8 FARMERS BULLETIN 959. 



CONTROL BY CLEAN METHODS. 



Wherever this pest occurs cleanliness will accomplish much toward 

 its riddance. 



Slugs may be kept under control in the mushroom house, first, by 

 a thorough cleaning and then by a careful examination of all the 

 material taken into the house to make certain that no slugs or eggs 

 are attached to it. Old boards and the edges of the compost pile may 

 harbor eggs or young, and these should be examined carefully before 

 they are carried into the house. 



COLLECTING SLUGS AT NIGHT. 



After slugs have become established in a greenhouse they should 

 be sought out at night with a lantern or pocket flashlight. The slugs 

 at this time may be found feeding or crawling about in search of 

 food. At such times they can be easily collected and destroyed. In 

 the daytime they may be traced to their retreats by the trail of slime 

 which they leave behind. Loose boards and debris lying about 

 should be turned over and examined for eggs and young slugs. 



THE USE OF LIME AND SALT. 



Lime is the standard remedy for slugs, and salt and soot are 

 efficient. 



In a mushroom house the slugs can be prevented from gaining 

 access to mushrooms by a border about 2 inches wide of lime, salt, 

 road dust, soot, or any cheap powder, placed around the edges of the 

 beds. When the slug touches this substance it will wriggle into the 

 material. This causes it to secrete slime copiously and soon it ex- 

 hausts itself and dies. 



In the greenhouse slugs are more difficult to control, because there 

 is a wider range for their activities and their hiding places are more 

 numerous and not readily located. Young seedling beds should be 

 protected by a border of such substances as are recommended in the 

 case of mushrooms. In the case of potted plants each pot should be 

 taken out and examined before the border of repellent is placed 

 around it, as such pots are among the favorite haunts of the young 

 slugs. 



TREATMENT IN THE FIELD. 



When abundant in the field or garden the slug is even more difficult 

 to control than in the mushroom house or greenhouse, and the only 

 solution of the problem consists in thoroughly cleaning up the hiding 

 places of the pest, around the edges of the garden, under old boards 

 and stones, and in any place that is cool and moist. These places 

 should then be sprinkled with lime, and where practicable lime should 

 be applied directly to the area and plants on^which the slugs are 

 feeding. In time this will drive them away. 



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