REPORT OF THE DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY AND BOTANY 59 



SLSSIONA'- PAPER No. 16 



flowers arc cccasionally injured in autumn by the maggots attacking the heads of the 

 plants. 



'Remedies. — Up to the present time it cannot be claimed that any perfectly effi- 

 cacious remedy has been discovered for root maggots. In certain years they seem to 

 be so extremely abundant that even the best remedies merely seem to prolong the lives 

 of the plants, and only a very small proportion of a crop can be saved. In ordinary 

 years, however, much can be done to protect crops liable to attack, and the following 

 are the remedies which have given the best results : — 



' For Onions. — Wliite hellebore dusted along the rows once a week frona 

 the time the young plants appeared above the ground gave comparatively clean onions, 

 very few being attackc-d. Fresh gas lime broadcasted over onion fields at the rate of 

 two hundredweight to the acre had a similar effect; but, where the caustic lime came 

 in contact with the young onions, they were burnt out. A light dressing, between the 

 rows of onions, of the same material gave almost as good results as where it was dis- 

 tributed over the whole field. When onions have begun to form their bulbs, the earth 

 may be hoed or brushed away right down to the roots, and in some years the maggots 

 do not penetrate the bulbs. As soon as the earth is hoed away in garden practice, a 

 dusting along the rows with white hellebore makes the protection more complete. 



' Dressings of salt, Paris green and plaster and wood ashes have been found useless 

 in protecting onions from the attacks of root maggots. 



' For Cabbages. — (1.) Tarred Paper Disks.- — Pieces of ordinary tarred paper three 

 inches in diameter, with a slit running to the centre so as to allow of their being 

 placed around the stems of young cabbages and cauliflowers at the time of planting, 

 and pressed down close to the ground, will prevent to a large measiire the flies from 

 laying their eggs on plants so protected, or will kill the young maggots. 



' (2.) Insect Powder. — About half a teacupful of a decoction of pyrethum insect 

 powder (four ounces to a gallon of water), or of white hellebore of the same 

 strength poured around the root of each plant, after drawing away the earth 

 right down to the root, will destroy any maggots which may have started to 

 work, Tlie earth should be put back again and the plants well hilled up, when new 

 rootlets will soon be formed. A light sprinkling of nitrate of soda or some special 

 fertiliser will encourage a quick growth and much help the plants to overcome attack. 

 Dressings of one ovmce to the square yard may be used for this purpose. Cabbage 

 plants should be examined late in June to see if the maggots are at work. The earlier 

 the treatment with insect powder or white hellebore is applied the more effective it 

 will be. If the mixture is applied to the roots with a force pump, although more liquid 

 is consumed, it has the advantage of dislodging many of the maggots so that their 

 injuries cease at once.' 



' (3.) Cheese-cloth inclosures.- -A very effective and practical means of procuring 

 early radishes, cabbages and cauliflowers, perfectly free from root maggots, is by grow- 

 ing them beneath cheap frames made of light wood covered with cheese-cloth. A con- 

 venient size for small beds is 8 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet high. This frame can 

 be made for about 25 cents, of one and a half inch square wood, nailed together at the 

 corners, and with the chee.se-cloth tacked on the outside. In such a frame five cauli- 

 flowers and two rows of radishes have been grown to perfection. The frame was kept 

 on from the time the young plants came up until the radishes were pulled. 



' Cauliflowers were sufficiently advanced to require no further protection and the 

 frames were removed about the first of August. 



* For Radishes. — The maggot which attacks the radish is the same species as also 

 attacks cabbages and turnips, the severity of attack on those different crops being 

 about in the order in which they are named, so that in years of light attack radishes 

 will draw oft" injury from the cabbages. 



