WEEKLY CALENDARIAL REGISTER. 117 



that the covering, by exckiding ihe air, will cause the 

 fruit to lose its flavor, and to decay. 



It must also be mentioned, that rats and mice are 

 very fond of grapes, and that when they attack them 

 they destroy a great quantity in a short space of time. 

 The visits of these vermin, though made generally in 

 the dark, may soon be detected, by laying, in the 

 evening, a linen or other cloth along the border close 

 to the wall, and directly under the fruit, and if it he 

 attacked by them in the night, their dung, dropped 

 while consuming the fruit, will invariably he found on 

 the cloth in the morning. If it should appear that 

 they infest the fruit, prompt means must be taken to 

 destroy them, for they travel with the greatest facility 

 over every braneh of the vine, from one extremity of 

 it to the other, and will, most assuredly, if not pre- 

 vented, speedily devour the whole crop. Amongst 

 the means which may be resorted to, to ensure their 

 destruction, may be employed with advantage the 

 laying of poison on the branches contiguous to the 

 fruit, and also the setting of traps well baited with 

 fresh toasted cheese, and seciu'ed to the wall close to 

 the main branches of the vine, along which it is sup- 

 posed they go, to commit their depredations. 



October 7th. Continue to remove decayed leaves 

 from the border, and suffer nothing to accumulate on 

 it that can either shade it, or harbor the snails. If 

 these are not prevented, they will soon find hiding 

 places in the vicinity of the wall, and in the night, 

 and also in wet weather, will crawl up the surface of 

 it, and commit great havoc amongst the fruit. To 

 prevent this, the wall should be carefully looked over 

 every three or four days, and when the weather is 

 wet, every day will not be too often. A full-grown 

 shell-snail will destroy a large bunch of grapes in 

 twenty-four hours. This fact will show the necessity 

 of looking sharply after these vermin. 



Take care not to cut any of the fruit until it be 

 thoroughly ripe. This is so often done, that it de- 

 serves to be mentioned as one of the many capital 



