63 
102 Slugs, to destroy. By night and by day, the horticultu- 
rist has numerous enemies to guard against and to encounter. 
Amongst these, two or three species of Lymax, known indiscrim- 
inately as Slugs, are, doubtless, the most formidable. Some of 
our friends have used wheat chaff, cut straw, and the piles of 
barley; others soot, lime, saw-dust, and sundry similar sub- 
stances ; all with more or less success. Oftentimes under fa- 
vourable circumstances, and the convenience of such articles 
being at hand, they are not unworthy of attention. Generally, 
however, we object to them all. The flower garden, as a work 
of art, as well as nature, rarely admits the spreading of chaff, 
and similar substances, without a disagreeable display of litter. 
In the kitchen garden this will generally be esteemed as less 
important, therefore we mention them as passing hints, for the 
advantage of such as may find them convenient. In our own 
practice we have always regarded hand picking as the only effi- 
cient method of protection against the depredations of Slugs. 
To facilitate this operation it is necessary to entice them together, 
and in this we have followed the usual method of spreading sli- 
ces of turnip, cabbage leaves, or other refuse likely to prove at- 
tractive, and afford them a convenient retreat. As an additional 
attraction to these little animals, our attention has been urgently 
called by a friend to a method oftentimes mentioned and prac- 
tised by gardeners, but which, we are assured, deserves to be re- 
commended with more than ordinary zeal. It is simply the ad- 
dition of a very little fat, of almost any description, to the cab- 
bage leaves,after having thoroughly warmed them before the fire. 
103 Iron and Steel, to preserve from Rusting. As the 
preservation of iron, in a clean and perfect state, is oftentimes 
very desirable to the gardener and horticulturist, we copy the 
following from the Records of Science for June, 1835. Several 
methods of preventing instruments of steel and iron from oxidat- 
ing are well known ; such as covering them with mercurial oint- 
ment, grease, oil or marrow, or placing them in calcined lime. 
The former of these I have found the most effectual as well as the 
most convenient mode. M. Payen has, however, lately propo- 
sed a new plan for accomplishing the same object. He found 
that a saturated solution of carbonate of soda, mixed with its 
own volume of water, disengaged only part of its volume of 
air, and preserved iron from rusting, and did not lose this power 
13': AUCTAEICM. 
