TtJKNIP FLY, OR FLEA BEETLE. 187 



" As far as my experience goes, the fly does not go on stale 

 mould as badly as on freshly turned-up soil, and is not very 

 troublesome if the wintered or frosted mould is kept for the 

 seed-bed. I have known the fly begin on one side of the field 

 and spread rapidly over it, but I have never know^n them in 

 anything like this quantity on stale ground (or what may be 

 called Nature's seed-bed). Where land has to be cleaned in 

 the spring, and large breadths grown, small remedies are 

 unavailing." — (Clement Cadle, Gloucester.) 



The importance of a good fine tilth is especially and re- 

 peatedly dwelt on, as in the following note,— one of many 

 observations on this head : — 



"A fine tilth is most desirable; the parts of a field first 

 hopelessly injured are those where the surface is the roughest, 

 the small clods causing the moisture to dry out more quickly, 

 and aftbrding shelter for the fly from breezes wdiich they do 

 not like. All the preventives I have seen applied either to 

 the seed or to the crop when attacked have been total failures." 

 — (Thos. Hopkins, Limber Grange, Ulceby.) 



I3ut advice is also strongly given that the requisite tilth or 

 fineness of the soil should be brought about by measures such 

 as those advised above, which will leave the proper amount of 

 moisture still in the soil " without having to knock it about 

 too much in a dry hot time." 



Thick sowing, from three up in some cases to five or even 

 nine pounds per acre, is advised or mentioned as successful by 

 various growers, who state that thus, in case of hot dry 

 w^eather, the plants will thrive better for the protection they 

 give to each other (being thus moderately damp, with the 

 roots shaded), and that some may be reckoned on to escape 

 the fly. This, however, needs careful looking to, or the result 

 will only be a worthless drawn growth. 



The importance of a good start to the plant cannot be over- 

 rated, and the effect of a plentiful supply of moisture in 

 helping early growth forward is undoubted. In ordinary 

 conditions, however, it must be the preceding cultivation and 

 treatment of the ground which must be trusted to for this. 

 The following notes give suggestions of what may be done 

 where circumstances permit. 



"Anything that would accelerate vegetation would be the best 

 means of saving the crop, but the reason the fly is so destruc- 

 tive on bright hot days is because half-a-dozen bites on the 

 first smooth leaves of the Turnip-plant wound them so 

 much that the scorching rays of the sun shrivel the plant 

 quickly and completely ; whereas, if the days were cool and 

 cloudy, the plant might survive long enough to enable it to 



