198 



EX PBRIMENTA L FA RMS. 



emulsion, one part of the ordinary Riley-Hubbard formula to 10 of water sprayed along 

 the rows. 



Miss Ormerod gives the following advice : — " For prevention of attack generally, 

 what is needed is a well prepared soil which will push on good growth of the plant, and 

 also not be liable to crack, and also such management of ground and plants at thinning- 

 time as will not allow the Carrot Fly to get down to lay its eggs by the roots. This 

 point is the important matter in the prevention of the Carrot-grub attack, commonly 

 knoivn as 'mst.' If the fly cannot get to the roots to lay her eggs, obviously there 

 will be no maggots to harm them, and the reason why carrots which have done well up 

 to thinning-time often fail afterwards, is because the ground is thrown open in the 

 operation. 



" I always advise that the greatest amount of thinning that can be managed should 

 be done as early as possible, then give good waterings after thinning, and from time to 

 time afterwards to drive the surface soil together." 



From our Canadian experience it would appear that late sowing has a particularly 

 good eifect. When carrots are grown as a farm crop, it is, of course, well to sow them 

 as early as convenient and thus secure as heavy a crop as possible ; but, for table use, I 

 have found by experiment that this vegetable may be sown very much later than is the 

 usual practice, and, if frequently hoed or cultivated, will give a good crop of excellent 

 roots, while at the same time the danger of loss from the Carrot Rust fly will be much 

 lessened. Carrots sown as late as the third week in June produced a crop of table 

 carrots of good size and excellent quality. 



Where this fly is known to be prevalent, carrots should be sown every year as far 

 distant as possible from land which is known to have been infested. Where carrots are 

 stored during the winter in sand or earth, this, of course, must be treated to destroy the 

 pupse which leave the roots and enter the soil to pass their last preparatory stage. 

 Miss Ormerod suggests that this earth might be put into a wet manure pit so as to pre- 

 vent the hatching out of the flies. Should neither of these methods be convenient, at 

 any rate, it might be buried in a deep hole dug in the ground for the purpose. 



The Spinach Carrion-beetle {Silpha bituberosa, Lee). — Attack. — Shiny black, 



very active, flattened grubs f of an inch in 

 length, shaped like wood-lice, which devour 

 the leaves of plants belonging to the spinach 

 or goosefoot family (C henopodiacece) and also 

 members of the Gourd family. In my Report 

 as Entomologist for 1893 is given an accoiwit 

 of injuries to crops by this carrion-beetle. Dur- 

 ing the past summer there was a new outbreak 

 at Calgary, Alta. Mr. E. D. H. Wilkins 

 writes : — " May 30. — A black grub is swarm- 

 ing in my garden this spring and devouring 

 the leaves of the spinach and beet. I also 

 find it on the weed commonly called lamb's 

 quarters. Please advise me as to a remedy, for this grub is doing a great deal of damage, 

 and I do not like to use poison on the spinach leaves." 



"June 13. — I sent you a few days ago some more ^rubs, as you wished. I have 

 tried Paris green traps and used overgrown spinach plants. We have had only five 

 hours' rain this year, so that it is a struggle to keep things going. There is very little 

 succulent vegetation to use for traps such as you suggest. Your advice about keeping 

 the place clean of all weeds is more to the point here. Last year I was careless and let 

 lamb's quarters grow in great quantities in waste places in the garden. That is evidently 

 why I am now plagued with these beetles. After trying the Paris green traps I counted 

 twelve corpses in one row. I am satisfied that with these, as I have found it is the case 

 with cutworms, the best preventive measure is to clean up everywhere and leave no 

 weeds or lamb's quarters growing, so that the insects can have no chance to breed." 



Fig. 5. — Carrion-beetle (.5, 6) ; larvEe (1, 3, 4). 



