If you stop them, they will make new thoroughfares, to the further injury of the foundation; and, besides, when you are acquainted with their runs, you know where to put traps and poison for the vermin.  As to the best poison, there is nothing so effectual as arsenic; but it should be employed with great care, and before it is brought on the premises the question of safe storage must be considered.  A fat bloater split down and well rubbed with common white arsenic will kill a score of Rats, provided only that they will eat it.  Cut it into four parts, and place these in or near their runs, and cover with tiles or boards to prevent dogs and cats obtaining them.  If this fails, try bread and butter dressed with oil of rhodium and phosphorus.  The oil of rhodium seems to possess an irresistible attraction for these vermin.  When dry food is preferred, there is nothing so good as oatmeal; and it is a golden rule to feed the Rats for a few days with pure oatmeal, and then to mix about a fourth part of arsenic with it.  Several proprietary articles are offered for the destruction of Rats.  Before resorting to these means of annihilating vermin it is necessary to take steps to prevent the bodies from proving a nuisance after death.  A good fox-terrier will keep a large garden free from Rats and Mice.

THE FUNGUS PESTS OF CERTAIN GARDEN PLANTS

Many of our garden plants are liable to the attacks of fungi.  Cures are in most instances unknown, but in some cases preventives—­which are better—­have been adopted with partial or entire success.  Plants raised from robust stocks, grown in suitable soil and under favourable conditions, are known to be less liable to disease than seedlings from feeble parents, or those which have been rendered weakly by deficiencies in the soil or faulty cultivation.  Whether weakness is hereditary, or is attributable to a bad system, the fact remains that disease generally begins with unhealthy specimens, and these form centres of contamination from which the mischief spreads.  It is, therefore, important that seed from healthy stocks should be sown, and that a vigorous constitution should be developed by good cultivation.

==Anbury, Club, or Finger-and-toe==.—­The disease known by these various names is common in the roots of cultivated cruciferous plants such as Cabbages, Kohl Rabi, Radishes, Swedes, Turnips, &c., and also in many cruciferous weeds, including Charlock and Shepherd’s Purse.  The cause of this disease is an extremely minute fungus, which may lie dormant in the soil for several years for want of a comfortable home, and when a cruciferous plant becomes available the fungus fastens on the fine roots, multiplies rapidly in the tissues, and produces malformation and decay.  After the disease has made some progress insect agency frequently augments the mischief, so that on cutting open a large decaying root it is not unusual to find the interior packed with millipedes, weevils, wireworms, and other ground vermin.