CHAPTER XXVIII

THE STUPID HONEY DROPS—APHIDS

BILLY and Mary Frances enjoyed Eleanor’s story very much, and laughed heartily over Bob’s discomfort.

“Well, Eleanor,” said Mary Frances, “you’ll be able to teach Bob a lot about gardening if Billy will let you share the lessons he’s been giving me. By the way, Billy, what did you mean by ‘just in the nick of time’?”

“Nothing much,” replied Billy, “only I wanted to show you some of the ‘animated drops of honey’ about which I spoke.”

“Oh, where are they?” cried Mary Frances.

“What in the world do you mean, Billy?” Eleanor exclaimed.

“Follow me if you want to know,” commanded Billy, leading the way to one of his mother’s rose bushes.

He lifted a long new branch.

“How funny the tip looks!” exclaimed the girls. “All bristling, like a burr.”

“Look more closely,” said Billy.

“Oh, Billy,” laughed Mary Frances. “Billy, it’s not a green burr at all! It looks that way because of thousands of those little tiny green plant lice!”

“Yes,” acknowledged Billy, “nothing but aphids. I’ll now try to repeat a little of our lesson on—

APHIDS OR PLANT LICE

There are several species of aphids, but those most commonly seen are little green ones.

Nearly all delight in feeding upon the sap of young tender[G] shoots. They thrust their tiny sharp beaks into the stem, and, with their hind legs or claws in the air, suck the juices into their soft little bodies. The sap is turned into honey-dew in their stomachs, and ants use them for their cows! But they give them honey, and not milk. Perhaps ants like honey-milk better than we like cow’s milk. Aphids seem very insignificant. They are helpless little creatures, and are very easily killed. Indeed, they are so stupid they don’t seem to know when they are being killed. Even though they are stupid, they do a great amount of harm in the garden, stealing the vital fluids of the plants.

They multiply so rapidly that their many enemies do not do away with all of them, so almost all gardeners use a “spray” to kill them.

One of the most interesting of their enemies is the—

APHIS-LION

This little worm-like creature is hatched from the egg of the mother lace-wing, an airy green fly with light lacey wings. She places eggs on a leaf nearby a group of aphids. The little creature that is hatched is very hungry and immediately begins to look for food.

It seizes the first aphis it can find in its strong pincers, and lifting it high in the air, drinks the honey juice in its body with great enjoyment.

“Greater than Mary Frances shows when drinking chocolate soda?” queried Eleanor.

“That’s a question,” laughed Billy. “I’ve never seen many aphis-lions eat, but I have seen Mary Frances drink chocolate sodas ‘galore.’”

“But, Billy,” reminded Mary Frances, after they had finished laughing, “you haven’t told us what other enemies the aphids have, nor what you mean by using a spray.”

“Oh, if you stop to think, you’ll realize that spiders and several different kinds of birds will eat them. They are such stupid little creatures that it’s not difficult to find or catch them.”

“But what about spraying—is that difficult?” asked Eleanor. “You see, I want to surprise Bob with my superior knowledge.”

“Oh, Billy, do give us just as many lessons as you can possibly squeeze into the time Eleanor visits us, won’t you?” cried Mary Frances. “Do tell us about spraying or any other thing we ought to learn about gardening.”

“Why, Mary Frances, you talk as though I knew a lot on the subject!” said Billy, “when, as a matter of fact, I don’t begin to know anything. It seems to me that the more I study, the more there is to learn.

“I’m willing,” he went on, “to tell you girls what I can remember of what Professor Weed told about insect pests and insecticides—but I do wish you were both boys!”

“We don’t, though. Do we, Eleanor?” said Mary Frances. “I shouldn’t think you’d mind. You’re always with boys during the school term, and—I don’t believe they’d listen anything like as well as Eleanor and I will.”

FOOTNOTE:

[G] There are a few aphids which feed upon roots.