REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 177 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



to know of or apply the proper aphis-destroying mixtures which answer well for this 

 as for other species.' 



The Turnip Aphis and Cabbage Aphis 'are the same species. It was probably im- 

 ported from Europe many years ago and is now a pest right across the continent. In 

 British Columbia it is as a rule much more destructive to early cabbages and cauli- 

 flowers in gardens than is the case in the East, where its chief depredations are in 

 turnip fields. 



The remedies which have given the best results are the prompt spraying of the 

 first colonies of the season as soon as they appear, with kerosene emulsion or whale- 

 oil soap solution. Of great importance as a means of destroying large numbers of the 

 eggs or of the plant-lice which may possibly winter over as such in Canada (they cer- 

 tainly do so in some parts in the egg condition) is the ploughing down deeply, the feed- 

 ing off, or the removal from the fields of all leaves of turnips and cabbages as well as 

 remnants of those crops. 



The Eed Turnip Beetle (L'ntomoscelis adonidis. Fab.). — The usual accounts of 

 slight injury to cabbages and turnips have come in from points in the North-west 

 Territories and Manitoba. Mr. Norman Criddle reports the beetles as rather common 

 at Aweme, Man., on radishes in gardens and on a native food plant, Erysimum parvi- 

 florum, on the open prairie. For the first time, however, injury by these insects has 

 been reported from British Columbia, from Mr. H. E. Church, of Hanceville, and Mr. 

 C. H. Norris, of Hazleton. The latter writes that it had given great trouble attacking 

 turnips, cabbages, &.C., and was worst on young turnips of which it stripped tlie leaves 

 clean, leaving only the ribs. Specimens were even sent from Dawson, Yukon Terri- 

 tory, by Mr. W. J. Reynolds, who said that they had destroyed cabbages entirely, eat- 

 mg them right down to the stump, and were at the time of writing, July 26, eating 

 the turnips to rags. 



Any of the ordinary arsenical poisons for leaf -eating beetles have proved effective 

 against the Red Turnip Beetle. It has been found that dry mixtures are more con- 

 venient for use on cabbages and smooth-leaved turnips, owing to their waxy cover- 

 ing. Should it be more convenient to use liquid mixtures, these can be made to re- 

 main on the surface of the leaves by adding about a pound of soap to every ten or 

 fifteen gallons of wash. 



The Carrot Rust-Fly (Psila roses. Fab.). — It is some years since we have had a 

 severe attack of Carrot Rust- fly as far east as Ottawa; but early last summer several 

 occurrences were brought to my notice around Ottawa. Some of these were only 

 sUght attaclis, but in other cases whole crops were destroyed. Strange to say, al- 

 though so severe in early carrots, there was no appearance of injury when the roots 

 were dug in the autumn. In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick this is a much more 

 troublesome pest of the market gardener than it is further to the west; but even there 

 it is intermittent in its attacks. Dr. C. A. Hamilton writes that in 1902 and 1903 one- 

 half to three-quarters of his carrots at Mahone Bay, N.S., were destroyed by it. In 

 1904 and 1905 he did not see a single damaged root, although the carr»ts were sown in 

 the same garden. Notwithstanding this immunity in his garden in 1904, several of 

 his neighbours suffered severely. During 1905 there was practically no injury. 



The treatment which has given good results in preventing injury by the Carrot 

 Rust-fly, is to sow as late as possibly and when thinning out carrots, to do this late in 

 the day and then spray the rows at once with a deterrent wash such as kerosene emul- 

 sion or a carbolic wash. The time when most injury is done is in June and July, 

 so that two or three sprayings, a week apart, will generally protect the crop from in- 

 jury in ordinary years. Should maggots be found in stored carrots, the sand in which 

 ^hese roots have been kept for the winter should in spring be treated in some way 

 that will insure the destruction of the puparia or will at any rate prevent the emerg- 

 ence of the flies. This may be done either by burying it in a deep hole or by throwing 

 it into a pond or into a barnyard, where it wiU be thoroughly trampled by stock. 



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