CULTIVATION 179 



Powdered alum, which is quite harmless 

 to plant life, is also a good preventative for 

 slugs, and snails most strongly object to any 

 astringent, though I doubt if it would kill 

 them unless applied in considerable quantities. 

 As an experiment I have tried sprinkling 

 slugs with a mixture advertised for killing 

 them, and the only result I could get was 

 that, though they apparently very much dis- 

 liked the stuff and at first seemed to be 

 dead, after a short time they were able to 

 throw off what appeared to be a skin of slime 

 and then crawled away none the worse. 

 There is, in my opinion, but one way to 

 get rid of these pests, and that is by hand- 

 picking. The earlier in the year this is done 

 the better, before they commence to breed. 

 The practice I adopt is to go out as soon as 

 it is dark with a lantern (those " ever-ready '' 

 electric lanterns I find very light and handy), 

 and armed with long pointed scissors, such 

 as are used for thinning grapes ; and every 

 slug or snail, be he large or small, I — well, 

 the guillotine was supposed to be an instan- 

 taneous and painless death, and I can assure 



