ERADICATION OF GARDEN VERMIN 



THE expense of preparing mixtures and washes may be in some 

 degree lessened by economy of application. A drenching 

 board, fitted on a firm frame, should be provided in every place 

 where plant-growing is carried on to any extent. The board should 

 slope from a resting ridge at the base. The plant in its pot may be 

 laid on the board, with the bottom of the pot against the resting 

 ridge, and a pail should be put to catch the liquid used as it drains 

 from the plant after syringing. Every general washing or fumigating 

 should be followed by another at an interval of from a week to a 

 fortnight, because, although the first operation may kill every insect, 

 there will be many living eggs left, and these renew the race, and very 

 soon bring the plants into as bad a state as ever, unless consigned to 

 a happy despatch as their parents were. In some cases, it will be 

 more economical to feed than to destroy the vermin ; and, as a rule, 

 feeding vermin does not add to their numbers, in the same or any 

 future season, for insect life is so strangely dependent on certain con- 

 ditions of temperature &c. that if the season is not favourable to a 

 particular kind it will be scarce, no matter how plentiful it may have 

 been in a former generation. In the case of the Turnip Fly, feeding 

 is frequently the cheapest and surest way of saving the crop. It is 

 customary with Dahlia growers, and indeed with the growers of 

 florists' flowers generally, to sow Lettuces where the flowers are to 

 be planted, for as long as Lettuces are on the spot Slugs and Snails 

 will prefer them to other food, and the Lettuces themselves serve as 

 traps ; so that as evening approaches, we may find pretty well all the 

 Snails and Slugs that are in the garden congregated about the Lettuces 

 and may catch and destroy ad libitum ; greasy Cabbage-leaves, and 

 heaps of brewers' grains, are also good traps for Slugs and Snails. 

 In using a mixture or preparation for the first time, it is advisable 



