112 Beetles {CH. 
long and well prepared before the seed was sown. 
Good seed and plenty of it, three pounds per acre, 
drilled deeply from (say) two to three inches, ensures 
a good start, even in the driest times.” 
In addition to farmyard manure, artificial manures, 
and especially superphosphate, have been shown to be 
profitable when sown before or in the drill at a time when 
they can help the young plant through the earlier stages. 
Sowing mustard with the turnip crop has proved 
beneficial in some seasons, but not in others. The 
mustard comes up before the turnip and so is attacked 
by the beetles. They prefer turnips and usually leave 
the mustard as soon as the turnips are ready. 
Rolling a piece of infected turnips early in the 
morning while the dew is still on the plants is sometimes 
practised with success. This process disturbs and 
injures the beetle, and also makes the plants dusty, 
in which condition they are not so readily eaten. 
Driving sheep over turnips while the dew is still on is 
also useful for similar reasons. 
Many of the beetles can be caught on a wide frame- 
work built on wheels with well-tarred boards upon it and 
pushed over infested land. The boards are placed at 
right angles to each other. The upright ones brush the 
plant and disturb the beetles which are usually caught 
on the board which projects forward. If the beetles are 
very numerous they should be scraped off frequently 
and the board kept sticky with tar. Cart grease can 
be used instead of tar. 
Dragging sacks which have been soaked in paraffin 
so that they touch the plants has been tried in many 
cases and proved beneficial. 
Larks eat the beetles in considerable numbers. 
