Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-05-09
TOads i'm the Garden.

ToADs often come to the surface in the
newspapers and pretty soon we may eX-
pect them to come again to the surface of
the ground in search of the summer in
sects upon which they exclusively feed.
We know gardeners, who certainly know
what they are about, who buy up all the
toads they can get and they amply repay
their cost in the destruction of insects and
larvae
Many persons have a loathing of this
really interesting but certainly not hand
some 6uto the result of superstition, or
want of education. II is time we learned
that they cannot bite any more than a gar
ter snake, and if they could that the bite
would be equally as harmless. We sup
pose the fiction that they carry jewel in
their head is no longer believed, Shaks-
peare to the contrary Notwithstanding
yet the latter is more true than the former
indeed it is half true. They carry two
their eyes, at least are as bright as any
Jewels that ever sparkled in a diadem.
They are the most innocent of creatures
that ever ate indiscriminately anything
that had life that they could swallow that
came within reach. They are worth more
per head to the horticulturist than chick.
ems, even allowing that chickens did not
| scratch, and to put our readers thoroughly
in good humor with these insect-devour
ers, we reproduce the following story by
Dr. Harris
He supposed the odor of the squash bug
| (cOreuS IristiS) would protect it from tho
toad; and to test the matter he offered one
to a grave-looking bJ0 under cabbage
He seized it eagerly, but spit it out in
stantly, reared up on his hind legs and
put his front feet on the top of his head
for an instant as ifin pain, and then disap
| peared across the garden in series of the
| greatest leaps toad ever made. Perhaps
the bug bit the bitter. Not satisfied witt
this, DR.. II. hunted up another toad, which
lived under the piazza, and always summed
himself in one place in the grass, and of
fered him squash bug, which he tool
and swallowed, winking in a very satisfied
manner. Twenty other fine bugs followed
the first in few moments, with no diff
Guilty or hesitation in the taking or tho
swallowing, though from the wrigglinG
and cOntortions, it appeared their corners
did not set well within. The stock o
bugs being then exhausted, colony o
smooth black larve was found on whit,
birch, each about three-quarters of an incl
long, and over 100 of these were fed to til,
waiting toad. Touching one of them will
the end of straw, it would coil arounC
it, and then when shaken before him h,
would seize and swallow it, at first eager
ly, but with diminished zest as the mum
Der increased, until it became necessar,
to rub the worm against his lips for som
time before he could decide about it. III
would then take il and sit with his lip
ajar for a short time, gathering strengtl
and resolution, and then swallow by des
perate effort. There is no telling what tn
number or result would have been, as tn
dinner-bell rang as the 101st disappeared
and by the close of the meal he had retire
to his hole, nor did he appear for fou
days in his summing place, 1t is to b
hoped that he slept well, but there Nigh
have been nightmares - KeSterll RIrnL