38 A MANUAL OF 



ties looming up in the distance. He knows 

 by past experience that if he sows the seeds 

 upon the open ground, an arch-enemy awaits 

 the coming of the tender plants, in the shape 

 of a small flea-beetle. There are several varie- 

 ties of this insect, the most destructive to 

 cabbage, and in fact to all the Brassica, family, 

 being the Haltica Striolata, or striped-backed 

 flea-beetle,^ whose ravages, if not suppressed at 

 once, will finally end with complete destruc- 

 tion to the plant. He therefore follows a 

 time-honored, but senseless, custom, and seeks 

 to escape this enemy by building a seed-bed 

 up a few feet from the ground, on stilts, as it 

 were, and by constant watchfulness, coupled 

 with frequent applications of lime and plaster- 

 dust, he partially succeeds ; and although his 

 plants are badly spotted by the " little bugs," 

 he keeps them alive, and by frequent waterings 

 causes them to make a spindling growth until 

 nearly large enough to transplant. Of course 

 he boasts of his success, and upon the first 

 rainy day prepares for the transplanting into 

 his field. But what is his dismay upon pulling 

 the first handful to find, instead of the nice 

 fibrous roots seen in his imagination, and 

 which he knows should exist on healthy plants, 



