226 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4-5 EDWARD VII., A. 1905 



ting worse every year. Loss is also reported from Eegina, Moosejaw and Calgary, as 

 well as from many places at the coast, in British Columbia. In the Ottawa district 

 these maggots were particularly destructive, and on the Central Experimental Farm 

 Onion Maggots worked actively throughout the season from the middle of June till 

 November, when they were destroying the ripe bulbs. The Kadish Maggot was abun- 

 dant in spring, and again in September. Cabbages and cauliflowers which were kept 

 fres from these enemies till the middle of July, were not afterwards injured. This 

 was probably due to the hardening of the stems and the abundant root growth. Beans 

 planted late and too deep in the soil were moderately attacked, but this is an unusual 

 injury. Only one instance of corn being injured came to my notice, and this was from 

 the seed having lain in the land for a long time and growth being retarded by cold wet 

 weather. Several remedies were experimented with, but no very satisfactory results 

 were obtained, except in the case of plants grown under a light wooden frame covered 

 with cheese cloth, such as was mentioned in my last report. Under these protections, 

 however, radishes and cauliflowers of high quality were grown which were perfectly 

 free from the attacks of the maggot. Onions were too much drawn up by the shade 

 and did not bulb well. I found that a convenient covering of this nature 8 feet long 

 by 2 feet wide, and 2 feet high, can be made for about 25 cents, the frame being of 

 light one-and-a-half-inch square wood simply nailed together at the corners and with 

 cheese cloth tacked on on the outside. In a frame of these dimensions five cauliflowers 

 and- two rows of radishes were grown. The frame was kept on from the time the seeds 

 were sown until the radishes were pulled. Cauliflowers were sufficiently advanced to 

 require no further protection, and the frames were removed about the 1st of August. 

 As a rule, the attack of the root maggots becomes perceptibly less by the first of 

 August; and even late cabbages planted in July are seldom attacked by root maggots. 

 During the season of 1904, the insect in all stages could be found throughout the 

 season. 



For plants grown in the open, the best results this year were secured from the 

 fcllowing remedies : — 



For Onions. — White hellebore dusted along the rows once a week gave compara- 

 tively clean onions, very few being attacked. In years when it is necessary to apply 

 the remedy throughout the season, this would be too expensive to be considered a prac- 

 tical remedy. The Cook carbolic wash, which is very effective for radishes, was less 

 so with onions. Pyrethrum insect powder, Bug Death, Paris green and plaster, used 

 as dry powders, had little effect. Sand saturated with coal oil and Jeyes' Gardeners' 

 Friend, were also tried this year without any decided results in saving onions from 

 attack. 



For Cabbages. — The remedies which have given the best results for cabbages are: 

 1. The Goff tar paper dislcs, which are pieces of ordinary tarred building paper three 

 inches in diameter, with a slit running to the centre so as to allow of their being 

 placed around the stems of the young cabbages at the time of planting. 2. About half 

 a teacupful of a decoction of pyrethrum insect powder, four ounces to a gallon of 

 water, poured around the roots of each plant after drawing away the earth, right down 

 to the rootlets. The earth should then be pushed back again and hilled up round the 

 stem. As a substitute for pyrethrum insect powder, hellebore was tried this year, not 

 only at the Central Experimental Farm, but also by Mr. Saxby Blair, the Horticultur- 

 ist at the Experimental Farm for the Maritime Provinces, at Nappan, N.S.. The re- 

 sults were very satisfactory. Mr. Blair writes : ' The Cabbage Eoot Maggot gave us 

 considerable trouble last year; but this season their numbers were much greater and 

 they proved very destructive to all the plots of cabbages and cauliflowers except two. 

 These were where hellebore was used. This remedy exceeded all my expectations, 

 and no root maggots could be seen around any of the plants in these two plots ; indeed, 

 they were the only good cabbages out of some 1,500 set out. The powder was mixed 

 with water and applied with a force pump ; I used two ounces to the gallon and four 

 ounces to the gallon, and found the results of the two ounces just as good as where 



