34 The Bulletin. 



about it and there have been only one or two other inquiries since. 

 Still Mr. T. B. Parker, of Kaleigh, says that it is somewhat of a pest on 

 his farm at Goldsboro, and as complaint of it is general in some of the 

 northern States, it is almost surely present throughout western North 

 Carolina, even if not complained of. For the present all we can say is 

 that it does occur in the State, although there have been but few actual 

 reports of injury by it. 



History. — The cabbage maggot is another insect which is not native 

 to this country. It was first noticed doing injury around New York 

 City about fifty years ago, and was doubtless first accidentally brought 

 to this country in shipments of cabbage or related plants from across 

 the ocean. It is most destructive in the northern States and Canada. 

 It is even possible that in the southern States there may be other species 

 of cabbage maggots which are really different, though in a general way 

 similar to the northern one. 



Life History. — The maggot which does the damage is the larva (or 

 young stage) of a small two-winged fly which looks somewhat like the 

 common housefly but is smaller and more slender. 



The adult parent fly lays eggs on the base of the plants or in the dirt 

 close by. The egg hatches in from four to ten days and the young 

 maggot quickly begins to feed on the surface or to burrow inside. The 

 young maggot is without feet and can therefore only move for a very 

 short distance, and finds difficulty in entering the hardened stem, or the 

 hardened earth if there is a crust close to the plants. Hence many of 

 the maggots hatched from eggs that are not actually placed on the plants, 

 are apt to die. 



When the maggot becomes full grown it leaves the root or stem and 

 burrows into the earth to a depth of perhaps as much as one inch, then 

 the skin begins to shrink, becomes oval, hardened, and brown in color. 

 Inside the shell or case (technically known as the puparluyn) thus 

 formed the maggot changes to the pupa state in which the legs and wings 

 of the adult fly are formed. In this stage the insect passes from about 

 one to three weeks, and then the adult fly breaks out from the pupa 

 shell and crawls to the surface. In JSTcav Jersey, Dr. Jno. B. Smith says 

 that a second brood of flies appears in June, but that they do not seem 

 to do so much damage as the first brood. 



The insect may pass the winter, according to Dr. Smith, either as an 

 adult fly, or in the pupa state in the soil. It seems probable that tlie 

 latter is the more usual. 



REMEDIES. 



It is extremely difficult to devise methods of treatment for a pest like 

 this which shall be truly satisfactory. Methods that can be used on a 

 few plants become wholly useless to the grower who may have extensive 

 areas that need protection. Among the methods that have been recom- 

 mended and used in different parts of the country are the following: 



Clean Culture. — Under this head we include the prompt destruction 

 of all remnants after a cro]) lias been gathered so that the insects may 



