284 VEGETABLE FOES AND DISEASES 



the wire-worms dying where Kurrachee cake was used 

 but not with true rape cake. As the wire-worms 

 are more active in the spring months after a long frost 

 than in a mild winter, then is the best time to use rape 

 meal or nuts, preferably in advance or at the time of 

 sowing or planting crops. If applied in preparing 

 the land for cropping, say a week or ten days in 

 advance, the wire- worm will be attracted to the rape 

 meal or nuts. Dress the land before sowing seeds or 

 setting plants with nitrate of soda, crushed fine, two 

 and a half cwt. per acre, one and three-quarter 

 pound per rod, distributing evenly when the ground 

 is moist, but with a prospect of fine weather or only 

 slight showers for a few days. 



Kainit, also crushed fine, may be used in a 

 similar way to the nitrate of soda at the rate of three 

 and a quarter cwt. per acre, two and a quarter pounds 

 per rod. When these substances are used separately 

 there is a danger in getting too much growth from 

 the nitrate of soda, and too little by the use of the 

 kainit. In cases of land broken up from old pasture, 

 or badly infested with grubs and wire-worms, the 

 separate quantities are not only insufficient, but not 

 the correct thing for the crop, say Potatoes or 

 Tomatoes. In that case one and three-quarter cwt. 

 nitrate of soda and three and a quarter cwt. kainit mixed 

 per acre, or three and a half pounds per rod, will be 

 deadly to the pests and beneficial to the crop. Half 

 the quantity suffices on ordinary land, and the 

 mixture is just as good for Tomatoes as for Potatoes. 



