782 



ADDENDUM 



The Turnip Fly. — A very great difficulty presented to every 

 gardener in connection with the raising of Turnips is combating 

 the fly when the seedlings are very small. No matter where sown, 

 the fly in dry weather attacks the plants, being as destructive in one 

 garden as in another, unless very drastic steps are taken to check 

 it. Some people advise dusting the plants with soot or very dry 

 soil, but such dressings seem to do but little good. Possibly, 

 syringing the seedlings with Quassia extract may check its inroads 

 for a time, but such spraying, to do any good, must be repeated 

 every two or three days. Coating the leafage with soot and dirt 

 may, for a time, check the fly, but such dressings, seeing they 

 choke the pores of the leaves, must, in the end, be harmful to the 

 plants. 



One of the best aids to vigorous growth, and consequent freedom 

 from the attacks of the fly, is found in rich soil, the drills, when 

 drawn, being saturated with weak liquid manure, sowing the seed 

 at once and immediately covering it with fine, dry soil, which, in 

 addition to checking evaporation, helps the germination of the 

 seeds. A cool and slightly shaded position is best for summer 

 sowing, but the later sowings, at the end of August or early in 

 September, should be made quite in the open. Some persons 

 sprinkle the grass from the mowing machine over the newly sown 

 breadths of Turnips, these furnishing some slight degree of pro- 

 tection. Whether the taste of the decaying grass is offensive to 

 the fly, or the grass helps to cover the Turnips from view, is not 

 certain. It is, however, a simple and easily applied mode of pro- 

 tection, which almost any one sowing Turnip seed in gardens can 

 adopt. Carrying a long, freshly tarred board by two men over a 

 breadth of Turnips, the board kept a few inches above the plants 

 and in a slanting position, was found instrumental in capturing 

 great numbers of the beetles. 



