I was about four when I remember helping my dad in the garden. We had walk what seemed like miles through the woods. It would then open into a two acre clearing. Every year my dad would plant tomatoes, corn, beans, and usually a few other things. We used a rotary tiller with the blades mounted in front to break the ground. This was like any other day with following at my dad's heels. My dad started the noisy old tiller and began plowing. I was watching to see how many earth worms I could catch for our coming fishing trip. I got bored for this when I could not find any so i chased my dad through the field. He finally stopped and asked if I wanted to plow. He held on fo a moment are so then he let me have the control. I felt like a rag doll. The thing must have shaken every tooth in my head that I had left. My dad took over when he seen that I had enough. It was as we were changing off that I saw this black stick moving across the ground . It was a tiny black snake. My dad stopped the tiller and started walking away at a pace that for me was running. I was scared. Luckily neither of was bitten but I never forgot that otherwise peaceful day in the garden.

I now know that a garden snake is a well-known alternate name for a garter snake, which is the proper common name. It is not poisnous or deadly to humans. A full-grown garden snake rarely gets over 3 feet, and more often is seen around 2 feet. They are black with a long stripe running lengthwise down their back.

A garden snake will eat a good meal like a toad or mouse less than once a week. If you are concerned about the frogs you may have in your pond, a garter snake is not likely to put much of a dent in their population. Not only do they eat toads and frogs but they also eat mice, grasshoppers and other insects.

The garden snake is only one species of about 220 distinct kinds of snakes on the North American continent. All are beneficial to mankind since they consume enormous numbers of harmful rodents and insects. The United States has only four major types of snakes with defence mechanisms, which sometimes prove hazardous to man - the rattlesnake, the copperhead, the cottonmouth moccasin and the coral snake.