CABBAGE 1421 
lings as soon as they appear above ground. Plaster, lime dust or 
tobacco dust are of some value in keeping them off, but the most 
practical method is to screen the bed. 
This screening will also control the second of the pests, the 
cabbage maggot. This enemy is a small, white grub which eats 
the roots of the seedlings about the time the cabbages are ready 
to transplant. The adult is a small fly that lays eggs at the sur- 
face of the ground just beside the stem of the plant. These eges 
soon hatch and the young maggot works downward and feeds upon 
the root system. In many sections it is impossible to get a stand 
of plants every year unless the bed is screened. The screening 
consists of setting up boards eight or ten inches high around the 
seed bed. Over these boards wires are stretched to prevent the 
screen from sagging. The screen is made of cheese cloth and is 
stretched over the bed and tacked to the boards. <A bed to be 
screened should be made not over nine feet wide. 
One half pound of seed will produce nearly as many plants 
under a screen as a whole pound in the open, but one should make 
the seed bed as large as for a whole pound. Under a screen nearly 
every seed will germinate owing to the humid condition. Put it 
on as soon as the seeds are sown and remove about one week before 
seedlings are ready to transplant. The plants will be ready to 
set seven to ten days earlier if raised in this way. 
Sometimes the maggots bother earlier varieties after they are 
set in the field. A tarred paper pad about two inches square 
should be placed around each plant. They are made by punching 
a hole in the center, then cutting a slit from the hole to the edge. 
This prevents the fly from laving eggs near the stem of the plants. 
Third, is the plant louse. This louse has great power of repro- 
duction, being capable of rearing from twelve to twenty litters 
of brood in a single season. In turn the young will multiply 
when only six days old. They are sucking insects and are there- 
fore controlled by the use of contract spray. Three-fourths of a 
pint of Black Leaf 40, four pounds of whale-oil soap and sixty 
gallons of water are used as a spray solution. Great care must 
be taken to wet the lice thoroughly; they will be found in the 
curls, 
