"Ha!" he cried. "Here is the enemy!"
"It sounds like war to hear you say enemy," spoke Hal.
"Well, if you have a garden you have to make war on the weeds, bugs and
beetles," said Mr. Blake. "A bean-leaf beetle is eating your plants, Mab."
"Can't we make him stop, Daddy?"
"Yes, we'll spray some poison on the leaves, so that when the beetles eat
them the poison will kill them," said Mr. Blake.
"But if you poison the beans won't they poison us when we eat them?" Hal
wanted to know.
"The rain will wash off all the poison the beetles do not eat," answered
his father. "Besides there are no beans on Mab's plants yet. By the time
the bean pods come I hope we shall have driven the beetles away."
Mr. Blake mixed some poison called arsenic in a can of water and sprinkled
it on Mab's bean plants. In a few days the beetles had died, or they went
away, not liking the taste of the poisoned leaves, and Mab's beans were
allowed to grow in peace. That war was over. But other bugs and worms came
in the Blake garden, and Daddy Blake, Uncle Pennywait and Aunt Lolly, as
well as the children and their mother, were kept busy.
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