STEM EELWORMS. 49 
upon Oats in different parts of the county (Norfolk), and had seen 
some fields more severely injured than his own. Mr. Read further 
observed :— 
‘«Tt may interest you to know the history of the field from which 
I sent you the diseased Oats. When I came here thirty-one years 
ago, I was told that it never would grow Clover. The land had never 
been ploughed more than five or six inches deep, so I thought it 
wanted fresh soil, so I had a steam plough, which turned a ten- or 
twelve-inch furrow. I drilled Wheat, and afterwards applied a heavy 
dressing of farmyard manure on the top, horse-hoed the Wheat in the 
spring, and drilled clean Red Clover. I had a good crop of Wheat, 
and a splendid plant of Clover, but it began to go off in the spring, 
and by the autumn it was all gone. I did not try it with Clover again 
until two or three years ago, when I sowed Cow-grass Clover.* You 
may remember that I sent you a few specimens of the failing plants, 
which you reported were injured by Kelworms. No great damage was 
done the first year, but in the second the Clover all went off. The 
field was drilled with Wheat in the autumn of 1894, and was a fair 
plant, but it went off during the winter, and I drilled most of the field 
over with Oats in the spring. Some damage was done to the Oats 
last year’ [1895, Ep.], ‘but to no great extent; and the field was 
again sowed with Oats this spring. They are a wretched crop, save 
on those portions of the field where there was so good a plant of 
Wheat in the previous year that no Oats were necessary. No doubt 
these pests multiplied in the Oats; but do you not think they were 
responsible for the failure of the heat, as I never lost a plant before 
on this farm ?’’—(C. S. R.) 
There is no doubt that the infestation may be conveyed from Oats 
to Wheat, or the reverse; but in this country up to the present time 
Clover and Oats have been the field crops most observed to be infested, 
Rye, which is greatly infested on the Continent of Kurope, has never 
been reported to me here as injured by the Helworm attack. Barley 
has been found, even on special experiment, not to take the infestation. 
The following notes referring to a bad attack of the same disease, 
namely, ‘‘ Tulip-root” and ‘‘ Segging,” on a large area of Oats, were 
sent me respectively on July 2nd and 11th by Mr. Thos. Usher, of 
Courthill, Hawick, N.B. At the first date Mr. Usher forwarded me a 
sample of diseased Oat plants, with the observation :— 
‘‘T think the Oats are affected with what is known as ‘ Tulip- 
root.’ . . . IL have never had it on this farm before, but this season 
have about sixty acres very bad with it. The Oats seemed perfectly 
healthy until the middle of June, and had a fine dark green colour ; 
a large part, however, have never shot, but remained like Grass 
* Trifolium pratense perenne. 
