VEGETABLE GROWING IN NEW SOUTH WALES. 



115 



the base of plants. The caterpillars make their first appearance during 

 August or September, and in warm districts there may be as many as four' 

 or more broods in a season. 



They sometimes appear in spring in vast numbers with astonishing 

 suddenness ; in some part this is due to the fact that some cutworm caterpillars 

 hibernate as partly-grown grubs through the winter, and suddenly crawl from 

 the soil during the first warm days of spring. Others again appear as moths 

 in the spring, and lay eggs, from which the new brood of caterpillars appears 



It is difficult to combat the cutworms, but bran poisoned with Paris green, 

 as described on page 131 has been found most effective. 



The Diamond-backed Cabbage Moth (Plutella maculipen ns.) 

 Under the name of "cabbage grub " or "cabbage worm," the caterpillar of 

 the diamond-backed cabbage moth, once a European turnip pest, but now 

 world-wide in its range, is well known to Australian cabbage-growers, as well 

 as to the cabbage consumer when he finds the little green Avortns among the 

 leaves of his purchase. 



The life-history of this moth is so 



well known that it need only be . \ / 



briefly outlined. The moth, on the \ 



wing, appears to be of a uniform / 



brown tint, and does not show the 

 distinct, angular row of pale mark- 

 ings along the upper margin of the 

 folded wings from which it takes its 

 popular name, t( diamond backed, 3 ' 

 and by which it can be so easily 

 identified. It measures slightly 

 over half an inch across the out- 

 spread wings. Emerging from the 

 stout chrysalid skins which have 

 protected them through the winter 

 months, these active little moths 

 lay their eggs upon the foliage of 

 the young cabbage plants, and re- 

 main in hiding among the weeds 



and on the inner side of the cabbage leaves. As soon as fine weather sets 

 in, if small brown moths are seen rising from the cabbages, it will be found 

 that the leaves are marked with glassy spots, where the tiny, black-headed, 

 pale-green caterpillars have been at work. So like the surface of the leaf 

 are these caterpillars in coloration, that they would be easily passed over 

 if it were not for their gnawing of the leaf. 



Diai 



ond-backed Cabbage Moth, viewed from above. 

 [Enlarged.] 



