The Cabbage Root Maggot. 483 



the pest in Maine for over twenty years. A gentleman in Pennsylvania had 

 nearly four acres of cabbages destroyed in 1877 ; and the next year the pest 

 was very destructive in Luzerne County, in the same State. In 1885, Fletcher 

 reported that the pest had that year destroyed from 25 to 75 per cent, of the 

 cauliflowers in Canada; it occurred in all of the Provinces from Nova Scotia 

 to Vancouver's Island (it must have been present in Canada for many years 

 previous to have attained this wide range). A radish grower reported the 

 pest from Colorado in 1886; Cockerell recorded it from the same State in 

 1889. In 1887, turnips suffered from the "maggots" in Vermont; in the 

 same year the insect was also reported from South Carolina and Georgia. 

 In i889,experiments were tried against the pest in Alabama and in the State of 

 Washington. It was injurious in Mississippi and Wisconsin in 1892. The 

 following year, 1893, Alwood reported it very destructive in Virginia. This 

 year it has been recorded as injurious in Oregon. 



Thus the pest was introduced into this country from Europe 

 early in the present century, perhaps first appearing in Massa- 

 chusetts, from whence it gradually spread north, west, and south 

 into the neighboring States. In about 25 years it had reached 

 Maine on the north, Maryland on the south, and Michigan on the 

 west. In 20 years more it had reached the Pacific Ocean, entered 

 Colorado, and passed through South Carolina into Alabama. In 

 a little more than half a century it had thus spread over the 

 greater portion of the United States and Canada. Doubtless it is 

 now present in injiirious numbers in every State where its food- 

 plants are grown to any extent. 



Whenever the pest obtains a foot-hold, it usually appears in alarming 

 numbers year after year if its food-plants continue to be grown in the neigh- 

 borhood. In England it has been very destructive almost every year since 

 1880. In the United States, the gardeners in this vState (especially in the 

 neighborhood of New York City, over the line in New Jersey and throughout 

 Long Island) and in Michigan have suffered severely from the pest almost 

 every year, as the records show, for the past 25 years. Many market garden- 

 ers on Long Island have abandoned the growing of early cabbages, cauli- 

 flowers, and radishes on account of this formidable pest. In 18S7, Peter 

 Henderson said : " tens of thousands of acres the past season have been, of 

 both cauliflower and cabbage, utterly ruined by maggots." In Canada the 

 pest has been especially injurious in 1885, 1887, 1890, 1S92, and 1893 ; in 1892 

 it was considered the most destructive insect of the year. 



From this somewhat detailed account of the past history and 

 distribution of the Cabbage Root Maggot, we may draw this gen- 

 eral conclusion : that it is common and often does much damage 

 throughout Europe, from whence it was introduced early in the 



