222 



FRUITS. 



[chap. 



cabbage and the ribs of the leaves. These are most mischievous 

 things ; they are wholly insensible to the powers of lime : in heat 

 they delight ; w et will not injure them ; frost is their only de- 

 stroyer ; and many a time have I prayed for w inter in order to see 

 an end of the caterpillars. In order to mitigate the mischief, 

 and, indeed, in a great measure to put a stop to it, look narrowly 

 among your plants of the cabbage kind about the middle of the 

 summer. If you see the butterflies busy, expect their followers in 

 due time. Watch the plants : as soon as you see one attacked, 

 take it entirely up, shake the caterpillars from it upon the ground, 

 put them to death with your foot, and carry the plant away to the 

 pigs. 'Tis very rarely that the wdiole or any considerable part of 

 a piece of cabbages is attacked at once ; and therefore you may, 

 in some measure, guard against the mischiefs of this pernicious 

 insect, of which there are several sorts, some green, some brown, 

 some smooth, some hairy, and all equally mischievous. 



303. SNAILS. — From the curious construction of the snail 

 it is known to every body in tow^n as w^ell as country. It is very 

 mischievous, and especially amongst fruit trees, where it annoys 

 the fruit, as well as the leaf, but particularly the fruit. It is a 

 great enemy of the apricot and the plum, both of w hich it will eat 

 whether in the green or in the ripe state. It is very mischievous 

 amongst the plants in the garden in general ; but its size and its 

 habits and manners make it not difficult to destroy. Its places 

 of harbour are behind the trunks or big limbs of wall-trees, in a 

 garden, or, round the butts of the trees that form the hedge of the 

 outside of the garden. Snails lie in such places all the winter 

 long, and never stir till they are warmed into life in the spring. 

 Many persons have kept snails for a year or more nailed up in a 

 box, and have found them just as lively afterwards as if they had 

 never fasted at all. In winter time, in dry and frosty weather, 

 snails should be routed out from all their fastnesses, and destroyed. 

 This is the most effectual way of guarding against their depreda- 

 tions ; for, when the leaves come out, they have shelter, they 

 are exceedingly cunning in availing themselves of that shelter ; 

 but though you finally discover and kill them, they spoil your fruit 

 first. 



304. SLUG. — This is a snail without a shell, and, like the snail, 

 likes neither sun nor frost. Some slugs are black, others whitish, 

 others yellow. The great black slug and the yellow slug live chiefly 



