their eggs. The question might 
be asked, why is it that, laying thousands of eggs a year, the 
species does not increase more rapidly ? It is known that prac¬ 
tically every egg in the laying hatches, but from the time the 
tadpoles are formed until they leave the pond they are nreyed 
upon by their enemies, the fishes, ducks, turtles, newts, and water- 
beetles. On leaving the water, the young toads are killed by- 
ducks, hens, geese, guinea fowl, and snakes; while the adults 
are delectable morsels for many birds. 
In addition to those destroyed by their natural enemies, 
large numbers of the toad are killed annually by man; lawn- 
mowers, wheels of vehicles, and the burning of lawns and fields, 
being the usual methods of slaughter. The greatest charge, how¬ 
ever, must be made against the small boy, who, from curiosity, 
cruelty, or other desire for wrongdoing, kills the toads by thou¬ 
sands every spring on their way to or from the breeding ponds. 
Dr. Hodge states that one spring he counted two hundred dead, 
mangled, or struggling toads around one small pond; and the 
following day he learned that two boys had killed three hundred 
more. It is probable that this 
wholesale killing of toads will con¬ 
tinue until boys understand the 
valuable service the animals render, 
and that they deserve protection. 
The toad has neither ribs nor 
teeth. Its tongue is free behind 
and attached in front, making it 
possible to catch insects with great 
rapidity, almost with sleight-of- 
hand magic. Only moving insects 
tempt this little animal’s appetite. 
Its capacity for worms, snails, 
crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, cut¬ 
worms, potato bugs, and thousand- 
(Continued on page xv) 
