The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1900-01-25

AS result Of experiments with toads
and bats 1t has been demonstrated that
n house, or even a community, can be
rid of various troublesome insects, in
Guiding flies and mosquitoes. These
experiments were made by Prof. Clin-
ton +. Hodge, of Clark University,
Worcester, Mass. Prof. Hodges first
experiment was with the toad. 81 con-
structed small pen In my garden"
Ire said, "and In 1t, In pan of water,
installed a male and female toad. To
attract food for them l placed within
the Enclosure bits of meat and bone.
The results were as satisfactory as
they were unexpected. The toads spent
most of the time sitting within reach
Ing distance of the bait and killing the
flies attracted by 1t. | watched one
toad snap up elghty-six house flies in
less than ten minutes.
zone day / gathered a quantity OF
rose bugs in q tin box and began to
feed the bugs to toad. At first l did
not count, but finding his appetite SO
good | started to count. When | had
counted over eighty bugs and the toad
showed no signs of wishing to conclude
his meal | picked him up. Previous
to my beginning to count he had taken
anywhere from ten to twenty bugs. l
found the toad equally greedy for rose
beetles, canker worms, ants, caterpil-
lars, moths, June bugs, weeyils, snails
and many other insects. So, too, in
house, room may be cleared of cock
reaches by leaving a toad In 1t over
night
"a single toad may destroy over 1000
worms during the months of May, June
and July, and one of these harmless
creatures may well do gardener SER
vice to the amount of S19.SS each sea-
son, and yet he can raise $4,000 worth
of toads at an expense of not more
than 20 cents.
Farmers In England buy them, pay
ing as high as $24 thousand, for use
in their flower beds and gardens. For
household purposes a small number Of
toads could be given homes in an aqua
rum. At night the toads could be let
loose to kill bugs, while in the day they
could kill flies. l have built a sort of
cage or wire screen a foot wide and
two feet long, the top of which Is kept
open. 1t Is only necessary to put In
two or three toads, provide them with
shelter, with dish OF water in one
corner, and then keep them supplied
with bits of raw meat and any other
refuse matter calculated to attract
flies"
In speaking of the bat Prof. Hodge
said: I'VE have no animal more In
teresting and probably none more val
liable, and certainly none less under
stood and more abused than the bat.
They are easily tanned, absolutely
harmless when gently handled and
make pets as funny as tiny monkeys.
As destroyers of many of our most pes
tiferous night-fying insects, like mos
quitoes, the bat is almost our sole de-
pendence, and as he is known to hunt
insects afoot as well as on the wing
he is also of some value for larvae that
do not fly.
"My attention was turned to the bat
/ through the Goblin moth, the insect to
blame for most worm-eaten apples. In
an orchard near my home l found nine
of the grubs of this insect In minute.
CHANGING to go to another orchard,
hardly mile away, found only four
of the grubs in an hours search. There
is an old barn near by in which live n
colony of between seventy-fiye and 100
bats. The owner informed me that his
apples were always free from worms"
Bangor Industrial Record.