LATE CABBAGE 



107 



is a slime mold disease and is greatly held in check by the use 

 of lime. This disease spreads mainly from soil inoculation. 

 Therefore, it is best not to set plants from a seed bed that 

 shows the disease. 



Insect Pests. 



Like all crops, the cabbage has its insect enemies. First 

 comes the flea beetle, then the root maggot. The flea beetle 

 eats the leaves of the young plants, while the root maggot 

 works at the roots. It can readily be seen that the root mag- 

 got is a far more serious insect than the flea beetle. The 

 adult of the cabbage maggot much resembles the house fly. 

 It lays its eggs around the stem of the young plant, which 

 soon hatch into small white maggots that find their way into 

 the ground and feed upon the root system. In many locali- 

 ties this pest has become very serious, and as a result the 

 seed bed must be screened with cheese-cloth in order to get 

 a stand of plants. In other localities where the pest is not 

 so troublesome, people are sowing twice the usual amount 

 of seed to get a given number of plants. Since screening pro- 

 tects against both root maggot and flea beetle and also hastens 

 the young plants a week or ten days, there can be many things 

 said in its favor. Seed sown under a screen will produce 

 nearly twice as many plants as by other methods. I am not 

 going into detail about the screening method, because the 

 Geneva Station has published a bulletin on the subject, which 

 will pay anyone who is interested to get and read. (Bul- 

 letin 334). The principles are as follows: Boards from six 

 to ten inches wide are set up around the seed bed and held 

 in place by short stakes. Over these boards is stretched 

 cheese-cloth, which is fastened to their edges. Wires stretched 

 across the boards will prevent the cloth from sagging in 

 the middle. All cracks should be made tight and all open- 

 ings under the boards should be banked with dirt. It is bet- 

 ter if the bed to be screened is not over six to nine feet wide. 

 The cloth should be put on at least as soon as the young plants 

 appear and be removed about one week before setting time 

 to let the plants harden up. Last year we screened one-half 

 of our bed and were so well pleased with the results that we 

 intend to screen it all this year. The cost per thousand plants 



