196 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



vegetables. It is a common grub, but is in such unusual numbers that the poor people 

 fear that every vegetable will be destroyed." — [Mrs. D. W. Macdonell.] 



No new remedies have been discovered for these troublesome pests of the garden 

 and farm. The remedies given in my last report have been found very serviceable, 

 particularly the poisoned bran remedy, when the material was used either dry or 

 moistened. 



Potatoes have been an uneven crop, very good in many places, but in as many 

 others, there was loss from neglecting to use Paris green for the Colorado Potato- 

 beetle and to spray for the potato-rot. Mr. W. W. Hubbard, of Sussex, N.B., the 

 editor of the Cooperative Farmer, says : — " We had a very wet spring with considerable 

 damp, sultry weather through the summer, and this was very favourable to spore 

 growth. Potatoes were early struck with rust. Scarcely any one will use the Bordeaux 

 mixture." This is a great pity, for the results of spraying to prevent the potato-rust, 

 which later produces the potato-rot, are so marked that any one who will try a small 

 experiment, must be soon convinced of the value of this remedy. 



Blister-beetles. — The Black Blister Bee tle(^picait<aP(Sn«.s3/Z'uanica,DeG.) appeared 

 in large numbers at St. Denis, Kamouraska Co , Que., on potatoes. Several specimens 

 were sent by Mr. J. C. Chapais. The Gray Blister-beetles (Macrobasis unicolor, Kirby) 

 did much harm to potatoes and beans at South River, Muskoka, Ont., and Mr. J. I. 

 Shell, having read in previous reports of the difficulties of some of my correspondents in 

 treating these insects without injuring the crop, tried some experiments with the insec- 

 ticide " Slug shot," which he prefers very much to the ordinary mixtures of Paris green 

 used for this insect, finding it equally effective, with no danger of injuring the foliage of 

 the plant treated. 



Aphides or plant-lice were very abundant last season, almost everything being 

 attacked severely. No specimens were received, but several correspondents refer to 

 injury to carrots by a species of plant-louse which spotted the foliage and stunted the 

 roots of the carrots. This occurred in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Mr. C. E. 

 Brown, of Yarmouth, N.S., reports: — "Among haidy vegetable crops there was injury 

 and in some cases there was a total loss of carrots from the attacks of aphides. These 

 pests were prevalent not only throughout this county, but in the adjoining counties." 



The Carrot Rust-ply (Psila o-osce, Fab.). — Attack. — Early in the season the leaves 

 of young carrots turn reddish and the roots will be found to be blotched with rusty 

 patches, particularly towards the tip. These carrots when stored for winter use, 



although sometimes not showing much 

 injury on the outside, may be found 

 to be perforated in every direction ^by 

 dirty brown burrows, in which are 

 many semi-transparent yellowish mag- 

 gots about J of an inch long. These 

 maggots are blunt at the tail end, but 

 taper toward the head, where is a black 

 'I'BmiUUHiiik'ili i ^ '**^ ^ ^^ hooked tip, forked at the base, by which 



the maggot makes its way through the 

 the roots. The puparium is reddish- 

 brown, and the magcjots, as a rule, leave 

 -The Carrot Rust-fly— natural size (1, 5, 7), and the carrots before assuming this form, 

 enlarged (2, 6, 8.) rpj^^ g^ ^^^ -^^ ^^^.j^ ^^.^ g^^.^n ygpy ^^ell 



in the figure (Fig. 4) by John Curtis, which I am able to present herewith through the 

 courtesy of Miss Onuerod and Messrs. Blackie & Son. The mature fly is two-winged, 

 J of an inch long, bright shiny black, with yellow legs and red eyes. The wings are 

 beautifully iridescent. The winter is passed either as a maggot or in the puparium. 

 Miss Ormerod, the eminent English entomologist, who has sljudied the insect for many 

 years, describes the attack as follows : 



" The method of life of the Garrot Fly is to go down into the ground, where she 

 can find a chink or cranny by the canrots. There she lays her eggs on or by the roots. 



*HI ,\ Mi^fi.at 



