100 



THE GAKDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



base. The grub is legless, tapering to either 

 end, strongly segmented, covered with short, 

 spiny points, especially towards the tail, which 

 ends in three points, and is of a brownish hue 

 from the slime of Onion bulbs into which it bores. 



a 



Fig. 125.— Brassy Onion-fly (Eumerus oeneus). 



1 and 2. Grub (natural size and enlarged). 3 and 4. Pupa (natural size and 

 enlarged). 5 and 6. Insect (enlarged and natural size). 



It has also been found in the roots of Cabbages. 

 The pupa hibernates in the bulbs or in soil, and 

 the fly comes forth about the end of April. 



Remedies. — Some exemption for the Onion 

 crop has been obtained by dustings or dressings 

 of soot in the early stages of growth, and by 

 good drenchings of lime-water, which is pre- 

 judicial to the young grubs, while not injurious 

 to the Onions. The soot, because it contains 

 some ammonia, would also act as a fertilizer, 

 concerning which see under Onion Fly. 



Bulb Mite (Rhizoglyphus Robini). — This 

 creature belongs to the same class as the well- 

 known and so-called Red Spider, both being truly 

 mites. In this case, however, the oblong or 

 ellipsoid body is colourless, furnished with a few 

 coarse, bristly hairs, and having four pairs of 

 bristly legs, those of the male being longer and 

 better developed than those of the female. To 

 the naked eye of a keen observer, the mites 

 appear like small grains of white sand, but 

 when they are slowly moving about this illusion 

 is soon dispelled. A good lens will show them 

 clearly. Eucharis Mite is perhaps the more 

 common English name, but the species attacks 

 all sorts of bulbs, evergreen and deciduous, as 

 well as various tubers, at all times of the year 

 when the conditions are favourable to its activity. 

 It is generally, if not always, accompanied by 

 the Yeast of Gluten (Saccharomi/ces glutinis), a 

 fungus whose presence may be detected with 

 the naked eye by the red patches on the roots, 

 scales, or neck of the bulbs, as well as by red 

 stripes on the petioles and leaves. These marks 

 are a sure indication of the fungus, and gene- 

 rally of the Bulb Mite as well. The fungus is 



believed by many scientific men as well as 

 gardeners to be the real enemy and precursor 

 of the mite, which lives upon the decaying 

 matter of the bulbs. Both are an indication of 

 neglected or unhealthy bulbs, often clearly 

 brought about by errors in cultural treatment. 



Remedies. — Prevention is always better than 

 cure, and cultivators should avoid importing 

 infested bulbs to their houses if possible. Bulbs 

 that have been neglected, or kept till reduced 

 to a few healthy scales covered by many dead 

 ones, should be burnt, as they are not worth 

 the trouble of cleaning and resuscitating. When 

 only slightly infested, clear off and burn every 

 infested scrap. Wash the bulbs with sulphur 

 and water, carbolic acid, kerosene emulsion or 

 petroleum emulsion moderately strong, with 

 strong soap-suds or Gishurst Compound to 

 which some sulphur has been added, sulphide of 

 potassium, or with some other well-known and 

 approved insecticide or fungicide. Allow the 

 bulbs to dry, and then repot them in fresh soil, 

 pressing it down very firmly. Some succeed by 

 using peat, others by potting with good, fibrous, 

 and substantial loam. Place the pots in the 

 stove, and when the bulbs begin to grow supply 

 them with plenty of moisture at the root and 



X -100 



Fig. 126.— Hypopial form of the Bulb Mite. Dorsal and Ventral surfaces. 

 The detached sucker-plate magnified 300 diameters. After Michael. 



overhead. Success has often resulted from these 

 methods of treatment. Evergreen species, like 

 the Eucharis, should never be baked till they 

 become dust-dry at the roots. Some successful 

 growers plunge the pots in cocoa-nut fibre in the 

 stove and keep them there all the year round, 

 with excellent results. Others plant the bulbs 

 in beds or narrow borders round the stoves, 

 drawing out the young bulbs, but otherwise 

 leaving the old ones undisturbed for many 



