84 
THE FLOKIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ June, 
far tlie funds will hold out for awarding prizes. 
One further suggestion is that, instead of 
awarding the main bulk of the money to just 
a few of the leading stands, the first prize, for 
instance, should be curtailed, so as to bring it 
clown nearer to the level of those which have 
to follow. Honour, if there be any, I should 
say, ought to be considered quite as much as 
the money value in these cases; while as an 
encouragement, a little more money might be 
given to after-stands, and in the classes, since by 
doing so encouragement would be given to the 
younger and poorer classes of growers, who have 
the fancy at heart equally with their more 
fortunate friends.— John Hepworth, Crosland 
Moor , Huddersfield. 
ANTS, SLUGS, AND COCK¬ 
CHAFERS. 
winters like the past bequeath to 
a crowd of insect and other pests, 
ich are not exactly sources of 
happiness to the gardener, rather the contrary. 
The ants, so abundant last year, reappear, the 
slugs swarm, and for many years there has not 
been such an abundance of May-bugs (Chafers). 
To drive away the ants, guano or minced 
garlic spread on their nests has been spoken 
of as efficacious, but guano has not proved in¬ 
fallible, and the garlic and ants sometimes keep 
house together. I only know a single sure 
means of clearing out these laborious, but 
troublesome pests,—namely, in the evening, 
after they have entered their lodging, or in the 
morning before they go out of it, to drive a 
pointed stick into the middle of their nest, and 
to pour boiling water immediately and re¬ 
peatedly into the hole; if some escape, repeat 
the operation next day. This procedure is not, 
indeed, always applicable, as boiling water 
would kill both plants and insects with which 
it came in contact, but it can generally be put 
in practice when the ants’ nests are in the open 
garden. 
The measures proposed for the destruction 
of slugs, which are amongst the most dreaded 
enemies of gardeners, are numerous. I have 
lately read that they are fond of beer, and that 
if plates filled with beer are set in the garden, 
they will be attracted, and drown themselves. 
I have not tried this remedy. The use of bran, 
of which slugs are very fond, and with which 
they are said to choke themselves so as not to 
be able to move, has also been recommended ; 
but though very gluttonous, are they capable 
of this excess ? Others advise making little 
depots of cabbage or lettuce loaves, sheltered 
by a board slightly raised from the north side, 
under which, at the approach of day, they re¬ 
tire, and may be caught and destroyed. This 
may serve those who have little to do, or whose 
gardens are small, but will not suit those who 
are more closely occupied, or whose gardens are 
more extensive. Especially will it fail to get 
rid of those multitudes of microscopic and 
unseizable slugs which are the most dangerous, 
and of which, to clear a garden promptly, some 
recently slaked, very caustic lime should be 
scattered over the surface in the evening, or 
rather, early in the morning, not on a single 
border or bed, but over all the ground, includ¬ 
ing paths and alleys. This inexpensive remedy, 
repeated two or three times, will in a week 
destroy more slugs than will be got rid of in a 
year by all other methods put together. 
The May-bug or Chafer is most hurtful in 
the larva state under ground, where, in the 
form of a white worm (ver blanc), it carries on 
its depredations, gnawing the roots of plants, 
the worst of which is that often the damage 
is only perceived when it has become irrepar¬ 
able. It is said that the chafer moves but 
little from the place where it was hatched, and 
that if means were taken to destroy it before 
it deposits its eggs, the numbers of the larvae, 
and consequently the extent of the ravages, 
would be very much diminished. This is too 
generally neglected, under the pretext that it 
would produce no result, or that it would be 
too expensive, which is erroneous. In Algeria, 
the grasshoppers, which at certain times abound 
and commit great havoc, are collected, lightly 
dried in an oven, completely dried in the sun, 
and reduced to powder, in which form they 
constitute a very powerful manure, which has 
given the best results wherever it has been em¬ 
ployed. The chafer so treated would constitute 
an equally powerful manure, which would 
amply pay the expenses of collecting, and which 
would clear us of a great portion of the white 
worms into the bargain. A man and some 
children, furnished with a bag surmounted by 
a large funnel of zinc or tin, would accomplish 
the work.—D. Loumaye, Huy. (Abridged 
from the Bulletin Horticole.) 
