106 ON KESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS WITH 



. the ova hatch in about three weeks, and the larvae make their 

 escape as maggots, to be next transferred to the mouth and 

 stomach of the horse along with food and drink, where they 

 occasion the severe disorder in the digestive organs of the horse 

 known as the " bots." The larvae adhere to the coat of the 

 stomach by means of two large cephalic hooks until they attain 

 their perfect growth, when they make their escape and Ijury 

 themselves in the soil, in order to undergo the change from the 

 " bot " state into the pupa condition. After remaining in the soil 

 six or seven weeks, they come forth from their cocoon in the 

 active life form of perfect dipterous insects. The bot-fly of the 

 ox {(Estrus hovis) passes through the same transformation, but, 

 instead of the larv£e inhabiting the stomach of the animal, they 

 burrow beneath the skin, where they give rise to " warbles," which 

 are bots or tumours full of purulent matter, upon which the grub 

 feeds. When the bots are mature they escape to the ground, 

 where they bury themselves in the turf, and are transformed into 

 the pupa stage, to emerge finally as perfect insects. The bot-fly 

 of the sheep {CEstrus ovis) inhabits the frontal sinus of its host, 

 where it produces the disease known amongst shepherds as " gruli 

 in the head." The ichneumon fly {Cryptus migrator) belongs to 

 another order, the Hymcnoptera. This fly ^is parasitic in the 

 larval state on others of its kind, depositing its eggs within the 

 bodies of the other larvse, which are entirely devoured by the 

 ichneumon grub. 



ON RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS WITH LIME AND VARIOUS 



ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 



By Thomas Lawson, Sandyford, Kirriemuir. 



{Premium — Medium Gold Medal.'\ 



As an introduction to the subject of my report, I may mention 

 that the extent of my farm is about 250 acres, and is situated 

 300 feet above the level of the sea. The soil consists partly of 

 free black loam, with clay and gravel subsoil, and also a con- 

 siderable extent of thin jjlack moor soil, with pan svibsoil, on 

 which latter portion whins and heather grew quite naturally, along 

 with the second year's grass, only ten years ago. The farm has 

 been lal^oured in the five-shift rotation of cropping for the last 

 thirty-three years, — that is, two grass, two cereal, and one root 

 crop, unless, of course, what portions may have been reclaimed 

 from waste during the period mentioned. Previous to 1868, 

 turnips could not be grown without on an average one-half of 

 the crop being destroyed with " finger-and-toe." Potatoes also 

 were very much subject to disease. The grass too got thrown 



