700 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



gots, so that the chrysalides were lyir.g undisiurb- 

 ed in the land, is not easily explained. 



Mr. Linton and many others recommended drill- 

 ing in not less than three or even lour pounds ol 

 seed to the acre, and six or seven pounds broad- 

 cast ; for he very justly observes that tiiiok sowing 

 causes the plants to grow much more rapidly when 

 young than thin sowing ; and by drilling in with 

 the seed a peculiar compost, containing the strong- 

 est animal manures, the fly, he says, has never 

 yet disappointed him of obtaining a good crop. I 

 think it probable that the ammonia in this potent 

 manure may be disagreeable, if not destructive, to 

 the insect ; and the rapid growth oI'lheplaDt, from 

 its stimulating efiects, defies their attacks. Tiie 

 vegetation of the seed may be accelerated by 

 steeping it in water for twenty-four hours; and 

 ihesurest way to obtnin a strong crop ia to sow 

 seed of the same age, otherwise the plants do not 

 come up simultaneously, and the fly will attuck and 

 destroy the crop in detail. 



Mr. Linton also adds that he has found more 

 benefit from the manure he describes in the suc- 

 ceeding crops of clover-seeds than from three or 

 four chaldrons of lime to the acre. With regard 

 to the use of lime, a great deal must depend upon 

 the soil on which it is used, which may account tor 

 the conflicting opinions respecting its effects in 

 protecting the turnips against the fly. From six 

 to eight bushels of' quicklime per acre may be 

 sown over the young plants successfully, in dry 

 weather; but it must be repealed after rain or 

 dew ; and this, as well as soot, requires to be re- 

 gularly and evenly dusted over the plants. Mr. 

 Birk says that he used slaked lime with |)erlect 

 success ; and although profusely, it did not at 

 all injure the plants. It should be slaked at the 

 time of use, and ought to be spread in a very hot 

 state, when it burns the fly. Some danger to the 

 plant seems to attend this process, arising from 

 the heat generated by the lime — at least so I pre- 

 sume; but some little explanation is required in 

 these statements to distinguish clearly between 

 slaked and quick or unslaked lime. Very different 

 were the results from Mr. Le Keux's experiments. 

 Forty bushels of lime per acre were spread, he 

 says, immediately before the seeds were sown, and 

 did no good ; and when the plants came up, and 

 the fly was observed attacking them, lime-dust 

 was thrown over them, so that many of the plants 

 were quite white with a coat of it ; after which 

 as many flies were found upon those as upon any 

 that were free, and they were eventually devoured. 

 This is again quite at variance with the opinion, 

 that repeated dustings of ashes and soot, when 

 the plants are wet with dew, will keep off the fly, 

 and prevent their ftjeding. In another place he 

 states that the upper part of a field in a sheltered 

 situation, with a south aspect, which bus been 

 sown with barley, was well dressed with lime, 

 and sown early in May, with whitestone lurnips, 

 which were destroyed as soon as they appeared 

 above ground ; the land was sown again, and 

 harrowed, the surface being thickly strewed over 

 with wood ashes; the plants were, however, de- 

 voured as rapidly as before. 



The growth of the turnips being stunted by loo 

 frequent repetitions, they become fingery on light 

 sandy soils, and are then more likely to fall a sa- 

 crifice to the fly. A good coat of clay or chalk 

 has the effeat in Norfolk and Suffolk of invi operat- 



ing the land, and giving it the power of again 

 producing good crops once in lour years. The 

 culture of mangel-wurtzel is well deserving the 

 atieniion of the tarmer, when the land gets tired 

 of turnips ; and it has the additional recommen- 

 dation of not encouraging the increase of the 

 turnip-beetles. As it is quite certain, 1 should 

 say, that the beetles are attracted by scent, it ap- 

 pears to me likely that, if a field ol turnips were 

 planted round with a belt of mangel-wurtzel, 

 the turnips might escape their attacks, i!' not en- 

 tirely, to a very considerable extent; especially 

 when the insects are believed to come from a dis- 

 lance ; for at the early stage of the plants a lew 

 hours of respite may be of vital importance. The 

 Swedish turnip, or rutabaga, whether it be a 

 hybrid produced by the turnip and cabbage, or a 

 distinct species, has not the strong scent at an 

 advanced period which is so perceptible in the 

 Fnglish turni|) when in rough leaf; and if there 

 be as marked a difierence of smell in the seed- 

 leaves, it would give the former a decided advan- 

 tage in exposed situations, where the beetles are 

 attracted Irom distant localities : being sown in 

 May or June, however, is, I conceive, not a re- 

 commendation, as I believe that to be a period of 

 the year when the first principal brood is generally 

 at its maximum, as the second is in August or 

 September; but the temperature of the seasons 

 may in '.his respect make a variation of a fort- 

 night or three weeks on either side of the aver- 

 age: however this may be, it is admitted on all 

 sides that the beetle is weakest in July. 



1 lear, on the other hand, that no early sowing 

 can insure the turnip-crop ; for as the beetles 

 hybernate, the same warmth and sunshine that 

 make the seed vegetate will bring the swarms of 

 beetles from their retreats; and it is worih con- 

 sidering whether by early sowing we do not entice 

 a hungry horde from their winter quarters, or 

 from the banks and meadows where they are at 

 fiist supported; whereas by not sov/ing until 

 midsummer, the beetles may in the mean while 

 be starved and drawn off to more favorable locali- 

 ties, or have lallen a sacrifice to small birds and 

 the casualties of the wet and cold of our spring. 

 Such seasons we know do not agree with the 

 beetles; and I have observed that when the dew 

 is upon the turnips in the .autumn, they keep 

 under the leaves, and appear to be asleep; and 

 windy weather has a similar effect in rendering 

 them quiescent. The crops being attacked and 

 destroyed in the autumn, does not altogether 

 militate against good success at midsummer, es- 

 pecially in forward seasons. Similar objections 

 10 the above may be urged against sowing the 

 white turnips with the Swedes ; lor if the quantity 

 of beetles be small, the Swedes may be preserved 

 in consequence of the turnip being their favorite 

 food; but on the other hand multitudes may 

 sometimes be thus attracted from a distance, 

 which would not otherwise, it may be presumed, 

 have detected the Swedes, from their scent being 

 less perceptible. 



It is now three years since I intimated that 

 " some benefit might be derived from destroying 

 those crucilerous f.lante, erysimum alliaria and 

 cardamine pratensis,* to which these alticce are 



* Curtis's Brit. Ent. pis. 569 and 179, called sauce 

 alone, or hedge-mustard, and common ladies' smock. 



