==Slugs== are serious plagues to the gardener, and they sometimes appear in large numbers so suddenly as to suggest the idea that the little Slugs have come down in showers.  Young crops are especially liable to injury from these vermin, and it is not easy, even in well-kept gardens, to keep them down.  Constant attention is necessary, particularly in wet seasons.  But here, as in the case of many other kinds of vermin, means may be adopted that will accomplish the double purpose of destroying the plague and benefiting the land; for lime, salt, soot, and nitrate of soda are certain Slug-killers, and will usually pay for their employment by their enrichment of the ground.  The nice point always is to employ them advantageously.  It should further be borne in mind that a Slug slightly touched by lime or salt has the power of throwing it off by means of the slimy exudation with which the creature is endowed.  But if again quickly assailed in a similar manner death is certain to follow.  Land made ready for sowing may be pretty well cleared of Slugs by broadcasting it with salt.  Unfortunately, these destroyers are only effective in fine weather.  In rainy seasons, or when a crop is rising, it is necessary to resort to trapping, and many kinds of vegetable refuse make tempting baits for Slugs.  Pieces of Orange peel, suitably placed, are soon covered with the vermin, especially in the winter during intervals of frost.  Cabbage leaves, sliced Turnips and Potatoes, or almost any waste vegetable may be used.  The traps should be scattered about at dusk, and be gathered up in the morning, and buried in pits, or destroyed by fire.

Gas-lime is highly destructive to Slugs, but when first applied it is poisonous to plant life.  An excellent method of using it is to dress the surface in autumn at the rate of from four to six cwt. per acre, and to dig the ground deeply four weeks later.

Rows of Peas are easily protected by a covering of barley sweepings, or by charcoal broken very small and flavoured with paraffin.  Slaked lime, carefully used, is also employed with satisfactory results.

==Snails.==—­In their methods of attacking garden vegetation, and in the extent of damage they cause, Snails may be placed in the same category as Slugs.  During the day the Snail usually remains in hiding, emerging from rockeries and creeper-covered walls in the evening or after a shower of rain.  They may be trapped by one of the methods suggested for Slugs, and preference should be given to the use of Cabbage leaves.  It will, however, be safer to protect young plants by giving heavy dressings of lime or soot.  Hand picking is the surest means of dealing with them, and in the winter months large numbers may be collected from among box edgings, the base of ivy-covered walls and similar shelters.  Birds, especially thrushes, show a marked partiality for Snails.