68. To Kill Slugs (1).

Take a quantity of cabbage leaves, and either put them into a warm
oven, or heat them before the fire till they get quite soft; then rub
them with unsalted butter, or any kind of fresh dripping, and lay them
in places infested with slugs. In a few hours the leaves will be found
covered with snails and slugs, which may then, of course, be destroyed
in any way the gardener may think fit.

2469. To Destroy Slugs (2).

Slugs are very voracious, and their ravages often do considerable
damage, not only to the kitchen garden, but to the flower-beds also.
If, now and then, a few slices of turnip be put about the beds, on a
summer or autumnal evening, the slugs will congregate thereon, and may
be destroyed.

2470. To Exterminate Beetles.

i. Place a few lumps of unslaked lime where they frequent.

ii. Set a dish or trap containing a little beer or syrup at the
bottom, and place a few sticks slanting against its sides, so as to
form a sort of gangway for the beetles to climb up it, when they
will go headlong into the bait set for them.

iii. Mix equal weights of red lead, sugar, and flour, and place it
nightly near their haunts. This mixture, made into sheets, forms the
beetle wafers sold at the oil shops.

[WHERE REASON RULES APPETITE OBEYS.]

2471. To Kill Cockroaches.

A teacupful of well-bruised plaster of Paris, mixed with double the
quantity of oatmeal, to which a little sugar may be added, although
this last-named ingredient is not essential. Strew it on the floor, or
in the chinks where they frequent.

2472. Earwigs.

Earwigs are very destructive insects, their favourite food being the
petals of roses, pinks, dahlias, and other flowers. They may be caught
by driving stakes into the ground, and placing on each an inverted
flower-pot, for the earwigs will climb up and take refuge under the
pot, when they may be taken out and killed. Clean bowls of
tobacco-pipes, placed in like manner on the tops of smaller sticks,
are very good traps: or very deep holes may be made in the ground with
a crowbar, into which they will fall, and may be destroyed by boiling
water.

2473. To Destroy Ants.

Drop some quicklime on the mouth of their nest, and wash it in with
boiling water; or dissolve some camphor in spirits of wine, then mix
with water, and pour into their