164 CARROT-WORM. 



nicely thinned, and have spread their finely pic- 

 turesque and thriving leaves, a worm, with great 

 prodigality destroying its own stores, cuts the only 

 root the plant has, and it immediately dies. If 

 any get further advanced before they are so at- 

 tacked, they do not altogether disappear, but main- 

 tain a sickly growth, become stringy, and are 

 unfit for use. The progress of the enemy below 

 ground is marked by the withering of the leaves; 

 but there is little fruit of the discovery save the 

 intimation that the crop will all be destroyed. 



Such noxious creatures, it would seem, are mul- 

 tiplied by our cultivation of their appropriate food. 

 The carrot, it is probable, when first introduced, 

 would have few enemies ; but now the rearing of 

 it is generally precarious, and the attempt often 

 abortive. The turnip, too, of so great importance 

 in modern husbandry, is likely to prove, by the dis- 

 ease called " fingers and toes," that the insect caus- 

 ing that disease has spread over the land, in conse- 

 quence of being nourished by the very crops which 

 it is now powerful enough to destroy. If this be 

 the law of insect population, we must draw upon 

 the bounties of nature for a new plant, or shift the 

 old to a remote and altogether new soil. Were 

 the carrot every where abandoned for a term of 

 years, it might perhaps be resumed again with en- 

 tire success. But as we are not patriots enough, 

 by common consent, to consult for the prosperity of 

 the next a<re, we must be content to feed the carrot- 



. O 5 



worm, though it take all to itself, or so to moderate 



