INSECT PESTS & FUNGOID DISEASES 



WHICH ATTACK VEGETABLES; 



BEING A DESCRIPTION OF THOSE MOST IMPORTANT, 

 WITH PREVENTIVE MEASURES AND REMEDIES. 



THE difficulties to be overcome before a profitable crop 

 of vegetables can be grown are many and great enough 

 when the effects of bad weather and other unsuitable conditions 

 alone are considered, but in practice these difficulties are 

 greatly increased by the liability of so many crops to attack 

 from insect and fungoid enemies. Some knowledge of these 

 enemies and of their life-history is of importance to the grower, 

 to enable him to take steps to prevent their spreading and to 

 minimise the damage to the crop. A brief account of the 

 most important of these pests and diseases, and the treatment 

 appropriate to each, will be found in the pages following. 



Before dealing with remedies it will be worth while to con- 

 sider general preventive measures which, though they cannot 

 ensure immunity from attacks, will generally lessen their 

 number and virulence, and prevent their becoming epidemic. 



All crops should be grown under conditions which approxi- 

 mate, as nearly as is practicable, to those natural to the plant ; 

 the further these conditions are departed from, the more 

 unhealthy the growth and the greater the liability to damage 

 from pests and diseases. 



Each plant must be allowed sufficient space for develop- 

 ment : an overcrowded crop is generally unhealthy and seldom 

 profitable. 



Proper drainage, good cultivation, and suitable manuring, by 

 inducing sturdy and robust growth, increase the powers of the 

 plant to resist disease, and make it less liable to attack from 

 insect pests. When nitrogenous manures are used in excess of 



