No. 3. 



To kill Weeds.— Tfie Turnip Fly. 



99 



To kill Weeds. 



Is there any manure that will kill weeds ] 

 is a question not unfrequently put. Will 

 nitrate of soda, or nitrate of ammonia, or gu- 

 ano, or urates 1 That such questions should 

 be asked, proves one thing at least, that there 

 is a general desire .to know how to extirpate 

 weeds. We wish we could add, that they 

 also indicate some acquaintance with the ru- 

 diments at least of vegetable physiology. 



Weeds, like other plants, have each their 

 peculiar constitution, prefer certain kinds of 

 food, and perish on the application of others. 

 We have seen a pound of nitrate of soda ad- 

 ministered to a Seakale plant without visible 

 effect; half an ounce would probably destroy 

 i Rhododendron. Common stable manure is 

 prejudicial to Coniferous plants, and in over- 

 doses will kill them ; an Oak feeds greedily 

 upon it. So it is with weeds. Excessive 

 .loses of salt will destroy all ordinary vegeta- 

 tion, weeds included, but promote the growth 

 af Asparagus in a most remarkable degree, 

 mus proving itself to be a poison to one 

 plant and a nutritious food to another. But 

 salt cannot be used in large doses to extirpate 

 weeds generally, because some may imitate 

 the Asparagus, and may flourish under its 

 iction, and most crops will certainly be de- 

 stroyed by it. Professor Henslow succeeded 

 in destroying moss and weeds on gravel- 

 svalks, by means of corrosive sublimate, 

 rreen vitriol, and blue vitriol, especially the 

 ast. But corrosive sublimate destroys every 

 iving form of vegetation, as well as the 

 weeds, and the two sorts of vitriol have no 

 jermanent action, encouraging the subse- 

 quent growth of many forts of plants, and 

 so promoting the vegetation of weeds rather 

 :han destroying it. 



In practice these chemical agents can only 

 ae employed for the destruction of weeds in 

 pertain special cases, such as the Asparagus, 

 which thrives under doses of salt, which kill 

 most other plants; or as Seakale, which 

 seems to be affected in the same way ; or as 

 Tobacco, which feeds greedily upon quanti- 

 ties of nitrate of soda which would destroy 

 iny ordinary vegetation. In general, we 

 must look to other means for ridding our- 

 selves of troublesome weeds, and we shall 

 ind those means in industry and common 

 tense. The two separate are good things, 

 nit they are better mixed together. The 

 Slain and obvious rule is to pull them up as 

 ast as they appear, and while still in the 

 <tate of seedlings. Then every plant that is 

 •emoved is effectually destroyed, and leaves 

 io young ones behind it. Any boy, at half- 

 t-crown a week, can be taught to distinguish 

 :hem ; and if the plan is persevered in, there 



will very soon be nothing for the boy to do. 

 Strict attention must, however, be paid to 

 their thorough extirpation when young; it 

 will not do to pull up almost all, and to leave 

 the remainder to seed ; for in that case the 

 labour has to be all gone over again.— Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle. 



The Turnip Fly. 



From a letter, signed "A Tanner," in the 

 " Mark Lane Express," we copy the follow- 

 ing simple and, as is said, efficacious remedy 

 for checking the ravages of this destructive 

 insect: — "In my constant intercourse with 

 farmers, I have frequently heard their la- 

 mentations on the destructive ravages of the 

 turnip fly. A small patch of turnip-seed 

 was sown in my garden some weeks since, 

 and thought no more about for a considerable 

 time ; till one day chancing to pass by it, I 

 discovered, on closer inspection, that the 

 young plants were swarming with fly, and 

 already half destroyed. I lost no time in 

 applying what I hoped would be a remedy 

 for the mischief; this consisted of some stale 

 liquid from a lime-pit, scattered over the 

 plants with a watering-pot. On revisiting 

 the patch next day, I observed that the ene- 

 my was gone, and scarcely a fly was to be 

 seen, except one solitary little wretch that 

 was perched on a plant just unfolding ; but 

 not one could be seen on any plant that had 

 received a sprinkling from the contents of 

 the watering-pot. The next apprehension 

 was, that the sprinkling might have injured 

 the plants; a few days, however, removed all 

 doubt, for rain came and washed the sprink- 

 ling (of lime and animal matter in combina- 

 tion), from the plants down to the roots, and 

 they have since grown away in rank luxuri- 

 ance, have been thinned once, and require 

 the same operation again. Thus, by this 

 sprinkling, the plants received protection 

 from the fly first, and then, when the rain 

 fell, were nourished by a highly-stimulating 

 manure. It will, however, be said, but of 

 what avail is this information 1 Farmers 

 have not access to the lime-pits of the tan- 

 ner ; and if they had, the quantity to be pro- 

 cured would be so small as not to be of any 

 material benefit ; which is very true, and 

 therefore the writer would recommend every 

 farmer to have his own lime-pit in his farm- 

 yard, — if so situated as to take the drainings 

 of the yard, all the better ; or where water 

 may be obtained, a bricked pit or tank, into 

 which should be thrown a few quarters of 

 lime, with a sufficiency of water; and, when 

 it can be procured, all manner of refuse 

 animal matter cut in pieces — such as a dead 

 sheep, horse, &c, and the entrails of what 



