58 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



9-10 EDWARD VII., A. 1910 



that what he has called the " brush and cultivator method " was the most effective 

 remedy. For this it is necessary that the peas should be planted in rows, and when 

 the insects are noticed the vines are brushed backward and forward with a good pine 

 switch, in front of an Iron Age cultivator, drawn by a single horse. In this manner 

 the plant lice which leave the vines quickly when these are shaken were covered up 

 as soon as they fell to the ground, and a large proportion of them destroyed. The 

 operation was not repeated until the third day, as it usually required over 48 hours to 

 destroy the insects when covered with earth. All the practical methods were tried, 

 and it was found that the brush and cultivator method was the most effective. 

 Another method which was tried with considerable success, consisted of a brush which 

 dislodged the insects so that they fell into a pan containing coal oil and water drawn 

 between the rows of peas. In this way a bushel of plant lice were caught to each row 

 of peas 125 rods long. Spraying was tested by a thorough trial upon 100 acres, and 

 all sorts of insecticides for sucking insects were used, but this method was abandoned 

 because no spray could be found which would destroy a large enough percentage of the 

 insects to warrant the expense of the operation.' 



Root Maggots. — These troublesome insects were much inquired about during 1908. 

 From almost every province in the Dominion the complaints refer particularly to 

 ravages to onions. In many instances, whole fields of onions were destroyed. In 

 British Columbia the maggots were still at work when the onions were taken up in 

 autumn. Cabbages, cauliflowers and radishes were also much injured. 



As these insects are so often inquired about, it has been thought wise to repeat 

 here what the late Dr. Fletcher says in his Bulletin No. 52 of the Dominion Experi- 

 mental Farms series. 



' The Cabbage or Radish Maggot, and the Onion Maggot, which for all practical 

 purposes may be treated of here as the same species, cause great loss in crops of cauli- 

 flowers, early cabbages, turnips, radishes and onions, almost every season. 



' The maggots which are found attacking cabbages, radishes, cauliflowers and tur- 

 nips, and those in onions, and in beans and corn, are very similar, but they belong to 

 three different species, Phorbia brassicas, Bouche, attacking plants of the cabbage 

 family, Phorbia ceparum, Meig., infesting onions, and Phorbia fusciceps, Zett., 

 injuring beans and corn. 



' Corn sown during a cold, wet period by which germination is unduly delayed, is 

 very liable to be attacked by the Corn-seed Maggot (P. fusciceps). In such cases 

 it is well to wait for warm weather to re-sow and then push on the crop with a light 

 dressing of nitrate of soda, 200 lbs. to the acre. 



' The perfect flies of all these maggots are very similar to the ordinary observer and 

 may be described as slender flies, somewhat smaller than the ordinary house fly, which 

 fly about close to the ground and lay their white eggs on the stems of the young plants. 

 Here after a few days the maggots hatch and work their way down beneath the soil, 

 where they lie close to the root or burrow into it, tearing the tissues with their hook- 

 like mandibles and living on the sap, thus soon reducing the root or stem to a rotten 

 mass. When full grown these maggots turn to reddish brown puparia in the soil close 

 to the roots. The exact number of broods of these maggots which may be found in a 

 season seems to be rather complicated by the overlapping of broods, and the delay in 

 issuing of some individuals of each brood ; but practically it may be said that cabbage 

 and radish maggots do by far the greatest amount of harm during the month of June, 

 and early in July, and in many years their injuries are slight after that period. With 

 onions the injury continues throughout the season and is most noticeable in June, 

 August and September. The injury to beans and Indian corn is only in spring, and, 

 as a rule, is confined to plants which have been weakened by the seeds being planted too 

 deeply or by late frosts. However, in seasons of excessive abundance cabbage and 

 onion maggots may be found all through the growing season, and cabbages and cauli- 



