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HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1808. 



Crickets.— In reply to '"'Geo. B.," respecting 

 crickets, mix one table-spoonful of -wheat-flour, 

 and one tea-spoonful of red lead, and a very small 

 quantity of arsenic. Spread it thinly on clean white 

 paper, and place it near to where the crickets 

 appear. It is equally efficacious in the case of 

 beetles, &c. Care must be taken with it, for it is 

 a poison. Hoping your correspondent may get rid 

 of his pests as soon as we did. — H. G. Brierley. 



Preserving Spiders. — " B. W. S." will find the 

 plan used by the Rev. L. Guilding for preserving 

 spiders in Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, 

 vol. vii., page 572. In case he has not the hook, I 

 send an extract which, perhaps, will be sufficient. 

 Puncture the abdomen rather laterally beneath; 

 gently press out the contents, and with the forceps 

 remove the viscera. With a pointed pipette distend 

 the abdomen with air, and with a syringe inject any 

 size preparation till every part is plump and well ex- 

 tended. Clean and extend the legs like insects'. It 

 preserves the colours and markings of the most 

 delicate —K T. Scott. 



Eall of Thermometer. — Between yesterday 

 morning (Dec. 1st), 10 a.m., and this morning, the 

 same hour, my thermometer indicated a fall of 25°, 

 marking respectively 51° and 26°; north aspect, 

 protected from wind, six feet from the ground ; an 

 unusual fall in temperature within twenty-four 

 hours. — Charles Frederick White. 



Improved Thermometer. — Mr. W. Moginie 

 has designed an ingenious improvement in ther- 

 mometers for suspension outside a window. By the 

 arrangement of the mounting, the tube is turned 

 towards the window sufficiently for its indications 

 to be read off distinctly from the inside. This im- 

 proved form is sold by Baker of High Holborn at a 

 very moderate price. 



Snails. — When night is coming on, and the 

 slugs and snails are all about and busily at work, 

 arm yourself with a bucket of lime and a trowel, and 

 take a little lime on the point of the trowel and 

 dust it along the flower-bed, hedge, or other place 

 where the snails congregate. The lime should be 

 thrown about eighteen inches from the ground on a 

 flower-bed, or if the weather is damp, a little higher, 

 and it will float along in the air, from ten to twenty 

 feet, settling on everything in its way as it goes. 

 Although it may not be seen, its effects may be 

 traced, if there are many snails about. If there is 

 a slight wind moving, it will be most useful, as the 

 operator can use a larger quantity of lime, and it 

 will be carried farther than if it was quite calm. It 

 must be thrown in the direction that the wind is 

 blowing in, or it will not go so far. A very small 

 quantity of lime, when it drops on a snail, may not 

 kill him at once, but it will settle him sooner or 

 later, as he cannot move anywhere without en- 

 countering lime on all sides if it is well applied. 

 One great advantage to this mode of lining is that 

 plants with handsome foliage, &c, are not dis- 

 figured by great lumps of lime on them. A clever 

 workman will cover a bed ten feet by ten with 

 considerably less than a pint measure full of lime. — 

 T. J. S., Ludlow. 



Snails. — Mr. George Newlyn sends us the fol- 

 lowing from the "Cottage Gardener's Dictionary:" 

 " They are effectually destroyed by either salt or 

 lime ; and to secure the contact of these with their 

 bodies, it is best first to water the soil where they 



harbour with lime-water, in the evening, when they 

 are coming out to feed ; sprinkling the surface at 

 the same time with dry lime, and at the end of a 

 week applying a surface-dressing of salt at the rate 

 of five bushels to the acre. If cabbage-leaves are 

 spread upon the surface of land infested by slugs, 

 they will resort to their under sides, and thus they 

 may be trapped ; but lime and salt are most effi- 

 cacious. Lime-water may be poured over wall-trees 

 infested with them, and they may be syringed with 

 it as well, with water in which gas-liquor has been 

 mixed, about half-a-pint to a gallon. If lime be 

 sprinkled along the top, and at the base of the wall, 

 renewing it weekly, the slugs cannot get at the 

 trees. 'Presh brewer grains placed in small 

 heaps, are good traps for them ; and frequent 

 earth stirring helps to banish them.' " 



Crickets, to Kill. — A paste made as follows 

 and placed in the haunt of crickets will destroy 

 them. Confection of clog rose, 1 ounce ; tincture 

 of opium, li drachms. — F. R. Morris.— -The follow- 

 ing are also sent by a correspondent, as derived 

 from the Daily Post. You may drive away the 

 crickets by burning the potato parings behind the 

 fire of the infested room daily. This remedy has 

 been tried by the writer, and found effectual.— 

 Arsenic mixed with oatmeal, and placed in their 

 haunts, will destroy crickets. Perhaps it will not 

 be out of place to say that great care must be 

 exercised in the use of this recipe : the mixture 

 must by no means be placed within the reach of 

 children. It can be placed safely overnight in that 

 great cricket producer— the ash pit. Even if the 

 house be swarming with crickets, two or three doses 

 will be quite enough for them. — & R. 



Worms. — Sulphate of copper dissolved in water, 

 in the proportion of 2 ounces to a gallon, and 

 used with a watering pot, causes the worms to turn 

 out, so that they may be picked up. Corrosive 

 sublimate has the same effect, but is more expensive. 

 — Alice M. Morris. J. D. Hardy recommends the 

 same means, adding that it is better to use it after 

 rain. 



The gardener being in the habit of saturating 

 flower-pots with lime-water, before placing them 

 in the greenhouse for the winter, in order to destroy 

 worms and slugs, tried the same plan with a portion 

 of the lawn with perfect success, quantities of 

 dead worm, being found on the grass on the follow- 

 ing morning. — L. M. P. 



Black Beetles.— Plour, red-lead, and sugar, 

 equal parts, well mixed, and laid about the places 

 where they resort. The insects will readily eat it 

 and die ; the living will eat the dead, and so one 

 kills the other. — Charles Head. 



Hackney Microscopical Society. — A micro- 

 scopical section has been formed in connection with 

 the Cambridge Heath Mutual Improvement Society, 

 and meets in the lecture-room of the Cambridge 

 Heath Congregational Church. The secretary is 

 Mr. W. Holmaii, of 2, Victoria Park-road. 



Wasp Nest. — Having seen your notice of the 

 nest of Vespa holsatica, I write to inform you that I 

 found one of the same description as your corre- 

 spondent has given from Latreille. It was suspended 

 to the roof of a shed. The envelope consisted of 

 three coverings, the nest was an inch in diameter, 

 and there were onlv two tiers of cells. — Arthur H. 

 Todd. 



