REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 227 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



four were used. I am much pleased with this remedy, and, as far* as one can judge 

 from a single season, I am inclined to consider this a positive remedy for the root 

 maggot of cabbages.' 



Hellebore as a remedy for root magots was first recommended to me many years 

 ago, about 1888, by Mr. S. Greenfield, a successful gardener of Ottawa East; and I 

 have found that, as a rule, it is a useful remedy. At Ottawa this year, as in previous 

 years of heavy infestation, it provided considerable protection, but was not as perfect 

 a remedy as Mr, Blair found it at Nappan. 



For Eadishes. — The Cook carbolic wash, consisting of one quart of soft soap, or 

 one pound of hard soap, in a gallon of wat-er, with half a pint of crude carbolic acid 

 added, and the whole boiled together for a few minutes, to make the stock emulsion, 

 has proved over and over again an excellent remedy for radish maggots. The stock 

 emulsion can be kept in a closed vessel, so that dust and rubbish will not fall into it; 

 and, when required for use, one part of this mixture by measure is added to fifty of 

 water, and should be sprayed directly upon the growing plants from the time they 

 appear above the ground, once a week nntil ready for the table. Applications of nitrate 

 of soda, kainit and potash whale-oil soap, all of which have been from time to time 

 recommended, proved to be quite useless at Ottawa, 



It must still be acknowledged that up to the present time we have not secured 

 I practical romedy for root maggots on onions. For radishes, which are ready to 

 pull from five to six weeks from the time the seed is sown, the question of protecting 

 mem is iiiucli simpler than in the case of onions, which are growing throughout the 

 season. The maggots of the first brood are nearly full grown and very destructive 

 about the end of June ; and, in some years, if the plants can be protected from injury 

 up to that time, they are as a rule safe for the rest of the season. 



There are some features about this attack which make it of interest to the en- 

 tomologist- Some experiments have seemed to indicate the great value of a certain 

 remedy, and then under other conditions this same remedy has proved comparatively 

 useless. 



For next year extensive experiments have been planned, and special attention will 

 be given to this matter, which is one of great importance, both to the professional and 

 amateur gardener from one end of the country to the other. From the limited ex- 

 perience we have had with the cheesd-cloth coverings, I have no hesitation in recom- 

 mending these to amateur gardeners, however small their gardens may be, as a sure 

 means of obtaining perfectly clean, as well as early, radishes and cauliflowers of the 

 very best quality, at a comparatively light expense. 



The Green Blister Beetle (Cantharis cyanipennis. Say), — Several kinds of blis- 

 ter beetles occasionally attack cultivated crops, and, unless driven off or poisoned, do 

 much hajm in an incredibly short- time. Although in the larval state they are predaceous 

 parasites feeding on the eggs of locusts, in the perfect condition they feed voraciously 

 on vegetation. The Green Blister Beetle has not been previously sent in as a crop 

 pest, but on June 15 last Mr. Richard Coates wrote from Cowley, Alta.: — 'Enclosed 

 you will find some insects which have come in numbers to my garden this year. They 

 stay ria-ht with the beans nnd peas and soon destroy them.' 



These beetles are long narrow insects, sometimes nearly an inch in length, of a 

 most beautiful deep blue-green colour, which alight in large numbers and then n^ay 

 be noticed crawling qiiickly over the plants they are attacking and rapidly devouring the 

 foliage. I have collected this species on the wild American vetch, at several places 

 in western Assiniboia and southern Alberta. 



Cabbage and Turxip Aphis (Aphis hrassiccc, L.). — Reports of injury by this 

 plant-louse have again this year been received from many and very distant localities. 

 On the whole, however, I do not think it has been quite as destructive as usual. 



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