WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 51 



become merely less active than usual, but the snails hybernate ; and to 

 protect them from annoyance during this dead sleep of a winter's con- 

 tinuance, they seal up the apertures of their shells with a horny 

 membrane. 



The natural uses of the snail appear to be to serve as food for rep- 

 tiles, birds, and the smaller quadrupeds, such as foxes, badgers, weasels, 

 hedgehogs, &c. The blackbird and thrush are remarkably fond of 

 them, and may be seen flying off with snails in their bills, and after- 

 wards lighting on trees, and breaking the shells against the branches, 

 or cracking them against stones on the ground. 



The snail retires under the cover of foliage or some other protection 

 from the sun and dry air during the day, and comes abroad to feed 

 during the night, after rain, or when the weather is cloudy. It selects 

 in preference tender seedling plants, or the leaves of maturer plants 

 which have become tender and somewhat sweet by incipient decay. 

 Snails are very fond of greasy matter ; and where a snail has been 

 killed by crushing, its remains are preyed on by living snails, which 

 crowd to it in numbers. About the end of autumn, when the weather 

 begins to grow cold, the snail retires into sheltered places, where it 

 will be protected from the weather during winter. Where there are 

 evergreens, such as the Box or the Ivy, it resorts to them ; or if these 

 be wanting, it will retire under loose stones, or rubbish of any kind, 

 such as branches, spray, leaves, or litter ; and if no other covering is 

 at hand, it has a power of burying itself in any soil not too hard on 

 the surface. Whatever has been said of the habits of the snail will 

 apply to those of the slug ; and the uses and the natural enemies of 

 the two animals are exactly the same. 



To destroy snails in gardens, the only effectual mode is hand-picking, 

 either in the evening, early in the morning, or immediately after rain. 

 Empty flower-pots reversed and distributed over the surface, if an 

 opening under the rim is left on one side by making a small depression 

 in the soil, will attract a great number of snails ; and the more so if 

 some greased cabbage -leaves or slices of turnip, carrot, &c., be placed 

 under the pots. In the course of the autumn, winter, and early in 

 spring, all their hiding-places should be searched, and the animals 

 taken out and destroyed by crushing, or by giving them to swine, 

 which are said to be very fond of them. Hedgehogs and weasels, 

 being their natural enemies, may be kept in gardens, and poultry which 

 do not scratch, such as the turkey, duck, &c., may be admitted occa- 

 sionally. Blackbirds and thrushes likewise devour immense quantities. 

 But all these natural means of reduction should be supplemented by 

 hand-picking. 



To destroy slugs in gardens, less labour is required than in de- 

 stroying snails ; because, their bodies being comparatively unprotected, 

 they are liable to be operated on by any caustic or bitter liquid as 

 readily as, worms. Cabbage-leaves in a state of incipient decay, with 

 the side which is to be placed next the soil rubbed over with greasy 

 matter of any kind, or even with the bruised bodies of recently-killed 

 slugs, distributed over any surface, will attract them in great numbers 



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