18 
Reviews and Extracts. 
the colony was discovered under the fire-flue, 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 j—three quarters of an ounce 
of fine loaf sugar, powder it also j 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 5 (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 tbe soil round the stem of an orange or other 
plant, it will corrode the bark and alburnnm, to the destruction of the plant. 
2.—Memoibs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. 
Vol. 4, Part II. 
Page 421.—Article 48. On Destroying Caterpillars. By Mr. Alexander 
Witherspoon, Haddington. Read May 23rd, 1815. 
Mb. Witherspoon’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, be 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 consequently, they must have some means of self-preserva¬ 
tion, and if he could discover their retreat, it would bean easy matter to kill them. 
By careful observation he found that they retired to the lower parts of the bushes, 
where they live through the winter in a torpid state, without food, in clusters or 
groups principally, under chopped leaves, which are woven and bound to the 
creatures and to the branches, by a fine silken tiiread, which, like the spider, 
they have the power of working from their bowels'; they are likewise found 
bound together by the same thread, but without such covering as leaves on the 
under side of the horizontal and angular branches, where the branches divide, and 
especially near any rough or knotty part, which serves them for shelter and cover¬ 
ing-. I find, (he adds,) such numbers collected in these retreats, that it appears 
few have died this winter, (1814—1815) though 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 :—he 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 the season : they tlienseeka place of safety until the returning spring again 
brings them into action.--He proposes to kill them in their winter quarters, 
which, (he says) may be done by besmearing the parts with tar; he, however finds 
some difficulty 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. 
Page 416.—Art. 51. On f/tecultivation of Peachesund Nectarines onflued ivalls; 
—On screening the blossoms of wall trees, with Nets and Fern .— On saving Peas 
and Beans from the attacks of Mice. — and, On Destroying these Vermin. By 
Mr. William Irving, Hardener to Sir C. Swinburn, Bart., of Capheaton. 
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 length, and trellised the height of the first flue 
