Wheelbarrows
Wheelbarrows are amongst the most essential of garden requisites, and are invariably in daily use. The common Box-barrow with broad wheel is that in general use, and is best adapted for wheeling soil, rubbish, manure, &c. If wheeling on planks becomes necessary, as is sometimes the case when excavations or new walks are made, the Navvy-barrow is best, as the wheel, being made of iron, does not collect soil to clog it, and the sides are set on an angle outwards to facilitate emptying readily. Flat Barrows of the shape represented in Fig. 218 are largely employed in market gardens for wheeling baskets of fruit, vegetables, &c., to the sheds. One, at least, of these Barrows is always useful in a garden, for the removal of boxes, hampers, or anything that cannot be readily fitted into an ordinary Wheelbarrow. It may also be employed for wheeling a water-barrel, if the use of one is necessary. WHITE ANTS, or TERMITES. Fortunately, these are not British insects; but in warm countries, and especially throughout the tropics, they abound, and do great destruction to woodwork of every kind. Only a very few kinds of wood can resist their jaws. At La Rochelle and Bordeaux, on the West coast of France, they have been introduced, and have become so abundant as to force themselves into notice by the mischief they do to the woodwork of the public offices and of dwelling-houses, and also to the public records. The Termites resemble true Ants in living in very large communities, comprising males, females, and neuters. Among the neuters may often be distinguished workers and soldiers, the latter attending only to the defence of the community, while the former do the hard work. In structure the Termites differ greatly from the true Ants, as they belong to the Neuroptera, while the true Ants are Hymenoptera (see Insects). Among Termites only the mature males and females are winged. The wings are about twice as long as the body; all four are of nearly equal size, and are provided with a stout front border, or nerve, and a number of slender, indistinct nerves in the other parts of the wings. When not in use they lie flat on the back. The segments of the thorax are distinct; the abdomen is flattened; the head is rather flattened, and has cutting jaws; and the legs are rather short and slender. The neuters have no wings, or have only their rudiments. Some entomologists have regarded them as larvae and pupae of the males and females; others believe that they never become sexually mature. The species of Termites are very numerous; those that occur in Europe are named Termes lucifugus and T. ruficollis. The nests of certain tropical species are built of mud on the soil, reach a height of from 10ft. to 15ft. and are so hard as to require a pickaxe to penetrate the outer walls. Other species form nests of clay high up among the branches of trees. They always work under cover of galleries of mud, or in wood, as they hate daylight. When the males and females become winged, they leave the nest, and pair, and soon afterwards the females drop their wings, and are taken back into the nest by the workers. Here each female is inclosed in a clay cell built around her by the workers. Her abdomen grows enormously, becoming filled with eggs, of which a single female can lay as many as 80,000 in twenty-four hours. The eggs are carried away by the workers, and are carefully tended, as among bees and wasps. The number of Termites in a large nest is enormous.
As they are not likely to prove hurtful in England, there is no need to dwell upon any remedies.