Book I. 



INSECTS. 



617 



round each plant before snow is apprehended. The consequence of this treatment is, that the plants arc 

 fresh and vigorous in spring, and produce large heads. (Hart. Trans, vol. i. p. 305.) 



3590 Nicol takes up the most forward crops of broccoli in the end of October, and lays them on their sides, 

 so as the heads may not touch each other. In a dry soil and open situation, the plants will thus resist the 

 severest winters. 



3591 Gathering. In gathering broccoli, five or six inches of the stem are retained along with the head ; 

 and in dressing, fhe stalks are peeled before boiling. Some of the sorts produce sprouts from the sides of 

 the stems, with small heads, that should be gathered when ready, and are very good when boiled. 



3592. To save seed. Wood, already mentioned, selects the largest, best formed, 

 and finest heads, taking particular care that no foliage appears on the surface of the 

 heads ; these he marks, and in April lays them in by the heels in a compound of cleanings 

 of old ditches, tree-leaves, and dung. When the head begins to open or expand, he cuts 

 out the centre, leaving only four or five of the outside shoots to come to seed. Lifting, 

 he says, prevents them from producing proud seed, as it is called, or degenerating. 

 The above method produces seed the most genuine of all the others he has tried. The 

 sulphur broccoli he finds the most difficult to procure seed from. (Caled. Hort. Mem. 

 vol. ii. p. 267.) Abercrombie says, broccoli-seeds degenerate in this country, and that 

 the best seed is obtained from Italy. 



Subsect. 8. Of the Insects which infest the Cabbage Tribe. 



3593. The whole of the cabbage tribe are liable to the attacks of the larvae of the Ti- 

 pula oleracea, L. on their roots, and of the caterpillars of butterflies {fig. 464.) and 

 moths (Jig. 465. ) on their leaves, as 

 well as of aphides, or cabbage-lice, 

 snails, and slugs. There is no re- 

 medy for the first, excepting that of 

 taking up, cleaning, and transplant- 

 ing in fresh soil, in a different part 

 of the garden ; and it is in general 

 easier to plant afresh from the seed- 

 bed. With respect to caterpillars, 

 snails, and slugs, they can only be 

 gathered by hand, and the way to 

 do this effectually is to begin as soon 

 as they appear, employing women 

 or children to look them over daily 

 early in the morning. Poultry, and 

 especially ducks arid sea-gulls, are sometimes of use in keeping these and other insects 

 under ; a hen and chickens will devour caterpillars and aphides greedily, but are apt to 

 scratch the soil afterwards, if not timely removed ; turkey fowls are better. Nature has 



r/BMifiiPw 5 * 



furnished a remarkable insect, which assists man in the destruction of the caterpillar, the 

 Ichneumon manifestator, L. (Jig, 466.) " The insects of this genus," Samouelle observes, 

 " lay their eggs in the bodies 

 of caterpillars or pupa?, which 

 are there hatched ; the larva?, 

 have no feet ; they are soft 

 and cylindrical, and feed on 

 the substance of the caterpil- 

 lar, which never turns to a 

 perfect insect, while the larva? 

 of the ichneumon spin them- 

 selves a silky web, and change 

 into a pupa incompleta, and 

 in a few ^days the fly ap- 

 pears." (Entomologist's Com- 

 panion, 68.) Ante, 2661. 



