Book VI I. NOXIOUS ANIMALS. 1063 



6844. This is the largest species of land-snail in England. "When full-grown, the shell is from an inch 

 and a half to two inches in diameter in our climate; on the continent, towards the south, its size is 

 much superior. The animal being large and fleshy, and not of an unpleasant flavor, has been esteemed 

 as an article of food from early times. It was a favorite dish with the Romans, who had their cochlearia, or 

 snail-stews, in which they were bred and fattened. Varro has handed down to us a description of these 

 stews, and the manner of making them : he says, open places were chosen surrounded by water, that the 

 snails might not abandon them, and care -was taken that the places were not mucli exposed to the sun or 

 to the dews. If a natural spring or moisture was not found, they formed an artiflcial one, by bringing a 

 pipe to the stew bored full of holes, like a watering-pot, by which the place was continually sprinkled or 

 moistened. The snails required little attention or food, for as they crawled they found it on the floor or 

 area. Thev were fed with bran and sodden lees of wine, or similar substances intermixed with a few 

 laurel-leave's. In the neighborhood of Vienna they are caught and preserved till wanted in large pits 

 covered with boards ; they are fed with cabbage- leaves, grains, bran, meal, or any vegetable refuse. In 

 Italy and Vienna they are commonly sold in the markets, and are called bavoli, martinacci, and gal- 

 linelle. In France, says Lister, they boil them in river water, and season them with salt, pepper, and 

 oil. This practice continues at the present period. 



6845. The medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis, L.), grows to the length of two or 

 three inches. The body is of a blackish-brown color, marked on the back with six yel- 

 low spots, and edged with a yellow line on each side ; but both the spots and Ihe lines 

 grow faint, and almost disappear at some seasons. The head is smaller than the tail, which 

 fixes itself very firmly on any thing the creature pleases. It is viviparous, and produces 

 but one young at a time, which is in the month of July. It is an inhabitant of clear 

 running waters, and is well known for its use jn bleeding. If put into shallow clear 

 ponds it will breed freely, and this is practised by some herbalists and apothecaries in the 

 neighborhood of London. The chief supply, however, is fi'om the lakes of Cumberland, 

 where they are caught by women who go into the water bare-legged, and after a few 

 have fastened, they walk out and pick them off. A good many are also brought from 

 Holland. 



Chap. XII. 



Of Animals noxious to Agriculture. 



6846. Almost every animal may be injurious to the agriculturist in some way or other. 

 All the cultivated live-stock will, if not excluded by fences, or prevented by herding, eat 

 or tread down corn crops or other plants in culture. Those animals, as the dog and 

 ferret, which assist him in deterring or in catching noxious animals which would prey 

 on others, will themselves become depredators if not attended to ; and even man, the 

 only rational, and therefore the most valuable of agricultural servants, will prove, under 

 certain circumstances, the greatest of all enemies to the agriculturist. We shall glance 

 at the different animals more especially noxious in the order of their usual classification. 



Sect. I. Of noxious Mammalia. 



6847. Of noarioMS wamma/'Mi, man, in a demoralised state, is the most injurious. The 

 remedy is furnished by the law the preventive is good education, and civil treatment 

 by the master. 



6848. The fox (Canis viilpes) commits great ravages among lambs, poultry, geese, &c. 

 To destroy it, the farmer must take a sheep's paunch and fasten it to a long stick; 

 then rub his shoes well upon the paunch, that the fox may not scent his feet. He should 

 then draw his paunch after him as a trail, a mile or upwards, till he gets near some large 

 tree ; then leave the paunch and ascend into the tree with a gun ; and as the night comes 

 on, he may seethe fox come after the scent of the trail, when he may shoot him. The 

 trail should be drawn to the windward of the tree, if he can conveniently contrive so to 

 do. Or, set a steel -trap in the plain part of a large field, distant from paths and hedges ; 

 then open the trap, place it on the ground, cut out the exact shape thereof in a turf, and 

 take out just so much eartli to make room for it to stand, and then cover it again very 

 neatly with the turf you cut out. As the joint of the turf will not close exactly, pro- 

 cure some mould of a mole-hill newly thrown up, and stick some grass on it, as if it 

 grew there. Scatter some mould of the mole-hill very thin three different ways, at the 

 distance of ten or twelve yards from the trap ; let this mould be thrown on spots fifteen 

 or sixteen inches square ; and where the trap is placed, lay three or four small pieces of 

 cheese ; and then, with a sheep's paunch, draw a trail a mile or two long to each of these 

 three places, and from thence to the trap, that the fox may approach one of the places 

 first; for then he will advance to the trap more boldly; and thus you will be almost 

 always sure of catching him. You must take care that your trap be left loose, that he 

 may draw it to some hedge or covert, or he will otherwise bite off his leg, and so make 

 his escape. Or near the spot where the fox uses much to resort, fix a stick or pole, much 



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