40 



FLIES. 



hopeful method of meeting coming attack is to make 

 all possible arrangements to push on a good growth, 

 and, firstly, to secure a good start. This is one reason 

 why deep ploughing is advised in breaking up leys. 

 Some of the eggs and young grubs will thus be turned 

 down too deep to hatch, or to make their way up 

 again. Also, judging by what has been observed in 

 other instances, those eggs which are well turned 

 down, out of reach of the amount of air natural to 

 them, will either not hatch or be so much retarded in 

 date of hatching that the date of attack will also be 

 retarded, and the youiuj crop has a good chance to get 

 well estahUshcd before the grubs are ready. This first 

 start is a very important matter ; if the young plant 

 is stunted in its first growth, it most likely will never 

 do as well as if it had begun heartily ; and this point 

 should be borne in mind as one great method of 

 counteracting injury from insect attacks to roots or 

 leaves. 



Get a good start, by using good, fresh seed, by 

 proper treatment of the land beforehand, and, if you 

 can, by burying the enemy so deep down that it will 

 neither make its own way up at the natural time, nor 

 be turned up again by after-ploughing or cultivating ; 

 and thus we get our plants so ahead in the race that 

 we may hope to win. 



This is a general principle, suited to all crops. But 

 to return to special treatment of Daddy Longlegs 

 grubs. If attack is found to be bad in growing corn, 

 some fertilizer, such as guano and salt mixed, applied, 

 say, at the rate of 4 cwt. the acre, has been found to 

 do much good. 



Nitrate of soda also acts well, both by benefiting 

 the plant and injuring the grub. In experiments tried 

 by placing Daddy Longlegs grubs at a depth of one 

 inch beneath the surface, it was found that where 

 nitrate of soda at the rate of 2 cwt. the acre was well 

 watered in, the grubs so treated were very relaxed, 

 soft, and helpless, and so continued whilst observed 



