Snails.—In their methods of attacking garden vegetation, and in the extent of damage they cause, Snails may be placed in the same category as Slugs. During the day the Snail usually remains in hiding, emerging from rockeries and creeper-covered walls in the evening or after a shower of rain. They may be trapped by one of the methods suggested for Slugs, and preference should be given to the use of Cabbage leaves. It will, however, be safer to protect young plants by giving heavy dressings of lime or soot. Hand picking is the surest means of dealing with them, and in the winter months large numbers may be collected from among box edgings, the base of ivy-covered walls and similar shelters. Birds, especially thrushes, show a marked partiality for Snails.
Wasps are a terrible scourge in some gardens. They spoil a large quantity of fruit, and jeopardise the remainder by forcing the harvest before the crops are ready for gathering. When the localities of the Wasps’ nests are known, it is a simple task to dispose of them. Turpentine and gunpowder were formerly in vogue, especially among the younger members of the community, to whom a spice of danger is always an attractive element in the fun. But these are clumsy methods of destruction and will not compare with the far easier remedy of poisoning the colonies by means of cyanide of potassium. Dissolve one ounce of the drug in a quarter of a pint of water. This will be sufficient to destroy several nests, but it is a deadly poison, and must be kept in a place of safety. Soak a piece of rag in the fluid, and lay it over the entrance to the nest. There is no occasion to run away; not a Wasp will venture out, and those which return from foraging will not lose their tempers and find yours, but at each successive attempt to enter their home they will become feebler, until they fall near or beneath the drugged rag. After an hour or two the nest may be dug out, when every insect, including queen and pupæ, will be found dead.
If the colonies lie beyond your frontier, or their positions cannot be ascertained, the enemy must be disposed of by stratagem and in detail. One of the best modes of trapping them is to put some injured fruit beneath one of the trees, and over it a hand-light raised about three inches above the ground by stones or pieces of wood placed at the four corners. This light must have a rather large hole at the top. Upon it should rest another light from which egress is prevented, except through the apex of the lower light. After the Wasps have visited the fruit, they will rise into the first light, and gradually find their way through the opening into the one above, from which not one insect in a hundred will escape. In a trap of this kind we have seen an enormous number of Wasps and Hornets which had been lured to death within a few hours.
Another simple and effective method of destroying these pests is to pour a small quantity of ale mixed with sugar into glass jars and suspend them from branches of Pear or Plum trees. The vessels must be emptied every few days and the liquid renewed.
WIREWORM
(natural size and magnified)
Wireworm is the most persistent and destructive of all the ground vermin. There are fully a dozen species of beetles the larvæ of which are known as ‘Wireworms,’ and of these the ‘Spring-Jacks,’ ‘Click-Beetles,’ and ‘Blacksmiths’—Elater obscurus, E. lineatus, and E. ruficaudis—are the most prevalent. The female beetle deposits her eggs in the earth in the height of the summer, and in due time the worms emerge and commence their depredations. These worms have a tenure of three to five years in their subterranean homes, during which time they feed voraciously, and are not very particular as to what they eat. Their muscular power renders them expert in burrowing, and they are well protected by their horny jackets. When their term of feeding is completed, they descend to a considerable depth and change into the chrysalis state, from which they come forth as jumping beetles in the course of July and August, a certain proportion remaining in the ground to complete their final change in spring. Their power of destruction is then at an end. They resort to flowers, lead a merry life for a short time, and when they pass away leave plenty of eggs to continue the race of Wireworms.
For practical purposes the Wireworm may be regarded as inhabiting every kind of soil and consuming every kind of crop. The crops it is most partial to are Grass, Potatoes, Turnips, and the juicy stems of all kinds of cereals. The larvæ may be trapped by burying in the ground pieces of Potato, or better still thick slices of Beet root; the spots to be marked, and the traps examined every few days, when the Wireworms can be destroyed. Superphosphate sown along the drills with seed has saved spring-sown crops from destruction; and Vaporite, a proprietary article, has also been used with marked success. The latter gives off a gas smelling of naphthalene which kills the Wireworms. Soot is a well-known remedy, and by its use the crops are also benefited.
Woodlice are very destructive but easily caught, and they may be completely eradicated by perseverance. When a frame or pit is infested, they can be destroyed wholesale by pouring boiling water down next the brickwork or the woodwork in the middle of the day. If this procedure does not make a clearance, recourse must be had to trapping. In common with Earwigs, they love dryness, darkness, and a snug retreat; but while a mere home suffices for Earwigs, a home with food is demanded by Woodlice. Take a thumb pot, quite dry and clean. In it place a fresh-cut slice of Potato or Apple, fill up with dry moss, and turn the whole thing over on a bed in a frame or pit. Thus you have devised a Woodlouse trap, and next morning you may knock the vermin out of it into a vessel full of hot water, or adopt any other mode of killing that may be convenient. Fifty traps may be prepared in a hundred minutes; and those who are determined to get rid of Woodlice may soon make an end of them.
Rats and Mice.—Traps are efficient while they are new, and almost any reasonably good contrivance will answer for a time, but will fail at last, or at least for a season. To keep down Rats and Mice effectually there must be invented a succession of new modes of action, for these creatures—Rats especially—are so clever that they soon see through our devices, which then fail of effect. Generally speaking, two rules may be prescribed. In the first place it is imprudent to fill up their holes or stop their runs; let them have their way. If you stop them, they will make new thoroughfares, to the further injury of the foundation; and, besides, when you are acquainted with their runs, you know where to put traps and poison for the vermin. As to the best poison, there is nothing so effectual as arsenic; but it should be employed with great care, and before it is brought on the premises the question of safe storage must be considered. A fat bloater split down and well rubbed with common white arsenic will kill a score of Rats, provided only that they will eat it. Cut it into four parts, and place these in or near their runs, and cover with tiles or boards to prevent dogs and cats obtaining them. If this fails, try bread and butter dressed with oil of rhodium and phosphorus. The oil of rhodium seems to possess an irresistible attraction for these vermin. When dry food is preferred, there is nothing so good as oatmeal; and it is a golden rule to feed the Rats for a few days with pure oatmeal, and then to mix about a fourth part of arsenic with it. Several proprietary articles are offered for the destruction of Rats. Before resorting to these means of annihilating vermin it is necessary to take steps to prevent the bodies from proving a nuisance after death. A good fox-terrier will keep a large garden free from Rats and Mice.