14 TURNIP. 



before the 20th of May, or even the following week, should the weather 

 permit. (0. P.) 



Penpont Farm, Brecon. The pest did considerable damage in this 

 neighbourhood in 'the season of 1881 in several places; of fields sown 

 precisely at the same time, some escaped with little or no damage, 

 whilst others were completely spoilt. Of six acres under Turnips, I 

 had four completely spoilt. (T. J.) 



SCOTLAND, 



The following returns begin with the southern counties bordering 

 on England, and proceed northward : 



DUMFRIES and KIRKCUDBRIGHT. The evil caused by the Turnip Fly 

 in the southern counties of Scotland this season is nothing short of a 

 national calamity. Scarcely one field of Turnips escaped throughout 

 the counties of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright, and in many cases seed 

 had to be sown a third, and even a fourth, time. " We had, during three 

 weeks in May, an unusually high temperature, with very clear sunny 

 days. This gave the beetle a start, and the cold sunless weather of 

 June and July never checked it. If the Turnips had been growing in 

 June and July, as they do in an ordinary season, they would have 

 grown out of harm's way ; as it was the beetles overpowered them, 

 eating them off the face of the earth." Taking an estimate (see 

 acreage of counties of Dumfries and Kirkcudbright) believed to be 

 very much below the real loss, it may be calculated that 30,000 

 acres in the two counties have this last spring required to be sown a 

 second time owing to the ravages of the fly, and estimating four 

 pounds to the acre as the average quantity sown, and 9d. per pound as 

 the price, shows a loss in the single item of seed of 4500. The 

 main result here (putting aside loss of money) is that there will 

 scarcely be one-fourth of the usual quantity of Swede Turnips, for the 

 resowings were mostly done with Whites and Yellows. (E. S.) 



SELKIRK. From near Selkirk. This has been by far the worst year 

 with the fly in my experience. Swedes, more or less, are attacked 

 every year, but with thick sowing (about four pounds per acre) they 

 generally survive ; but this year they are almost a total failure in this 

 district. (J. G.) 



EOXBURGH. Branxholme, Hawick. We all suffered very severely 

 this season, some having to sow Turnips three times over; but the 

 weather has since been favourable, and on the whole we shall have a 

 fair crop hereabouts. (W. E. L.) 



BERWICK. Marchmont Dunse. In Berwickshire, where a large 

 breadth of Turnips are grown for cattle and sheep, the destruction to 

 the young plants by the Turnip Fly and frosty nights were such as to 

 compel resowing in many instances three times. The early spring 



