298 
Garden Work 
1 he little fly, which is dark grey in colour and covered 
with short hairs, may be seen every season of the year. 
It generally makes its first attack on the Onion crop about 
“ thinning time ”, but at no time will the crop be safe, as 
this pest will attack full-grown onions as readily as it does 
young ones. The eggs are generally laid in the onion, just 
at the level of the surface of the soil, and in a few days the 
little white maggots are 
hatched. These eat 
their way down to the 
base of the bulb, and 
then round it, after 
which the bulbs begin 
to decay. The first 
sign of attack is when 
the plants become 
sickly looking; after- 
wards they collapse al- 
together. When the 
larvae or maggots are 
fully grown they change into pupae in the soil. 
As soon as the plants show signs of the presence of 
maggots they should be carefully dug up and burned. 
If the Onion bed is kept dusted over slightly with soot 
in the early part of the season, or if sprinkled with par- 
affin and water, in the proportion of 1 oz. of paraffin to 
1 gall, of water, using a fine rose on the watering can, 
this will make the plants distasteful to the insects, and 
also kill the smell of the onions, which might otherwise 
attract them. If the plants are rendered distasteful to 
the insects the females will not settle on them to lay 
3 
Brassy Onion Fly 
1 and 2, Grub (nat. size and enlarged). 3 and 4, 
Pupae (nat. size and enlarged). 5 and 6, Insect (nat. 
size and enlarged) 
