Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-06-12
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

would begin to grow again as II they
had never been out of it.
X X y \
We commend the weeds to every anna
teur gardener.
They say that earthworms at the
touch of a spade will come to the light
OF day and writhe away, not from man.
kind, but that they think it is a mole.
In their blind, cropping fashion the
angleworms have come to fear and
watch out for the mole, and anything
which diSturbs them Is to them a mole.
We were reading about moles the
other day, and we pass the following BIT
Of information on: Moles were said tc
be in such dire need of incessant food
that II they cannot get worms or grubs
they will die in to 10 hours.
II two moles are put in a box to-
gether without food, one of them will
kill and eat the other. 1t was said
that noles will die rather than eat
vegetables or other matter.
X X X
Happy Is the garden which has no
moles, for their tunnels, just beneath
the top Of the turf, are disconcerting to
the gardener.
Here, again, one sees the balance oil
Nature. The mole eats many noxious
insects as well as hundreds of earth
worms. The latter are necessary to the
best soil condition, but authorities be-
lieve that there are enough of them to
furnish the mole with constant food
without loss to the garden.
We never will forget river of worms
as we called 1t, which we saw once-or
a Sunday-in the garden.
There were literally thousands upon
thousands of them, of light gray color
and about an inch and a half long
forming a moving mass about a foot In
length by perhaps four inches wide.
When seen in the sunlight at some
little distance the moving mass resem-
pied Moving water. It was an unbe-
lleVable and CHASTITY sight, if one dis
likes serpents and all creeping things.
we have noticed some propaganda in
various publications during recent
months designed to convert mankind tc
love OF snakes. Snakes are charming
things, after all, readers are told. There
Is nothing natural about mankind's fear
Of them. -0'''
tney are recommended as pets and
the Ike. Everybody would love them Il
the little felloWs-and the big uns-
were given a fair chance. we are told.
Wen. the majority of mankind will
continue to fear snakes and centipedes
an SI an creeping. crawling things. Nor
VIII the said majority need to call upon
the authority of the Bible.
X X X
Happily, the average garden contains
no snakes. although occasionally if you
visit a friend he will try to scare you
by telling you about the serpents which
once upon time inhabited it.
He may show you with due solemnity
several holes, which, he AYERS, once
harbored serpents. and he may assert
with even greater solemnity that the
serpents were of poisonous variety.
Laugh mildly at his joke and turn
the conversation to such pleasant things
as grass growing and what to do with
an old lawn to make it look like a new
one. There is perennial problem for
the garden loverl
The thing to do-no doubt of its
to take steel rake to the lawn in
March, rake it up good, sow pounds and
pounds and pounds of grass scotland
then more pounds of it-then give all a
good dressing of bone meal and humus
and wait for the Spring rains.