50 CELERY. 



" 13ointed-in," or mixed with three or four inches of the 

 surface- soil, would destroy the pupre ; and sufficient time 

 would elapse before the next crop was sown for the gas-lime to 

 have gone through the chemical changes which turn it to a 

 valuable manure. (See ref. to gas-lime in Index.) 



The plan commonly recommended to get rid of the maggots, 

 when attack is present, is to pinch them in the blisters ; and 

 this is good so far as concerns checking further attack from 

 the next brood of flies which would have come from these 

 maggots ; but, with regard to the attacked plants, unless 

 the pinching is very carefully done, it causes nearly as much 

 damage to each leaf as the maggot itself. If it is simply 

 crushed, it is all very well, but if a piece of the leaf is torn, or 

 cut out, the damage is great from the operation. Care should 

 also be taken to have infested leaves which have been removed 

 from the plant, or refuse leaves with grubs in them, destroyed 

 at once. The plan of throwing them on the rubbish-heap is 

 especially bad in the case of this maggot. It has great 

 powers of endurance ; I find, by experiment, it will stand 

 damp and mouldy surroundings, or, as a pupa, the extreme 

 opposite of very dry ones, and come out in due time as the fly 

 inp3L'fect health. 



The only certain way of destroying the maggots in the 

 leaves is to burn them. 



Sprinkling the leaves with a good coat of anything that is 

 disagreeable to the Celery Flies (and so prevents them from 

 egg-laying), and that will promote the healthy growth of the 

 l^lants, is certain to be of use. A mixture of one part of un- 

 slaked lime, one part of gas-lime a month from the works, 

 and two of mixed dry earth and soot, all well stirred together, 

 and scattered liberally on the plants and the ground, has 

 been found serviceable ; and so also has been a dressing of 

 soot, but this is not always successful. 



During the bad attack of this Parsnip and Celery leaf-miner 

 in 1883, Mr. John Speir, of Newton Farm, near Glasgow, 

 wrote me, with regard to damage to Parsnips, that up to that 

 time his usual remedy, or rather preventive, had been soot 

 applied at the rate of 10 cwt. along the rows, which generally 

 prevents both " Piust " and "Burnt leaves," but not so that 

 year. The soot was applied about July lOtli. 



The damage from this leaf-miner infestation is caused by 

 the plant being weakened by loss of leafage faster than it can 

 make new growth to replace it ; consequently a good start 

 first of all is of importance, and a check at planting-out time 

 is to be avoided. Any amount of manure, or water, or treat- 

 ment of any kind suited to run healthy growth on rapidly, 

 will be serviceable. 



