THE SWIFT MOTH C ATE R PTLLAE AND DAFFODILS. 223 



stand the difficulty in getting the dressing, which has to be inserted by 

 means of the dibble, placed sufficiently deep to destroy the grubs when 

 feeding below the bulbs, and this may account for the failure of the 

 autumn dressing ; but it was nevertheless disappointing to find that the 

 spring application seemed to produce little or no result on the grubs when 

 they began to come to the surface for the purpose of entering the chrysalis 

 state. I have no doubt that vaporite will kill the caterpillars in certain 

 conditions ; for instance, if a few caterpillars be collected and placed in soil 

 in an ordinary garden flower-pot a little vaporite added to the soil very 

 soon kills them, but it is a different matter in the open, and I must admit 

 my impression that this treatment has not proved an effectual remedy 

 down to the present. 



Mr. Ellis has suggested to me that scattering vaporite or some smell- 

 ing substance over the daffodil beds in June may possibly scare away the 

 females from the beds, as he thinks they generally descend to the ground 

 to lay their eggs. I have not yet tried this method. 



A device I have tried with a certain amount of success is to cover the 

 the beds in which the daffodils are growing in the middle of May with a 

 rough framework, and over this to stretch a wasp-proof fabric. Where 

 this can be done it seems to afford sufficient protection, provided two 

 precautions be observed. The first is to take care that the fabric is 

 fastened close to the ground. Where this has not been carefully attended 

 to I have found bulbs near the edge of the bed to suffer, though even then 

 the attack has never proved a serious one. The second is to examine the 

 bed very diligently in order to make sure that none of the enemy is 

 present in the bed at the time the cover is placed in position. In this 

 connexion it is to be observed that the presence of one or two only of the 

 grubs may cause but small damage ; no bulb may have failed to come up, 

 and perhaps only one or two may have been without a flower, or shown 

 some other sign of weakness. In such case any symptom of weakness 

 must be regarded as a grave cause of suspicion. The soil must be most 

 carefully moved and examined within a circle of about 18 inches round 

 each plant showing signs of weakness to a depth of 6 inches at least, and 

 the operation repeated a week later, after the covering has been put on. 

 The covering has to be left on until the end of July. I need hardly say 

 that this method, though fairly successful, if carried out as I have 

 described is very inconvenient, and can only be resorted to in a place 

 devoted solely to daffodils, and is quite impracticable in the ordinary 

 border. It has, moreover, the additional disadvantage that it has the 

 effect of keeping the ripening influence of the sun away from the plants 

 just at the time when it is most beneficial to them. I think the use of 

 this method of covering from the middle of May till the end of July is 

 likely to be confined in practice to a few cases of rare or valuable bulbs 

 which for some reason it is desired to retain in the ground for two or 

 more years without lifting. 



Somewhat reluctantly I am coming to the conclusion that in all 

 probability the most effective way of outmanoeuvring this troublesome 

 pest is by resorting to an annual lifting of the bulbs accompanied by a 

 very careful inspection before replanting. Where this has been carried 

 out and the precautions next mentioned observed I have never, down to 



