CHAPTER XVIII 

 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CABBAGE AND CRUCIFEROUS CROPS * 



The Cabbage Maggot f 



THROUGHOUT the Middle and Northern States the cabbage mag- 

 got is one of the most destructive and most difficult to combat of 

 all the insects affecting cabbage, cauliflower and radishes. Just 

 as the plants are commencing to make a good growth they sud- 

 denly appear sick, many are found wilting, and soon die. Exami- 

 nation of the roots shows that they have been riddled by small, 

 white maggots as shown in Fig. 254. Early-planted cabbage, 

 cauliflower and radishes are particularly affected, and later in the 

 season the maggots will be found on turnips and wild mustard. 



These maggots are the larvae of a small fly, resembling the 

 house-fly, but distinctly smaller, being only three-sixteenths 

 inch long, with a narrower body and proportionately larger wings. 

 It is a grayish color with three dark stripes on the thorax and one 

 along the middle of the abdomen, and the body bears numerous 

 stiff hairs or bristles. The flies appear just as early cabbage is set 

 out, in late April and early May in New Jersey, and in late May in 

 southern Minnesota. They do not fly far and seem to avoid fields 

 which are swept by the wind. 



Life History. The females deposit their eggs on the stem of 

 the plant or in the soil near the stem, at or just beneath the surface 



*See Carman, "Insects Injurious to Cabbage," Bulletin 114, Ky. Agr. 

 Exp. Sta. 



t Pegomyia brassicoe Bouche". Family Anthomyiidoe . See Slingerland, 

 Bulletin 78, Cornell Univ. Agr. Exp. Sta.; J. B. Smith, Bulletin 200, N. J. 

 .Agr. Exp. Sta.; F. H. Chittenden, Circular 63, Bureau of Ent., U. S. Dept. 

 Agr.; F. L. Washburn, llth and 12th Reports State Ent. of Minn.; W. J. 

 Schoene, Bulletins 301 and 334, N. Y. Agr. Exp. Sta., Journal of Economic 

 Entomology, Vol. IV, p. 210. 



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