JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS. 
lxv 
that were left, and which came to a good crop. Whether the 
moving the earth by hoeing brought them into existence, or faci- 
litated their perfection or progression, 1 know not. I also noticed 
the Swedes close by the side of the white turnip were not touched. 
Some of my neighbours drew a hurdle brushed with smooth wood 
down the rows, and with good effect ; this method was repeated 
two or three times. Last year, 1836, I had near seventy acres 
Swedish turnips, all of which were more or less infested with the 
black caterpillar. On the English this year not one was seen ; 
their w ork of destruction seemed to be facilitated by hoeing ; for 
after that operation they increased a thousand fold. I then 
thought of the ducks, and procured ICO young ones (old ones will 
not work), and kept on the worst part ; they soon put a stop to 
the caterpillars. It was quite amusing to see how fast they would 
destroy them. The ducks were brought home, and put into a 
barn, and fed with a small quantity of barley at night, or I should 
have soon lost all my friends; their new food did not agree with 
them. 
“ Pigs w'ill destroy the grub to a very great extent, and without 
injuring the crop in the slightest degree. The sharpest gravel 
was infested the most both with grub and caterpillar, but the 
ducks and pigs stuck so closely to them, I have reason to believe 
they saved the crop. One part of the field was all but destroyed 
when they (the ducks) were turned in, but I could soon see an evi- 
dent improvement. 
“ My loss in the turnip alone, to say nothing of those that fol- 
lowed, could not be less than 100/. in 1835.” 
Mr. Sells’s Notes are as follows : — 
“ 1837. 
June 15. — Two specimens of the fly came out of pupa ; they were 
male and female. 
20. — Three more appeared, which were all males. 
22. — Two others appeared, which, it is remarkable, are 
males also. 
The above seven were all the flies I obtained from above 100 
larvae, which had gone into pupae, the last week of September 
and first week of October, 1836. 
July 20. — Near Arundel, in Sussex, the turnip fields are in some 
places completely laid waste by the negro caterpillar. 
Sept. 9. — The turnips upon Robin Hood Farm, near Kingston, 
Surrey, having been attacked, and much havoc 
caused by them, eighty ducks were bought in Lead- 
