488 BULI.ETIN 78. 



maggots infesting onions, beans, and raspberry canes are different 



insects, distinct from each other and from the Cabbage Root 



Maggot. 



INDICATIONS OF THE PRESENCE OF THE PEST. 



Some gardeners who are familiar with the different stages of the insect, 

 can often tell, by watching their plants closely about May i, whether the 

 pest is laying eggs or not, and thus do not have to wait until its presence is 

 indicated through its effect on the plant. It is one of the chief aims of this 

 bulletin to thus render the different stages of this insect familiar, by means 

 of descriptions and illustrations, so that all observing gardeners can recog- 

 nize its presence in their cabbage fields and radish beds, before the maggots 

 fairly begin their ruinous work. Unfortunately, however, many gardeners rec- 

 ognize the insect only in its maggot stage. But as the pest is then out of sight 

 in the soil, its presence is often not suspected until much damage has been 

 done. Sometimes the pest gets at work early enough in the spring to catch 

 the tender plants in exposed seed beds. Here the small plants quickly suc- 

 cumb to the attacks of the maggots ; for a few days the infested plants may 

 have a weak, sickly appearance, when suddenly, in a day's time, they will 

 wilt down and die. Sometimes the seed beds of late varieties suffer in the 

 same way in June or July. Young radish or turnip plants succumb in a sim- 

 ilar manner. 



Usually, however, the maggots first make their presence felt on 



the plants after they have been set in the field about two or three 



weeks. This year, on L,ong Island, the plants began to show the 



effects of the maggot about May 15 ; the time will vary with the 



season, locality, and latitude. 



If cabbage plants once get thoroughly established before the maggots 

 attack thent, unless the maggots occur in considerable numbers, the plant 

 may show scarcely any indications of the presence of the pest. This is due 

 to the fact that the plants of the cabbage tribe are all gross feeders ; and 

 thus always require a very rich soil from which they quickly repair injuries 

 to their root-system, especially if the soil is kept moist by rains or otherwise- 

 Gardeners understand this and often hill up their plants, which then soon 

 send out new roots farther up on the buried stem.* This power of the plant 

 to overcome the ravages of a few maggots is an important point, especially 

 in connection with some of the remedies recommended for the pest. In rad- 

 ishes and turnips, however, a single maggot may render the root unfit for 

 food without otherwise materially injuring the plant; quite a number of 

 maggots might attain their growth in the large fleshy root of these plants 

 without indicating their presence by any very noticeable change in the vis" 



* Mr. Reeve of Maltituck said he had often saved many of his cabbage plants, after they 

 had been nearly ruined by the maggots, by carefully hilling up around the stems and 

 watering them well. New roots would soon be put out, and he had produced m.any good, 

 " ut later, heads of cabbage in this way. 



