150 TURNIP. 



tenant fanners on the Earl of Aberdeen's estates, on the subject of 

 your inquiry." It will be noticed that Mr. Walker especially draws 

 attention to the large amount of " double-tops " or shaws, which is a 

 point incidentally mentioned by various other correspondents as one 

 of the objectionable consequences of attack. 



Mr. Walker communicated as follows : — " On account of the very 

 dry weather experienced after sowing, the late Turnips on this farm 

 are not a full crop. At the same time, I have never had a crop that 

 made more progress at the end of the year. The cause of this is, no 

 doubt, the exceptionally favourable weather that obtained from harvest 

 to the 22ud of Dec, when the ploughs were locked out by frost. 

 Examining the Turnips to-day, I find they have stood the week's frost 

 admirably, and seem, in every way, not a whit the worse for the 

 moth's unwelcome attentions. 



"As far as I have seen, the field in this neighbourhood that 

 suffered most from the ravages of the Diamond-back Moth, is one on 

 the farm of Dencnd, which lies alongside one of mine. At the side of 

 the field earliest sown, and most damaged by the caterpillar, the bulbs 

 are large, and the leafage fairly luxuriant. The Turnips comprised 

 two varieties, purple and green-topped yellows, and I noticed that while 

 only a normal amount of the former were ' double-sbawed,' an abnor- 

 mally large number of the latter displayed this objectionable profusion 

 of leafage. I may mention here that Mr. T. H. Gibson, Cultercullen, 

 had a field rather severely eaten, and he complains of double-tops, but 

 says that otherwise the crop is a good one. 



" The other side of the field at Denend may present a point of 

 interest on account of its having been sown about the same time as my 

 field beside it, and having received treatment by top-dressing, * 

 while mine got no manure except what was put in when the crop was 

 sown. The plants in my field are thicker on the ground and of more 

 equal size, and were so from the first. 



"Keeping this in view, the chief difi'erence between the two fields 

 is that in the one which got the dressing, the crown of the leafage is 

 lai'ge and vigorous, but the bulbs lack size and that roundness of form 

 which indicates matin'ity ; while in the other field the foliage is less 

 vigorous, and the bulbs somewhat larger and much plumper in shape. 

 In my opinion, the top-dressing, while a decided advantage to the 

 early-sown Turnips, has proved of little use to the late." — D. W. 



Auchnaho, Slains, FAlon, Aberdeen, August 3rd. From Mr. James 

 Harper, with specimens of Diamond-back attack sent a few days 



* P.S. — The top- dressing referred to above consisted of 1 cwt. nitrate of soda 

 applied when the moth had done its worst. The varieties of Turnips mentioned 

 were grown from bought seed and mixed before sowing. — D. W. 



