Toads as Insect Destroyers
The latest and most ingenious way of getting rid of roaches and water bugs, says Our Dumb Animals, is related by a citizen of Schenectady, whose kitchen was infested with them. A servant, hearing that toads were an antidote, caught three ordinary hop toads, and put them in the kitchen. Not a roach or water bug, it is stated, can now be found in the house. The toads have become domesticated, never wander about the house, and are so cleanly and inoffensive that there is no objection to their presence. Another use for toads is to employ them as insect destroyers in the garden. They are determined enemies of all kinds of snails and slugs, which, it is well known, can in a single night destroy a vast quantity of lettuce, carrots, asparagus, etc. Toads are also kept in vineyards, where they devour, during the night, millions of insects that escape the pursuit of nocturnal birds, and might commit incalculable havoc on the buds and young shoots of the vine. In Paris toads are an article of merchandise. They are kept in tubs, and are sold at the rate of two francs (forty cents) a dozen.