324 THE TURNIP CROP. 



the dew is on the leaf a broadcast machine being the 

 most expeditious way of distributing it; or it may be 

 sprinkled with the hand carefully over the rows. If the 

 "fly" continues troublesome, the process should be re- 

 peated. By this means, Mr. Fisher Hobbs says, 200 to 

 220 acres of turnips, Swedes, and rape, have been grown 

 annually on his farms for eight or nine years past, with- 

 out a rod of ground losing its plants. This, or some 

 similar composition, would no doubt to a great extent pro- 

 tect the plants from the " black nigger " and other cater- 

 pillars ; the safest way, however, is to have them picked 

 off by the hand if not too numerous ; or if the plants be 

 young, this is done more effectually by young ducks, 

 which should be kept moving along the rows, otherwise 

 they are apt to eat the leaves also. The galls or excres- 

 cences seen so frequently on turnip bulbs, are due to the 



1. Turnip injured by the "Tivrnip-gall Weevil." 2. Excrescences or Galls. 

 3. Do. opened. 4. Grubs (natural size and magnified) found in them. 

 5. Weevil (C. pleurostigma), natural size and magnified. 



attacks of the " turnip-gall weevil" (Ceutorhynchus pleu- 

 rostigma) ; these each contain from one to three or four 

 grubs, which feed upon the bulb, and then leave it in a 

 suitable condition for the attacks of sundry other insects 



