V E R 



V I B 



per-bnx, shake a quantity of it on ilie forcjiaris 

 of the tlcad rats, and [UU them ciown the holes, 

 or avenues, by tfie sides of the sewers at which 

 they eome in ; this puts a stop to the live ones 

 coming any further ; for when ihey perceive the 

 arsenic^ they wiil, he says, retire immediately ; 

 whereas if they were put down without the arse- 

 nic the live ones would eat them." 



We have, however, found that tlicse animals 

 take arsenic best when it is prepared by being 

 finely levigatid and mixed up with very strong 

 ■old cheese and oatmeal. In order to destroy 

 mice, Mr. Forsvtli advises to "lake aquartof the 

 bait for rats before there is any bread mixed with 

 it ; then take four nuts of nux vomica, and rasp 

 thena verv fine, other^vise the mice will pick out 

 the food from it, on account of its bitter taste ; 

 rub them well together ; lay some of it on a piece 

 of paper, or, if without doors, on a piece of 

 tile, removing all other food from the place, and 

 it will kill alTthat eat of it. What is not eaten 

 should be taken away in the morning, and re- 

 placed at night. If this be in a garden, shelter 

 It with boards or tiles, that it may not get wet. 



" Open traps should likewise be set, as mice 

 are shy in entering close ones. And care should 

 betaken not to convey these animals into gardens 

 by the straw litter, or other similar materials." 



' Slu<Ts are a sort of animals that are frequently 

 found harbouring about the foundations of walls, 

 and about the roots of pease, lettuce. Sec. " They 

 niav," Mr. Forsyth says, " be picked off, and kill- 

 ed, by putting them into a pot in which is a little 

 fine unslaked lime ; or the ground where they 

 are should be well watered with soap-suds and 

 urine, mixed with tobacco-water. When they 

 are numerous on the surface of the ground, 

 w-hich frequently happens after rain, or in a 

 dewy morning, fine unslaked lime thrown over 

 the borders, &c., will, he says, destroy them. 

 But he prefers the above mixture, which, if the 

 ground be well watered with it, will bring them 

 up out of their holes, when they very soon die ; 

 it will also destroy their eggs, which they always 

 deposit in tlte'earth.'' 



"Snails also, during the winter," he says, " ga- 

 ther themselves together in clusters; and in that 

 season are frequently found in great numbers 

 behind wall trees, and in holes of the walls. 

 They should be carefully picked off and crushed, 

 which is the only eflectual way of getting rid of 

 them. If any should escape, they should be 

 destroyed as they make their appearance in the 

 spring. As they also deposit their eggs in the 

 ground, the borders should be well watered in 

 the above manner." 



Wasps and flies are highly destructive of all 

 sorts of fruit : therefore, as soon as the wasp and 



a 



large flesh-fly make their appearance, "gel ready 

 several bottles or phials ; then mix up grounds 

 of wine or beer, with sweepings of sugar, honey, 

 or grounds of treacle, and with this mixture fill 

 the bottles half or three-quarters full, then place 

 some of them at the bottom o-f the wall, and 

 fiang a sufficient number up by a piece of yel- 

 low willow, or packthread, on the nails against 

 the walls in different places, observing to empty 

 them frequently, as they fill with flics and wasps ; 

 first pour the liquor into an empty bottle, and 

 then shake out the dead insects, crashing them 

 with your foot, that none of them miy revive; 

 then pour back the liquor into the bottles and 

 phials as at first. In this manner a great many- 

 may be destroyed, he says, before the fruit be- 

 comes ripe. If you begin to hang up the bot- 

 tles as soon as you see the fly, which comes 

 much earlier than the wasp, you will be able to 

 destroy ^reat numbers of them, and will have 

 the bottfes ready for the wasps when they make 

 their appearance. The fly will be found as de- 

 structive as the wasp to grapes." And " when 

 the weather is hot, and the wasps are numerous, 

 if they do not enter the bottles fast enough, 

 (which will happen when the fruit is very ripe), 

 a little oil may, he says, be put in a cup, and 

 with a feather dipped in it touch their backs and 

 they will instantly drop down ; when you will 

 find them turned black and green by the effects 

 of the oil." 



Birds attack fruit much when it begins to 

 ripen. The best preventive in this ease is, Mr. 

 J^orsyth says, " to cover the trees with nets, or 

 bunting, a sort of cloth of which ships' colours 

 are made." See Viris. 



There are many other animals of the insect 

 tribe that are likewise highly destructive to 

 fruits and garden crops, but which are noticed 

 under the articles which they are found to injure. 



VERVAIN. See Verbena. 



VERVAIM MALLOW. See Malva and 

 Urena. 



VIBURNUM, a genus containing plants of 

 the deciduous and evergreen flowering kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentandria 

 Trigi/nia. and ranks in the natural order of Du- 

 mosc^. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a five- 

 parted ))erianth, superior, very small, permanent: 

 the corolla one-petalled, bell-shaped, five-cleft: 

 segments blunt, reflexed : the stamina have five 

 awl-shaped filaments, leno'li of the corolla : an- 

 thers roundish: the pistilhun is an inferior germ, 

 roundish : style none, but in its stead a turbinate 

 g'and : stigmas three : the pericarpium is a 

 roundish berry, one-celled : the seeds bony, 

 roundish. 



