468 
Report of the Judges on the 
shows them to be marked with a honeycomb pattern ; they are 
laid on the under side of the leaves in small patches. When 
these hatch, the maggot bores into the leaf and feeds on the 
tissue that lies between the upper and under skin ; it is a 
voracious feeder and may be seen turning from side to side like 
a cow grazing, and collecting its food with two black hooks 
with which its retractile head is furnished. The leaf then 
withers and looks as if it had been frostbitten, and unless there 
is sufficient force in the land to carry the plant through the 
crisis — which generally is the three or four weeks in which the 
first brood of maggots are feeding — the crop may be destroyed. 
Stimulating manures as guano, nitrate of soda, soot, and mineral 
phosphate have been used with good effect ; phosphate is said to 
be best. 
When the plant is sharply attacked in the early stage of 
its growth it has a hard struggle for life. It is seldom that a 
crop is entirely destroyed, but the depredations of the mangold- 
wurzel fly must militate against the extended cultivation of 
this most useful root. It has been the fashion of late to grow 
those varieties which produce but little top ; but it will be a 
question if those kinds which send forth a vigorous growth of 
big leaves will not be better able to resist the attacks of this new 
pest. The old enemy of the turnip — the fly or beetle — has been 
as busy as ever. Notwithstanding the constant and most 
vigorous efforts of some of the competitors, it nearly destroyed 
some crops, and in all retarded their growth and spoiled the 
uniformity of the plant. All sorts of old-fashioned remedies 
were tried, rolling, brushing with elder boughs, and liming the 
plant. These operations were in one instance commenced as 
early as 3 A.M. and as late as 10 at night, and a fair plant was 
thus saved. Nowhere did we hear of the precaution of steeping 
the seed in paraffin, which is said to prevent or mitigate the 
attacks of the turnip-fly ; but care should be taken not to steep 
it too long, as instances are recorded in which the germination 
of the seed has been injured or entirely destroyed. Besides the 
pests we have named, the wire-worm, the grub, and other insects 
seem to have done their full share of mischief this year. 
The extent of turnips grown is not so great as in many 
localities. The cultivation of mangolds seems to be extending, 
and as that root produces plenty of milk, and will keep late in 
the spring, it is greatly valued, now that selling milk rather than 
producing butter is so much in vogue. But cabbages seem the 
most popular provender, and their more extended growth has 
become very general. We were told that they were especially 
useful for producing milk in " the fore part of the back end " — 
which portion of the year may be better known in other localities 
