AN ISLAND GARDEN 63 



speaks of these arch enemies of mine as " un- 

 noticed myriads of small shell-less snails called 

 slugs, which silently and imperceptibly make 

 amazing havoc in field and garden ; " adding in a 

 note, " Farmer Young of Norton Farm says that 

 this spring (1777) about four acres of his wheat 

 in one field were entirely destroyed by the slugs, 

 which swarmed on the blades of corn and devoured 

 it as fast as it sprung." 



Poor Farmer Young ! I deeply sympathize 

 with him and his long buried trouble ! 



Again White says : " The shell-less snails called 

 slugs are in motion all winter in mild weather and 

 commit great depredations on garden plants, and 

 much injure the green wheat." 



There was a happy time when such a thing as 

 a slug was unknown on my island, and I well re- 

 member the first that were brought here among 

 some Moonflowers that were imported from a dis- 

 tant green-house. I saw them adhering to the 

 outside of the flower-pots and did not kill them, 

 never dreaming what powers of evil they would 

 become ! 



25th. Every day the garden grows more inter- 

 esting, more fascinating. Buds full of promise 

 show themselves on the single Dahlias whose 

 seeds were only planted in February ; on the Rose 

 Campions, the perennial kind, on the tall white 

 Lilies. The Hollyhocks are thick with buds, and 

 rich spikes head all the boughs of the Larkspurs, 

 and as for the Roses, they are simply wonderful. 

 The Tea Roses are loaded with buds ; on one of 

 the Polyanthas that lived all winter in the ground 



