54 PICTORIAL PR AG TIC AL VEGETABLE GROWING. 



the Savoy, also Cabbages and Cauliflowers, suffer in common 

 from several troublesome enemies, on which I will make a few 

 remarks. 



Cluh-root~Thh is a fungus, and its name is Plasmodiophora 

 Brassicae. It causes rough, gnarled, unwholesome swellings on the 

 underground stem and roots, quite different from the white, ball-like 

 growths caused by the gall weevil. It is usually very bad in light 

 land districts, but far less troublesome where the soil is heavy. 

 Obviously one step is to choose the heaviest soil at command, but 

 often there is no choice, and the grower must make the best of what 

 he has. A dressing of gas lime at the rate of 2 lb. per square yard, given 

 in autumn or winter, left to lie on the surface for six or eight weeks, 

 and then pointed in, is very good. Another plan is to earth up the 

 stems when the crop is half grown, and so encourage fresh, healthy 

 roots from the stems. Sowing in wood ashes is good. In sandy soil, 

 where it is almost impossible to get a crop, it is often advisable 

 to raise the plants under glass, and get them very strong before 

 putting them out. 



Gall Weevil.— I have indicated that this and the club-root are 

 totally different things. The gall weevil, Ceutorrhynchus sulcicollis, 

 is a weevil that pierces the stems of green vegetables, and may also 

 attack the roots, while in the case of Turnips it sometimes aflPects 

 the whole bulb. Eggs are deposited, and grubs hatch, which feed and 

 form galls varying in size from that of a Pea to a marble. The swellings 

 are usually smooth, even, and whitish. Dressing with gas lime is 

 good as a general remedy, as advised for club-root. In the case of 

 all Greens it is wise to look over the plants when transplanting. It 

 is an easy matter to slice the galls off into a box or pail, and draw 

 the stems and roots through a puddle of soot and lime. 



The Caterpillar. — Late in summer large white butterflies are to 

 be seen hovering over the Greens, and a few days afterwards a 

 greenish grey caterpillar is seen feeding on the plants. The butterfly 

 has laid eggs on the leaves, and the caterpillar has hatched from 

 them. The small boy who is so fond of bringing down butterflies 

 with his cap has a field for the exercise of his talents amongst the 

 Greens if he can only be persuaded to interest himself in the matter. 

 A few heavy showers do more than anything else to keep down the 

 caterpillar. If they do not come opportunely, hand picking should 

 be resorted to, backed up by dusting the plants with soot while they 

 are wet with dew, or swilling them with brine. The ichneumon, a 

 four-winged fly about yV inch across, is the natural enemy of 

 this Cabbage pest. Its maggots make yellow cocoons, which should 

 never be destroyed. 



White and other Flies. — Green vegetables are often infested by 

 aphides of one colour or another, and sometimes by the small white 

 fly Aleyrodes proletella, which is called the Snowy Fly. It is almost 

 a hopeless Inisiness to attack aphides in large breadths of Greens, 

 and, hap])ily, a soaking rain sooner or later comes to the rescue. 

 The Snowy Fly is more difficult to get rid of, and I have found that 



