THE 



GARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



MARCH, 1837. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. A Series of Articles on the Insects most injurious to Culti- 

 vators. By J. O. Westwood, Secretary to the Entomological 

 Society. 



No. 1. The Turnip Flea-Beetle, commonly called the Turnip Fly. 



In commencing a series of articles upon those particular 

 species of" insects which are especially obnoxious to the horti- 

 culturist and agriculturist, a few introductory general observa- 

 tions will not be deemed inappropriate. It was a doctrine 

 maintained and supported by a celebrated naturalist and poli- 

 tical economist, whom I am proud to name as my friend, W. 

 Spence, Esq., F.R.S. (one of the authors of the invaluable 

 Introduction to Entomology), that our country was capable of 

 maintaining its distinguished rank among nations independently 

 of commerce, by a reliance upon its agricultural sources alone. 

 Without, however, either admitting or denying the truth of this 

 doctrine, one proposition is evidently deducible therefrom, 

 namely, that the cultivation of the soil in this country is a sub- 

 ject of such vital importance to the general economy of the 

 state, that every thing immediately or remotely connected there- 

 with must necessarily possess a degree of importance, of course 

 varying in amount according to the amount of influence which 

 it exercises upon the productions of the soil, either in advancing 

 the successes of the agriculturist, or defeating his long and 

 arduous exertions. Chemistry, whereby the nature of soils and 

 manures is obtained ; mineralogy and geology, whereby the 

 nature of the various strata of any particular district of the 

 country, and its fitness for particular crops, may be ascertained ; 

 meteorology, in its most extended sense, whereby the changes of 

 the weather and their causes may be learned ; and botany, 

 whereby the distinctions of vegetables, and the comparative 

 advantages resulting from the culture of each, are shown ; are 

 all so completely part and parcel of the knowledge lequired by 

 Vol. XIII.— No. 84. ii 



