“Precaution—why, means to keep him from the plants. We could have used— PAPER COLLARS TO PROTECT PLANTS FROM CUTWORMS Cut strong paper into rectangles about 2½ x 5 inches. Wrap a paper loosely around the stem of growing tomato plants and other tender stems before packing the earth around them. Let the paper extend about an inch above the ground, but make it narrower if it covers the roots. “Oh, how funny,” laughed Mary Frances, “for plants to wear paper collars.” “They would cheat Mr. Cutworm out of several good meals,” said Billy. “It’s provoking to find plants cut off that way. You see, the worms do their villainous work at night!” “Oh, do they live under ground all the time?” “No, we learned in school that they are the larvæ, or young, of a certain night-flying moth. They live in the ground until they change into cocoons (or worms-in-cases), which they weave about themselves. Finally the cocoon comes out of the case as a moth. Here is a picture of the villain.” “Ugh!” shuddered Mary Frances. “Hello, here is the real thing,” exclaimed Billy as he kicked aside some earth. “Oh, isn’t he ugly!” exclaimed Mary Frances. “We’d never preserve him for his beauty,” agreed Billy. “Some farmers make poison bait for cutworms by mixing a little poison and molasses with bran or clover, and throw it on the ground at night when birds and chickens have gone to bed. They are careful to take it up early in the morning so that no other creature will get it by mistake.” CHAPTER XXV BIRDS AS PLANTS’ FRIENDS “NOW, Feather Flop said—” began Mary Frances; “I mean, if Feather Flop had been in the garden there wouldn’t have been so many cutworms.” “Mary Frances!” exclaimed Billy. “How ridiculous! You don’t seem to understand that that old rooster would have eaten up all the young plants himself!” Mary Frances bit her lip to keep from laughing as she saw Feather Flop peeping around the tree in back of Billy. “If that rooster were a robin or a wren it would be different,” went on Billy. “Just listen, Mary Frances!” pulling a paper out of his pocket. “‘One robin has been known to feed his family five yards of worms a day. “‘A chicka-dee will dispose of 5500 eggs of the canker-worm moth in one day. “‘A flicker eats no less than 9000 ants a day. “‘A pair of wrens have been seen to carry 100 insects to their young in an hour. They are especially fond of plant lice and cutworms. “‘Little humming birds lick plant lice off foliage with lightning rapidity. “‘The yellow-billed cuckoo eats hundreds of tent caterpillars in a day. “‘Seed-eating birds destroy myriads of seeds of destructive weeds—actually eating hundreds of tons of seed. “‘The Department of Agriculture of the United States estimates that the tree sparrow alone saves the American farmer $90,000,000 in a year by eating seeds of weeds.’” “That isn’t the English sparrow,” laughingly interrupted Mary Frances. “No,” replied Billy, “not so much can be said in its favor.”