THE FLOKAL WOULD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 221 



METALLIC GUARD AGAINST SLUGS. 



BY A COKRESl'ONDENT. 



;T was the circumstance of having had two seedling crops 

 of a, favourite flower, the ranunculus, destroyed by those 

 wholesale devourers (slugs), that first stimulated me to 

 seek for some effectual means of defence, and I may 

 now exclaim " Eureka ! " — I've hit it — in the discovery 

 which I am about to propagate. It is at once elegant, scientific, 

 cheap, effectual, and applicable to all cases, aud will, I doubt not, 

 be considered a valuable boon to florists and gardeners. It is the 

 application of galvanism ! — that power so mighty in the hands of the 

 chemist, that by its agency he cau convert soda and potash into solid 

 metals, and consume the hardest metals themselves as a shred of 

 paper in the flame of a candle. 



This vast chemical power is generated by the simple process of 

 placing iu contact with each other numerous plates of zinc and 

 copper with a piece of moistened cloth between the several pairs. 

 By multiplying and increasing their efficacy (as in the galvanic 

 trough), a power so great may be produced, as to destroy the life of 

 an animal with the rapidity of lightning, and that by the merest 

 touch. 



It is by thus exciting this chemical power, in its simplest and 

 fullest form indeed, on which depends the efficacy of the galvanic 

 protector about to be described. 



If a snail or slug be placed on a plate of zinc, to which a narrow 

 plate or slip of copper is fixed, it creeps unmolested on its surface ; 

 but as soon as it touches the copper it receives a galvanic shock (its 

 moist soft body acting as the moistened cloth above mentioned, and 

 thus forming the galvanic circle complete), and immediately recoils, 

 twisting itself back, and rarely venturing a second time to touch 

 the copper to receive another shock. 



This (to me) amusing experiment I have tried again and again, 

 and, of course, always with the same results. To protect aseedliog 

 crop, then, or border, in frame, I have zinc plates of two or three 

 feet in length, and four or five inches iu breadth, with a strip of 

 copper plate one inch broad, placed on the upper part, and secured 

 close with two or three rivets. 



These plates are fixed in the ground to the depth of a couple of 

 inches. As just explained, the snail creeps up the zinc, but receives 

 a galvanic shock as soon as its horns or head touch the copper, 

 causing it to recoil and turn back : an insurmountable fence can 

 thus, in a moment, be formed around whatever we wish to save from 

 these marauders ; and if made in a circular form, or in short lengths, 

 the plates may be contrived to meet every possible exigency. I 

 have myself used this protector in all oases with complete success, 

 ami a ncientilio gentleman of this place, to whom I acknowledge 

 myself indebted for the suggestion of the principle, last year saved 

 his dahlias (which on other occasions had always been nearly all 



