TURNIP "FLY" OR "FLEA" 275 



plants to grow away from their foes, and it is well 

 known that moisture evaporates more quickly from 

 land that is cloddy, or rough, than from well-tilled soil. 



3. Rolling down the land, or, in the case of very 

 small plots, beating with the back of a spade, after the 

 drill or sowing should be adopted, as this keeps in 

 moisture and levels the soil, enabling the plants to 

 grow away as quickly as possible. Artificial manure 

 mixed with well-powdered ashes, or mould, should be 

 drilled in, or placed in the drills with the seed, so that 

 it may be close to the plants to help them to grow 

 away as quickly as possible from the onslaught of the 

 beetles. The ashes and mould should be moistened. 

 Putting in Turnip seed with a water drill has certain 

 advantages, but the objection is that the moisture soon 

 evaporates and in case of drought the seed germinated 

 quickly is checked or the plants are lost. In small 

 plots watering the drills or, if broadcasted, the ground 

 before sowing, can be practised successfully ; only con- 

 tinue the watering after the plants appear if the 

 weather prove dry. 



4. Plenty of seed of the preceding year's harvest 

 should be used, but always examined or guaranteed as 

 to its germinating powers and as to its freedom from 

 other seeds. This is a point that can hardly be in- 

 sisted upon too strongly. Sowing Mustard seed with 

 Turnip seed sometimes saves Turnip plants from 

 serious injury, as it germinates more quickly, and the 

 beetles feed on the Mustard plants instead of the 

 Turnips, when the weather favours the latter, for the 



