. Then wash it clean, and dry it fit for
use. Old casks are apt to grow musty, if allowed to stand by neglected;
they should therefore be closely stopped as soon as emptied. When
tainted, put in some lime, fill up with water, and let them stand a day
or two. If this be not sufficient, the head must be taken out, the
inside well scoured, and the head replaced.

CATERPILLARS. These noxious insects, sustained by leaves and fruit, have
been known in all ages and nations for their depredations on the
vegetable world. In August and September they destroy cabbages and
turnips in great abundance, and commit their ravages in fields and
gardens whenever the easterly winds prevail. Various means have been
devised for their destruction, and any of the following which may
happen to be the most convenient, may be employed with very good effect.
Mix and heat three quarts of water and one quart of vinegar, put in a
full pound of soot, and stir it with a whisk till the whole is
incorporated. Sprinkle the plants with this preparation, every morning
and evening, by dipping in a brush and shedding it over them; and in a
few days all the cankers will disappear. Or sow with hemp all the
borders where cabbages are planted, so as to enclose them, and not one
of these vermin will approach. When gooseberry or currant bushes are
attacked, a very simple expedient will suffice. Put pieces of woollen
rags in every bush, the caterpillars will take refuge in them during the
night, and in the morning quantities of them may thus be taken and
destroyed. If this do not succeed, dissolve an ounce of alum in a quart
of tobacco liquor; and as soon as the leaves of the plants or bushes
appear in the least corroded, sprinkle on the mixture with a brush. If
any eggs be deposited, they never come forward after this application;
and if changed into worms they will sicken and die, and fall off.
Nothing is more effectual than to dust the leaves of plants with sulphur
put into a piece of muslin, or thrown upon them with a dredging box:
this not only destroys the insects, but materially promotes the health
of the plants. When caterpillars attack fruit trees, they may be
destroyed by a strong decoction of equal quantities of rue, wormwood,
and tobacco, sprinkled on the leaves and branches while the fruit is
ripening. Or take a chafing-dish of burning charcoal, place it under the
branches of the bush or tree, and throw on it a little brimstone. The
vapour of the sulp