TURNIP FLY. 29 



hot days is because half-a-dozen bites on the first smooth leaves of the 

 Turnip plant wound them so much that the scorching rays of the sun 

 shrivel the plant quickly and completely, whereas, if the days were 

 cool and cloudy, the plant might survive long enough to enable 

 it to throw out the rough leaves, which the fly will not attack so 

 freely. (T. H.) 



In moist weather the flea is comparatively harmless ; it is when 

 dry parching weather sets in, just as the Turnips break ground, that 

 the attack is most to be dreaded. In such cases I am of opinion 

 that a frequent use of the water-cart is the best thing to do. (W. H.) 



In the garden, on a small scale, I have found watering daily to be 

 a great preventive to the ravages of the flea-beetle, as also dry wood- 

 ashes or road-dust thrown over the plant until it is strong enough to 

 withstand the attack. (A. S.) 



With regard to precise effect of watering on the germinating plant, 

 I can state, from such experiment as I have been able to make, that 

 at the end of a fortnight from their appearance above ground, the 

 plants from a patch of Turnips which had been watered (in a season 

 of drought) on either two or three evenings, weighed one quarter or 

 rather more than the plants from precisely the same measure of ground 

 close by, and in exactly the same circumstances, excepting that they 

 had not been watered. (Eo.) 



1 think that surface moisture is a good preventive, and that the seed 

 ought to be sown as soon after the ground is prepared for its reception as 

 can be, and the land not allowed to get dried. (T. B.) 



In the neighbourhood of Ardkinglas, Inverary, only one field is 

 noted to have escaped ravage of Turnip Fly for miles round. This 

 one field was a stubble, and in a damp locality lying along the banks 

 of the Biver Fyne, with high-lying fields opposite. It was not 

 ploughed till shortly before sowing, a fine and moderately damp mould 

 was turned up, the seed was immediately sown, and a fine braird and 

 crop followed. Several instances of resowing proved abortive, but 

 wherever the drills were well harrowed down and set up by the 

 common single-plough, fewer failures occurred. (T. W.) 



I observed two peculiar facts, viz., that in a corner shaded by 

 a wood the Turnips were not eaten off; again, that on the drills 

 surrounding a manure-heap the same was the case. (A. S. A,) 



The great danger is when the Turnips are in the smooth leaf. By 

 forcing them (naturally or artificially) quickly into the rough leaf, the 

 attack may be warded off. (W. B. S.) 



The first requisite is to fight the enemy with a good supply of 

 manure, so that the young plant may get out of his reach as soon as 

 possible. (J. T.) 



A small quantity of stimulating manure, such as a half-hundredweight 



