68 Parkes on the Use 



only has no effect upon them ; but tlie walls should be watered 

 all over with brine, made by adding two ounces of salt to a 

 gallon of water." Page 282. 



During a journey in the summer and autumn of last year, 

 through the north of England, and part of Scotland, I heard 

 repeated complaints of the failure of the onion crops, which were 

 said to be destroyed by the wire-worm. This was more parti- 

 cularly the case around Edinburgh, and throughout the county 

 of Fife. Letters from home also informed me, that in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London onions were so scarce for a month or two, 

 from the same cause, until foreign onions were obtained, that 

 they were sold in Covent Garden market nearly as dear as 

 peaches. It gave me, therefore, much pleasure, happening to 

 be at Edinburgh at the Anniversary Meeting of our Society, to 

 hear the communication from Mr. Morton, a gardener in the 

 neighbourhood of Dunbar, who informed us by a letter, directed 

 to the Secretary, that he had preserved his crop by the use of 

 salt water, while those in the gardens around him were all 

 destroyed. 



Thirdly, common salt is not only a preservative of plants 

 and trees from the ravages of grubs, worms, and insects, but 

 it is one of the most effectual substances that can be employed 

 in a garden for the destruction of these animals themselves. 

 Of the truth of this assertion any one may satisfy himself in a 

 very short time by direct experiment. If a small quantity of 

 salt be sprinkled upon a common earth worm, its destructive 

 effects will be seen to be almost immediate. Its action on 

 worms is also very strikingly exemplified by its effect on the 

 hirudo, or common leech. When this creature has been em- 

 ployed in supplying the place of the lancet, it is usual to put 

 a small quantity of salt upon it, so as to touch its mouth ; this 

 occasions the leech instantly to disgorge all the blood into the 

 plate on which it is laid, but if too much salt be used, or if the 

 leech remain in contact with it too long a time, the salt is apt 

 to prove fatal : hence some of the people who bleed with 

 leeches, prefer taking the blood from them by pressure, rather 

 than risk the loss of them by using salt. The Right Honour- 



