90 



MUSTARD. 



Mustard Beetle. PJmdon betulcB, Linn. 



Ph;edon betul^. 

 Mustard Beetle, nat. size and magnified ; maggot, magnified, and nat. size on leaf. 



Mustard Beetle attack is one of the regular yearly crop troubles. 

 The first time in which it was brought forward for thorough investi- 

 gation was, I believe, when (in the year 1886) circulars were issued by 

 the Council of the Eoyal Agricultural Society to Mustard growers, 

 requesting information as to the history and habits of the beetle 

 (scientifically known as the Phadon betulm, more popularly as Black 

 Jack), and also what measures for prevention of attack, and for remedy 

 of it when present, were reasonably practicable at a paying rate. 



As Consulting Entomologist of the E. A. S. E., the work was 

 placed in my hands ; I went down into Cambridgeshire, to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Wisbech, and with the able assistance of the late Prof. 

 Herbert Little, of Coldham Hall, and that of Mr. Wm. Little, of Stags 

 Holfc, March, had the opportunity of examining the Mustard crops in 

 the fields, and also I undertook the necessary correspondence with the 

 contributors of information, and the subsequent arrangement of the 

 main points of this information, for a special report published in the 

 Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society in 1887. 



The contributions of information were given (as far as could be) at 

 length in my own Annual Eeport on Injurious Lisects for 1886, pp. 

 58 — 76, with names of contributors appended to their observations. 



The investigations showed that all or almost all available means of 

 lessening amount of injury from this infestation were based either on 

 the careful measures of preparation, or treatment of land, or (generally) 

 of cultivation ; or in some degree on prevention by forestalling attack. 

 But of available remedial measures at that date, there appeared to be 

 next to none. Such dustings, or washings, as were then tried did 

 little or no good, and there were then no implements reasonably ser- 

 viceable for distributing them. Now these points have been altered. 



