he breeding of insects. I do not think a compost
pile will do the harm, but unkempt, uncared-for spots seem to invite
trouble.

"There are certain helps to keeping pests down. The constant stirring up
of the soil by earthworms is an aid in keeping the soil open to air and
water. Many of our common birds feed upon insects. The sparrows, robins,
chickadees, meadow larks and orioles are all examples of birds who help
in this way. Some insects feed on other and harmful insects. Some kinds
of ladybugs do this good deed. The ichneumon-fly helps too. And toads
are wonders in the number of insects they can consume at one meal. The
toad deserves very kind treatment from all of us.

"Each girl and boy gardener should try to make her or his garden into a
place attractive to birds and toads. A good birdhouse, grain sprinkled
about in early spring, a water-place, are invitations for birds to stay
a while in your garden. If you wish toads, fix things up for them too.
During a hot summer day a toad likes to rest in the shade. By night he
is ready to go forth to eat but not to kill, since toads prefer live
food. How can one "fix up" for toads? Well, one thing to do is to
prepare a retreat, quiet, dark and damp. A few stones of some size
underneath the shade of a shrub with perhaps a carpeting of damp leaves,
would appear very fine to a toad.

"Suppose a certain crop in your garden has had an insect pest. Do not
plant this same crop next year, for it would doubtless have the same
pest. Don't let the soil get full of insect troubles; therefore, keep
the soil open and aired and study it well.

"There are two general classes of insects known by the way they do their
work. One kind gnaws at the plant really taking pieces of it into its
system. This kind of insect has a mouth fitted to do this work.
Grasshoppers and caterpillars are of this sort. The other kind sucks the
juices from a plant. This, in some ways, is the worst sort. Plant lice
belong here, as do mosquitoes, which prey on us. All the scale insects
fasten themselves on plants, and suck out the life of the plants.

"Now can we fight these chaps? The gnawing fellows may be caught with
poison sprayed upon plants, which they take into their bodies with the
plant. The Bordeaux mixture which Peter used is a poison sprayed upon
plants for this purpose. So, too, is Paris green.

"In the other case the only thing is to attack the insect direct. So
certain insecticides, as they are c