THE GEKESEE FARAfER. 



173 



THE TTJENIP FLY. 



One of the greatest drawbacks to the cultivation 

 f the turnip is the flj, or, more properly, the 

 leetle, {Altica ncmorum,) which devours the young 

 saves of the plants. It is too familiarly known to 

 leed a minute description, but we give a cut illus- 

 rating its various stages of development, which 

 nay be of interest. 



Fig. 1 is the fly greatly magnified — the cross 

 ines at fig. 2 indicating the natural dimensions, as 

 veil as fig. 3, where one is represented feeding on 

 he leaf. It is shiny black, minutely punctured, 

 vith two yellow stripes down the wing cases, the 

 linder legs formed for leaping. The female de- 

 )0sits her eggs on the under side of the rough 

 eaf, (fig. 4 — 5 magnified.) The laying continues 

 19 long as the rough leaf appears, and the eggs 

 latch out in a week or ten days, when the young 

 jrub pierces the skin under the leaf, and begins 

 sating the pulp, and the spot becomes visible by a 

 )rownish appearance, (fig. 6.) It continues moving 

 n a tortaous direction till it reaches the mid-rib, 

 fig. 7,) by which time it is full grown, (fig. 8 — 9 

 nagnified.) It then eats through and falls to the 

 ground, to become a pupa, just under the surface, 

 g. 10 — 11 magnified.) 



From their migrating against the wind, it seems 

 bey are directed in their course by scent. It is, 

 herefore, not often that the turnip beetles are bred 

 n the fields on which they commit_their ravages ; 

 ind as they swarm in every meadow and fence 

 rom April to October, and hybernate or hide 

 hemselves in the winter, a piece of turnips com- 

 aratively free from them, may, by attracting 

 warms from the surrounding country, be overrun 

 rith them in a few hours. 

 It is difficult to suggest any remedy against the 

 ttacks of the turnip fly. The great point is to 

 ;ive the plants a rapid growth, by having the soil 

 ich and very fine. Superphosphate of lime, sown 

 nW% the u«d ux the drills, has a magical efect on 



the young turnip plants, pushing them forward so 

 rapidly that the fly has no time to do them much 

 injury. Another remedy is, to sow i)lenty of seed 

 — from one to three pounds per acre — and thin out 

 after the turnips get into the rough leaf. We have 

 known as much as five pounds per aero sown in 

 England, in order, if possible, to have enough plants 

 to satisfy these voracious destroyers. Another 

 remedy, which has been resorted to with considera- 

 ble success, is founded on the fact that the fly pre- 

 fers the leaves of radishes to those of turnips. If a 

 little radish seed is so^n with the turnip seed, the 

 fly will eat the radishes and let the turnips alone. 

 Dusting the plants with ashes, lime or soot, whiio 

 the dew is on, is sometimes useful in checking the 



ravages of the fly. 



«i»-*-^ 



PRAIKIE FAEMmG IN AMEEICA. 



Sucn is the title of a new work just published in 

 London by James Caied, M. P. — the well-knovm 

 Agricultural Commissi'iner of the London Times. 

 Mr. 0. is a Scotch farmer, a close observer, and a 

 pleasing writer. He visited this country last fall, 

 for the purpose, principally, of examining the lands 

 of the Illinois Central Railroad, in which, we be- • 

 lieve, he is somewhat interested — and it may be 

 well to take his opinion of the fertility and value 

 of these lands with some caution. A few extfacts. 

 from the work will be read with interest. 



At Niagara Falls he met a Scotchman who had. 

 been thirty years in this country. " Oh, map," 

 said he, "they're meeserable farmers. It wouI4 

 break your heart to see how they just scart the 

 grun'. It's no very guid, ony way, but they dinna 

 gie't a chance." 



He was much impressed with the growth of Chi- 

 cago. "Nothing," he says, "can illustrate more 

 forcibly the vast natural abundance and resources 

 of this splendid country, than the history of the 

 grain trade of Chicago. An Indian village in 1820, 

 this place has become a great city, with upwards 

 of 120,000 people, with wharves and granaries for 

 miles along the river canal which opens into Lake 

 Michigan,' and with streets, public buildings, 

 churches and private dwellings that may vie with 

 those of London itself. And Chicago is actually 

 the center of more miles of railway completed and 

 in operation than London, In 1837, its export 

 amounted to about 100 bushels of grain ; and ifl 

 1857, upwards of 18,000,000 bushels. Chicago 

 and all its wealth, are, in fact, a property created 

 by the profits arising in the mere transference from 

 hand to hand of the surplus produce of but a small 

 part of this <ronderfal country. This surpliis, great 



