at this moment a garden of great extent which has not had one shilling damage done to it by slugs or snails for many years past, though in the gardens around they so much abound, that every season the crops suffer amazing damages from these insects, in attempting to destroy which perhaps some hundreds of pounds are annually in vain expended, though here not one shilling has been laid out for that purpose perhaps for thirty years past; for the same man has had charge of this garden for more than forty years, and the business was completely effected within a few years after he obtained possession of it. He is no churl of his secret, and here it is.

At the beginning this garden was just as much infested with these vermin as others. The snails were quickly eradicated by closing up all the holes in the walls, and picking them off with care as soon as they made their appearance in damp or cloudy weather. In about two years these were totally eradicated, so that not one could be found.

Slugs, as being lefs easily perceptible, and feeding more during the night, were not so soon overcome; but by carefully going over the ground very early in the mornings, especially during damp and cloudy weather, and picking them up clean, these also were soon sensibly diminished in number, and gradually disappeared. In this species of hunting the succefs will be considerably forwarded by due attention to the natural habitudes of the creature. That it feeds during the night, and comes out of its holes only in moist weather, is universally known; but it is equally certain, that though it has not the use of eyes, it has the faculty of distinguishing its proper food at a considerable

distance, so as to find the way to it with facility in the dark, probably by the smell. Its regale is decaying vegetables, and it scents them out with great acuteness. Hence it is, that newly transplanted cabbages or lettuces in the spring, or other such things, especially if they have been long out of the ground so as to become sickly, are sure to be seized upon with peculiar avidity, while such as are fresh are in a great measure neglected. When a plantation of this sort, then, has been made, it ought to be carefully examined early in the morning; and if a single blade has been touched the thief ought to be watched, nor ever abandoned till it has been catched, which is an easy task: for this animal is so slow in its motions as to have become the origin of a generic term, all creatures who have similar propensities being called sluggish. In ground that is foul, ten or a dozen will sometimes be found clustered round one such plant, while others will be seen crawling on the ground about it. These should be picked up, and perhaps no tool is better for that purpose than a gardener's knife with a long handle; for the point of it can get in among the leaves to brush them off without injuring the plant, and then by slipping it below them among the earth they may be very conveniently lifted, and thrown into an empty flower pot (having the hole closed up) held in the left hand for that purpose. In this way they may be quickly picked up, and by going over the whole division thus row after row during a moist cloudy morning, or in an evening after it has rained, few that have come abroad at that time will escape. This process ought to be repeated in the same place day after day, while the wea

will it be long, if this be done, till they totally disappear there, if no shelter is left to conceal them; and here cleanliness is of sovereign use. Nothing is more common than in most gardens to allow leaves of cabbages to lie upon the ground, or decaying stalks of these plants to remain in their places. These serve as the most efficacious nurseries for this kind of vermin that can be conceived. Under these leaves they find shelter and food exactly suited to their taste, and here they batten and breed at their ease, without being obliged ever to expose themselves abroad at the risk of being picked up by any of those creatures which prey upon them; and in the hollow of a half-rotted stem, especially if covered with a mixture of decaying leaves and sprouts, as at this season of the year, they find such an appropriated shelter, that it is perhaps impofsible to devise another situation equally favourable for them. Cabbages, therefore, and cauliflowers should always be taken up by the roots, not cut over when they are to be used, and carried clean off the ground; and other things, such as decaying turnips, beets, or things of a similar kind, should be carried off the ground the moment they are no longer in a fresh or prosperous state. By pursuing this conduct with care, which is no lefs necefsary for economy than neatness, slugs will soon disappear.

I mention not here sea gulls, and other birds who prey upon these insects without eating seeds, because these cannot always be obtained; but where they can be obtained, and properly confined within walls, they are a very useful afsistant. What is recommended above is in every person's power to obtain in every pofsible situation that can be supposed.

^

Decaying leaves, however, may be employed in foul grounds with great effect; for, if these be laid down in small heaps by way of snares, during moist weather, in the places where slugs most abound, they allure the insects thither, which may there be collected in great numbers in the morning, by removing the leaves, and then replacing them. If these heaps be not too small, and moistened with a copious watering during the evening in dry weather, they will prove then equally efficacious. If some stems of cabbages, or decaying turnips, be among them, the better. Where the ground remains in small clods, these afford an excellent shelter for slugs, who lodge under them during the day, and devour the young plants as they spring up during the night. Such ground should always be rolled with a weighty roller as soon as it is sown.

To A. B. who wishes to have my opinion respecting the kinds of trees that are best adapted to different soils and circumstances, I beg leave to state that my knowledge on that subject is too imperfect to admit of me to speak with the precision that could be wished to render it useful. Some hints will naturally occur in the course of this work respecting this subject; but they will be merely hints tending to elucidate the subject, not to direct the operator. In regard to the cultivation and uses of the larch tree, which I conceive to be in many cases the most useful and the most profitable tree that can be reared in this country, I have written very fully in the third volume of Efsays on Agriculture, &c.; nor could I answer this gentleman's last query better than by referring to it.

[Acknowledgments to Philo; I. F; Juvenis Indigator; F. W; Hafer; Aristides; Leucippus; F. G. &c. are still unavoidably postponed.]

15.

MAY 1800.

RECREATIONS

IN

AGRICULTURE, NATURAL-HISTORY,

ARTS, & MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE.

No.3. VOL. III.

AGRICULTURE.

Hints respecting the circumstances that require to be chiefly adverted to in experimental agriculture, particularly with a view to a proposal for instituting a national experimental farm.

[Continued from page 99.]

PRACTICAL REMARKS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE DAIRY, PARTICULARLY IN RESPECT TO THE OBTAINING OF BUTTER.

Some of the remarks that follow, on the dairy management, were communicated to the secretary of the agricultural society at Bath, and were published in the fifth volume of the correspondence of that society. As it is probable, however, VOL. III. M