252 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



The arch enemy when the seedlings have come through is the 

 slug. Both snails and slugs are fond of young Annuals, and will 

 often destroy a whole bed of them f i a few nights. These hungry 

 marauders come forth in force, wrtb appetites well whetted, in 

 spring. Now, thrushes are great lovers of them, and these birds 

 should be protected and encouraged, in spite of any damage they 

 may do to crops in the summer. Lime is a valuable deterrent of 

 slugs. They detest it in all forms, and it has no ill effect on 

 plants. It is perhaps best applied in the form of dry, freshly 



slaked quicklime at night, when the 

 slugs are likely to be feeding. Two 

 applications should be made at inter- 

 vals of about twenty minutes, because 

 the slug can slough his skin and so 

 get rid of one dose of the hot powder; 

 but the second catches him at a hope- 

 less disadvantage, and finishes him off. 

 Lime water, made by putting a lump 

 of lime of the size of a cocoa-nut in 



ANNUALS THINNING-OUT SEEDLINGS . , 



, ... . , ... . a pail of water in the morning, and 



A, watering clump of seedlings before thinning 



is done ; B, the result of thinnin g .out. straining off the liquid at night, may 



Plants growing sturdily. 



be poured on the beds after dark, and 



will thin the slugs down. Another way of reducing them is to 

 put heaps of brewers' grains near the beds as baits. Any slugs 

 or snails captured can be destroyed instantly by dropping them 

 into a vessel of brine. 



If the seed has been sown thinly the task of thinning the 

 seedlings will not be a very irksome one. It may be done twice, 

 the first time when they are about an inch high, and the second 

 when they begin to crowd each other after being thinned to a 

 couple of inches apart. Few people are bold enough in thinning 

 seedlings. Or they are so economical in disposition that they do 

 not like to throw plants away. Both weaknesses must be over- 



