1905.] 



Remedy fof Flea Beetles. 



54i 



therefore necessary to plant five or six inches deep (in good 

 soil) in order that the plant may have room enough to form 

 nodes to accommodate the tubers which it is able to bear. 



2. If planted deeper than six inches the moisture and 

 temperature conditions are unsuitable for the development of 

 tubers on the first one or two nodes. The tubers are under- 

 sized, immature, and somewhat prone to scabbiness. 



3. If planted shallower than three inches the variation in 

 temperature and moisture is too great for proper development. 

 The tubers are crowded, and there is a large proportion of small, 

 compound, exposed and scabby tubers, and also a tendency to 

 produce tubers on the stalk. 



4. Tubers growing between the depths of one and a-half 

 inches and four inches are of more uniformly good quality in 

 appearance and cooking, in good size and development, than 

 those growing deeper or shallower. 



5. Long tubers which grow sloping in the ground will show a 

 difference in cooking quality between the end nearest the 

 surface and the stem end, the latter part being more mealy 

 when cooked. 



6. Though it cannot be stated definitely, it is believed that 

 good quality is developed under a uniform soil temperature of 

 65-75 degrees, while great fluctuation in temperature is detri- 

 mental to the best development. Tubers growing one and two 

 to five inches below the surface occupy, therefore, a better posi- 

 tion in this respect than those growing above the one-and-a- 

 half-inch level. 



A method of combating the Turnip Flea Beetle (Turnip " Fly") 

 which might be useful in garden practice is described in the 

 r ft f Deutsche Landwirtschaftliche Presse. The 

 Flea Beetles.* seec ^ sown should be covered only very 

 thinly with soil, which should be lightly 

 compressed. The whole bed should then receive a covering, 

 about finger-thick, of white sand. If the sand is not white 



* See also " Experiments in the Prevention of the Turnip Fly" {Journal, April, 

 1905, p. 38), and " Experiments in the Prevention of the Cabbage Flea " {Joutnal, 

 August, 1905, p. 298). 



