144 Mr. Hardy on Turnip Insects dvring 1870. 



till some change took place, perhaps the acquisition of wings 

 by the young broods, when the nuisance abated. They fed 

 only at night, and used to hide during the day in the soil, 

 the fork at the tail being visible here and there at the sur- 

 face ; or clustered under clods and small stones. The workers 

 killed numbers with their hoes, and for a few days the rooks 

 and jackdaws held a high feast over the spot. This happened 

 also at the sunny-side of stone walls, the turnip leaves being 

 holed for some distance off. 



But a still worse source of mischief lurked in some of the 

 fields, and began to develop itself to an enormous extent 

 towards autumn ; viz., the Turnip Louse, or Aphis, of which 

 a notice was given in the Club's Proceedings of last year. I 

 first noticed them here among the Swedes, (Aphis Brassier 

 ■was the species,) about the middle of September, on a few 

 plants ; whence in the drought of the last fortnight of that 

 month, which was the most hurtful of all, they spread them- 

 selves in spots here and there, but did not occasion much 

 hurt in this quarter. The worst effects of them any where 

 that I witnessed was on Swedes, on the gravelly and sandy 

 soils about Wooler. The Aphides had begun to predominate 

 there, when the turnip casts its outer leaves, and while the 

 drought and the mildew kept back the young foliage ; and 

 the consequence was most disastrous. The sickly leaves, 

 oppressed with disgusting insects, hung flagging on the 

 ground ; and the plants drained of sap grew weaker every 

 day. The smell of decaying turnips rose from the fields, fit 

 to corrupt the air. The white and yellow turnips at the 

 same time were infested with the green and pinkish Aphis 

 vulgaris, called also A. JRapce ; and the fields wore as many 

 tints of green, yellow, and brown, as the woods in autumn. 

 I was told that in one enclosure the turnips were so dis- 

 agreeable that sheep refused them. Other fields were being- 

 stripped of their produce to give to the cattle ; thus losing a 

 month or two's growth. One farmer told me, that as soon as 

 the presence of the insects was manifest, he, in order to 

 starve them, had got the tops of the Swedes cut of; and that 

 they were sprouting again, and growing healthy. Crops 

 that were kept growing were certainly best off, such as those 

 latest sown, or those among the hills, on which only a few 

 insects were present, while the earliest fared worst ; but the 

 proposed remedy is a desperate one, " more to be honoured in 

 breach than the observance." 



