32 
A. G. TILLINGHAST'S SEED CATALOGUE 
Root Maggots 
The Root Maggots are getting to be a terrible pest all over the country. 
They are very destructive to Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Rutabagas, Turnips, Kale 
and Radishes. 
The fly, which looks like a small house fly, lays the eggs on the stem of the 
plants at the surface of the ground. These eggs soon hatch out and the small 
maggots work their way down into the roots, eating oflF the small rootlets, and 
then eating their way into the heart of the large center roots, soon spoiling the 
plant, which has already been weakened by loss of the small roots. 
Fortunately for the gardener, this fly dislikes the smell of Coal Tar, Creosote 
or of Carbolic Acid, so that by frequent spraying of the plants with Carbolic 
or Creosote solutions or emulsions, properly diluted, the fly will keep away, and 
the maggots will not appear. 
But to be effective, the sprayings must be repeated every few days or the 
smell will disappear, especially in rainy weather. Prevention is better than cure 
— and it is better to keep the fly away — but if the maggots do get into the plant 
roots, spraying will not kill them nor will it kill the eggs, unless we use a strong 
enough solution to kill the plants also. 
After the maggots have appeared, we have to resort to pouring some of the 
above diluted liquid solutions or emulsions on the plants, so it will run down the 
stems into the roots, which will kill or drive out the maggots, provided we have 
not waited so long that the maggots have protected themselves by eating into the 
hearts of the large roots, or into the stems of the plants. 
We have found the best and most efl'ective solution is made by using the 
"Sanax Sheep Dip," a Creosote solution found at the Drug Stores, costing from 
$1 to $1.50 per gallon. This is diluted by adding 80 parts water to one part 
of Sanax. 
Tiiere are other Sheep Dips that we have used, called "Zinoleum," "Carbo- 
lium," etc., but we find the "Sanax" the most satisfactory one we have tried. 
For a few plants in the garden, it is easy to pour the solution on with a dip- 
per, using about pint of the diluted solution on each plant. But where there 
is an acre or more to treat, it becomes quite laborious to carry so much weight 
of liquid, so for large fields, we use a barrel in a one-horse wagon. The wagon 
axel must be long enough to straddle two rows, so the horse can walk between 
the rows. A line of %-inch rubber hose, about 20 feet long comes from each 
side of the bottom of the barrel, with a 3-foot piece of %-inch iron pipe on the 
end of each hose. (See cut on second cover page opposite.) 
A boy drives the horse, a man at the end of each hose holds the pipe nozzel 
for a moment on each plant, for the liquid to ran down each stem, each man 
taking a row, as the horse and wagon moves along. On the return trip, taking 
the alternate rows. 
In this way. a horse, boy and two men can treat five acres in a day, using 
about two gallons of the "Sanax" and 160 gallons of water per acre. 
If the first application does not entirely stop the work of the maggots, an- 
other application should be made in a week or ten days after the first one. 
In this way we have been able to save whole fields of Cabbages from de- 
struction. 
