her; while, without waiting
to be asked, I seized upon the shovel I saw handy and threw on some
coke.

"Far back as you can, my lad," said Mr Solomon. "Seems a rum time of
year to be having fires; but we're obliged to keep up a little,
specially on cloudy days."

This done, he led the way into one of the sunken pits where the melons
were growing, and after reaching in among them and snipping off a runner
or two he routed out a slug and killed it.

Then turning to me:

"First thing in gardening, Grant, is to look out for your enemies.
You'll never beat them; all you can do is to keep 'em down. Now look
here," he said, picking off a melon leaf and holding it before me,
"What's the matter with that?"

"I don't see much the matter," I said, "only that the leaf looks specked
a little with yellow, as if it was unhealthy."

"Turn it over," he said.

I did, and looked at it well.

"There are a few red specks on it--very small ones," I said.

"Good eyes," he said approvingly. "That's what's the matter, my lad.
You've seen the greatest enemy we have under glass. Those red specks,
so small that you can hardly see them, cover the lower parts of the
leaves with tiny cobwebs and choke the growth while they suck all the
goodness out, and make the yellow specks on the top by sucking all the
sap from the leaves."

"What, those tiny specks!"

"Yes, those little specks would spoil all our melon plants if we did not
destroy them--melons, cucumbers, vines, peaches, and nectarines--
anything almost under glass. But there's your gun and ammunition; load
up and shoot 'em. Never give them any rest."

I looked at him wonderingly, for he was pointing at a syringe standing
in a pail of soapy-looking water.

"Yes," he continued, "that's right--kill 'em when you can. If you leave
them, and greenfly, and those sort of things, alone till to-morrow, by
that time they're turned into great-grandfathers, and have got such a
family of little ones about 'em that your leaves are ten times worse."

"But what are those red specks?" I said.

"Red spider, boy. Now I'll show you. This is my plan to keep my plants
healthy: have a bucket of soap and water in every house, and a syringe
in it. Then you take it up as soon as you see the mischief and kill it
at once. It's all handy for you, same as it is to have a bit of matting
hanging up on a nail, ready to tie up the stem that wants it. Somebody
said, Grant, `A stitch in time saves n