15 



enn be made on turnips or onions, and in the ease of eabbaires 

 thej would be especially advantageous where the infestation was 

 slight, as the plants would be induced to make stronger growth and 

 more roots on which to maintain themselves under the magii<it 

 attack. 



The practice of plo^\'ing awaj^ from onion rows when infestation 

 is noted and applying the above combination, or even nitrate of 

 soda alone, has beeji. followed with good results in Gumberland 

 county, but it has failed on heavier soils where the fertilizer did 

 not get so quickly through the soil and into direct contact with 

 the plants and maggots. Both the nitrate of soda and the muriate 

 have insecticide qualities, but the acid phosphate has none. 



Manure and organic fertilizers should be avoided, if possible.. 

 as the group of insects to which these root-maggots belong are 

 naturally feeders in decaying matter, and hence such conditions 

 tend to invite them. 



Cnltivation. 



Although it does not follow that planting on new ground will 

 secure exemption from maggot attack, yet such is the tendency, 

 and hence it will be well to plant or sow these crops as far as 

 possible from any iield which has been infested the previous 

 season. The adult flies do not travel very far under normal con- 

 ditions, and if tliey find shelter near their place of hatching are 

 likely to hang around that place, and they will accept any snl»- 

 stitute wild plant rather than Hy to distant paints hunting for 

 cultivated plants. The farther the plants are grown from pve- 

 viously infested areas the more apt will they be to remain free 

 from attack, as a rule, and yet even in new ground, especially near 

 a woods or in a sheltered situation, they sometimes become more- 

 or less infested. It is probable that in such cases there are wild 

 cruciferous plants in the neighborhood in which the insects liave 

 been breeding or shelter in which the flies have hibernated, and 

 it further emphasizes that no matter where the crop is grown a 

 close watch should be kept for the insect, and when once noted 

 active measures should be begun at once. Likewise, avoid plant- 

 ing such crops on ground infested the previous season, and follow 

 such infested plots with something other than onions or cruciferav 



