18 Reviews and Extracts. 
the colony vvas discovered iiiuler tlie fire-fliie, at its entrance into the peach- 
house, they were supplied with the preparation below, and two days after not an 
ant appeared. Take thin slices of wheaten bread, (say half an ounce weight ) 
dry it slowly, but well, and pound it in a mortar ; — three quarters of an ounce 
of fine loaf sugar, pewder it also; then add half an ounce of the oxide of arsenic, 
commonly called levigated mercury ; triturate the whole well in a mortar, then 
put it into a clean, dry, glass bottle ; (of course it is a strong poison) very small 
portions of this may be applied on bits of glass or the flat side of an oyster-shell, 
as the smell of a recent oyster-shell is also an excellent decoy to ants. Small bell- 
glasses, such as are used for striking cuttings, or small flower pots, may be 
placed over it to prevent moisture from rendering it pasty, as well as to hinder 
any domestic animals from taking it. This poison is equally as fatal to vegetable 
as to animal life; for if it be laid on the soil round the stem of an orange or other 
plant, it will corrode the bark and alburnum, to the destruction of the plant. 
2. — Mrmoir.s! ok the Caledonian Horticultural Societv. 
Vol. 4, Part II. 
Page l^l. — Article 48. On Destroying Caterpillars. By Mr. Alexamdbr 
WiTHFKSPOON, Haddington. Read May 23rd, 1815. 
Mr. VVituehspoon's garden was small, with a few rows of gooseberry bushes, 
and by constantly looking after them he was able to keep them pretty free from 
caterpillars, but after his crop of fruit, notwithstanding his care, he observed a 
numerous swarm of them of a very diminutive size. As the season was so far 
advanced, he conjectured they were the succeeding race of depredators for the 
following spring, and consequenlly, they must have .some means of self-preserva- 
tion, and if he could discover tlieir retreat, it would bean easy matter to kill them. 
By careful observation lie found that they retired to the lower parts of the bushes, 
where they live througii the winter in a torpid stale, without food, in clusters or 
groups principally, under chopped leaves', which are woven and bound to the', 
creatures and to (he branches, by a fine silken thread, which, like the spider, 
they have the power of working from their bowels; they are likewise found 
bound together by the same lliread, bi.t without such covering as leaves on the 
under side of (he horizontal and angular branches, where the branches divide, and 
especially near any rough or knotty part, which serv es them for shelter and cover- 
ing. I lind, (he adds,) such numbers collected in these retreats, that it appears 
few have died this winter, (1811 — 1815) tho\igli it is now January. Although 
they were torpid, they became lively when brought into the house, and seemed 
as if they could long subsist without food : — l:e infers from these observations, that 
these creatures come forth from the egg while it is yet summer heat, and spread 
themselves over the bushes, but being so minute are not discovered till near the 
close of tlie season : they then seek a place of safety until the returning spring again 
brinos them into action. — He proposes to kill them in their winter quarters, 
which, (he sjiys) may be done by besmearing the parts with tar: he, however finds 
some difticiilty with them on the walls, as they get under pieces of lime and stones, 
but being certain of the stage they are in, (he observes,) they can be traced out. 
Pafre 416. — Art. 51 . On the n/l/irafion of Pcr/r/irx and Xecfarinea on fixed wulh: 
— On sercpiti)ur (l,p hlonsovis nf wall tree:, unth Nets and Fern. — Onsm'ing Peas 
and Beam front the attnclis of M'x-e. — -ind. On Desfroyi/ig these J'ermin. By 
Mr. Willia.m Irving, Gardener to Sir C. Swinburn, Bart., of Capheatou, 
Read June 14th, 1814. 
The flued walls were built in the common way, twelve feet high, with three 
turns or levels, each forty feet in lengih, and trellised the height of the first flue 
