AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 118 
Turnip— continued. 
flesh white and firm ; very early. EARLY SNOWBALL, one of the 
best whites, sweet and tender; early, largely grown for the 
London markets. EARLY STRAP-LEAVED WHITE STONE, fine 
quality; suitable for very. early and for late sowing (see Fig. 
30). EARLY WHITE DUTCH, an old and well-known sort, of ex- 
cellent quality. EXTRA EARLY MILAN, bulb flattened, with 
purple top; very early, and compact in habit. ORANGE JELLY, 
or GOLDEN BALL, an excellent yellow variety (see Fig. 131): 
much favoured in the north of England and in Scotland. 
VEITCH’S RED GLOBE, of handsome shape and fine flavour; 
FIG. 132. YELLOW MALTA TURNIP. 
… one of the best for main crop, and for use in winter. YELLOW 
MALTA, a handsome yellow variety, of Le quality, but some- 
times rather bond eech (see Fig. 1 
TURNIP, DEVIL'S. A common name for me 
Ci (which see). 
or TURNIP FLY. Names 
the. see). ` 
ye group formerly included under the generic 
name Haltica, but now, for convenience, subdivided, 
BS by ininute characters, into numerous genera. All the 
in this group have the thighs of the hinder pair 
of legs thickened, whereby they are enabled to leap 
several inches. This power and their small size have 
gained for them the popular name of Fleas, though 
widely different from true Fleas in many respects. They 
i i sall feed on plants, several being attached to the Cru- 
ciferæ. Turnips are often ravaged by P. nemorum; and 
o pigens is also a dangerous foe to these plants in 
ym ] ities. P. consobrima and P. obscurella are 
| and P. flexuosa and P. ` Lepidis have been 
| dangerous in Germany. However, the general 
appearance and the habits of all are much alike; as are 
also the remedies that be employed against their 
attacks. The general form of the species in the genus 
is well shown, in Fig. 133; but the size varies from 
va. =. 
Turnip Flea, or Turnip Fly—continued. 
jgin. to iin. in length. All have the ground-colour very 
dark olive-green or metallie-green. P. nemorum has a 
broad ochre-yellow streak down each wing-case (see 
Fig. 133. TURNIP FLEA (Phyllotreta nemorum), magnified. 
Fig. 133); and the legs are rusty-ochre, with pitvhy 
thighs. P. concinna is more oval and convex than 
the former species, and is of a uniform greenish-black, 
with a shining coppery or brassy lustre — the legs 
being black, except the rusty-red base of the tibis. 
P. consobrina, P. Lepidii, and P. obscurella, are much 
like P. concinna, the four species differing in the pitting ` 
of the surface, in the peculiar shade of the metallic lustre, — 
in the eolour of the base of the antenne, in the proportions 
of the fourth and fifth joints in these organs, and in size 
of body, to a slight degree. P. flezuosa is more like 
P. nemorum, being black, with a pale elay-yellow line 
down each wing-cover; but the pale line is narrow and 
wavy, and the knees are pitchy-black, not reddish; and 
the fourth and fifth joints of the antenne are shorter 
than in P. nemorum. 
Àn account of the life-history of the very common species 
P. nemorum may be regarded as fairly representative of 
the habits of all that attack Turnips; so that the following 
remarks, though referring primarily to that species, will 
also, in great measure, be applicable to the others. The 
Beetles usually pass the winter concealed under rubbish 
on the soil, e.g., stubble or other dead herbage, clods, &c., 
though an occasional warm day brings them out of their 
shelters. In spring, they begin to feed on the cruciferous ` 
weeds (Shepherd’s Purse, &c.), which are only too plentiful 
everywhere, alike in cultivated ground and in waste spots. 
When the cotyledons and first leaves of the seedling 
Turnips appear above the soil, they form the favourite 
food of the Beetles, which gnaw away the tissues till little 
more than the skeletons of the leaves remain, and the 
plants die in vast numbers. The crops are occasionally 
ruined; and even second and third sowings are sometimes 
destroyed in the same way. After the young plants have 
produced the rough leaves, the danger of serious injury 
from this cause is comparatively slight; though large 
holes are gnawed by the insects in the leaves. The 
female beetles each lay a few white eggs, here and 
there, on the lower surface of the leaves. In about ten 
days, the larve are hatched. They are pale yellowish 
maggots, with three pairs of legs in front, and a sucker 
at the end of the body. They gnaw through the skin 
of the leaf; and, for about a week burrow in the tissues 
below it. They then are full-fed, drop to the ground, 
and burrow from lin. to 2in. into the soil, to become 
pups. In about a fortnight, the beetles emerge. There 
may thus be, and usually there are, several broods in a 
season. 
Prevention and Remedies. It is most desirable ini 
clear away all cover that can protect the insects. The 
ground should be cleared of all cruciferous weeds, such 
as supply the insects with food before the appearance of 
the Turnip erop.  Digging and ploughing the soil in 
winter destroys many of the Beetles, by burying them 
too deeply to allow of their return to the surface. 
It should be kept in mind that the dangerous period 
to the crop is while the seedlings are quite young, and 
that the danger is very much less when the plants have ` 
er eg e Ë 
s 
poe 
