394 ANNUAL EECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



stances, on the first symptoms of an attack, the prompt de- 

 struction of the plant (burning it on the spot), and the subse- 

 quent treatment of the soil with carbolic acid, will be of much 

 importance. It would appear that vines of American species 

 have been less affected in the Rhone district than the native 

 varieties. 12 A, December 19, 1872, 131. 



SULPHUEET OF CALCIUM A EEMEDY ^FOR PHYLLOXERA. 



According to Wissocq, sulphuret of calcium dug in around 

 the roots of vines will have a very powerful effect in destroy- 

 ing any Phylloxera vastatrix that may happen to infest them. 

 This gives rise to a true sulphuric acid, in consequence of the 

 moisture of the soil and the gentle disengagement of carbonic 

 acid. It serves equally well to destroy caterpillars and other 

 injurious insects which are frequently so difficult to remove 

 from vegetation. 



The same substance is also recommended for the destruc- 

 tion of miasms (or the agencies by which epidemics are trans- 

 mitted), and also as not being open to the objections to the 

 ordinary disinfectants introduced into water-closets, such as 

 sulphate or chloride of iron, which, while destroying the hy- 

 drosulphuric acid, allows the development of more dangerous 

 emanations. 6 B^ November 4, 1872, 1092. 



THE VEEMIN ASPHYXIATOE. 



Those who have suffered from the ravages of the ground 

 squirrels and gophers in California, and of equally annoying 

 animals elsewhere, will welcome a satisfactory method of ex- 

 terminating these depredators, devised by Mr. Bateson, the 

 inventor of what he calls the "Patent Yermin Asphyxiator," 

 for destroying animals in burrows, and for other purposes. 

 The apparatus consists of a vessel capable of being perfectly 

 closed, in which sheets of paper saturated with sulphur, or 

 other substances, may be burned, and the fumes forced out 

 through a flexible tube by means of a fan, which delivers the 

 noxious gases with a pressure sufficient to drive them into 

 the minutest crevices. 



In the course of a public exhibition of the apparatus, re- 

 cently given in London, numerous experiments were tried ; 

 among them the destruction of aphides on plants, of weevils 

 in grain, of snakes in a hole, of rats in a drain-pipe, etc. For 



