410 The Profitable Culture of Vegetables. 



roots. Avoid freshly-worked land unless it is in very kindly condition, as 

 when it is rough and cloddy it loses moisture rapidly. In sowing, mix 

 superphosphate bulked up with fine screened ashes or dry soil with the 

 seed. Roll or press the surface immediately after sowing to assist germin- 

 ation, and where it is reasonably possible water regularly in dry weather. 

 If the beetle is in evidence give a light top-dressing of nitrate of soda or 

 other stimulating manure until the plants have grown away from the pest. 



When the plants are infested the ground should be rolled to crush the 

 clods and then a light frame- work of boards, fixed on wheels so as just to 

 clear the plants, and covered with fresh tar or cart grease, is run over 

 them. The beetles, being disturbed, jump and are caught on the boards 

 and held by the tar. If a piece of sacking is nailed in front of the boards 

 so that it hangs two or three inches below the boards and drags over the 

 foliage the disturbance of the beetles will be more complete and the con- 

 trivance more effective. The masses of beetles must- be scraped off as 

 they accumulate, and the tar or grease renewed and kept moist. 



For Cabbage Flea the plants should be sprayed with arsenate of lead. 



All cruciferous weeds, such as charlock and shepherd's purse, should be 

 kept down, as they harbour the beetles. 



MILLIPEDES and CENTIPEDES. These are not strictly insects, but 

 belong to a group of the animal kingdom known as the Myriapoda. They 

 may both be usually found in dark and damp places, in decaying wood or 

 under heaps of decaying vegetable matter. Millipedes (also known as 

 Julus Worms) are vegetable feeders, and often cause injury to the roots 

 and other underground parts of plants, whilst centipedes are carnivorous, 

 feeding on insects, larva, worms, snails and slugs, and are therefore useful 

 to the gardener. For this reason care should be taken to distinguish 

 between them. 



Millipede, Julus pulchellus. Millipede, Polydesmus complanatus. 



Centipede, Geophilus subterraneous, 



In millipedes the body is usually round (in the species Polydesmus 

 complanatus the body is flattened), from half an inch to one inch long, 

 blackish or pinkish in colour, with numerous segments, the front four of 



