182 
long, they become drawn and weak, and no after attention will 
render the crop of much value. Too much stress cannot be laid 
on the fact that in this climate, owing to the very heavy rainfall, 
special care is necessary with seedlings of most plants during the 
earlier stages of growth. In the case of quick-growing things like 
vegetables this only extends over a few days, but any one not 
prepared to take the necessary precaution during that short time, 
should only plant during the dry season, and even then there is 
always a chance of heavy rain. 
As it is much easier to protect seeds sown in boxes than when 
sown in beds, we adopt this method for a good many things, but 
great care must be taken that the boxes are exposed to plenty of 
sunlight to prevent drawing Lettuce, beet, celery, cabbages 
and some others, do well raised this way, and transplanted in 
beds as soon as they are big enough to handle. Some othe 
things, such as carrots for instance, cannot be transplanted with 
success, as they never make a good root afterwards. 
Transplanting. 
The beds having been previously prepared, transplanting 
should, if possible, be done m the evening, and unlessThe weathei 
is dull, the young plants will require shading for an hour or two 
in the middle of the day for the first few days. If the weather is 
dry, attention must be paid to watering in the morning or even 
mg, or both if necessary, but avoid watering in the middle of the 
day ■ 
Insect-pests. 
Insects of many kinds are very destructive to vegetables, 
remember one instance, in which bed after bed of English bean; 
and peas was utterly destroyed, as the plants were setting fruit 
by small maggots of some fly, not unlike the destructive celery 
fly of England. I attempted to rear the insect to identify it, but 
failed, nor was I able to stay the destruction. The maggots 
bored up the stems from the base near the roots, and the p ant. 
quickly withered and died. I never saw another case of it, and 
suspected that the insect was 'accidently imported with the seed, 
Blight {Cocci) often appears in wet spots, and should be des- 
troyed by tobacco-water or tuba. The large brown crickets aiv 
very destructive to young plants, especially to seedlings jus 
above the ground. I have known a whole bed of pumpkin seed- 
lings mown down by the jaws of these animals in a single night 
These animals are almost all nocturnal in their habits, concealing 
themselves in long grass or rubbish during the day. It is advis- 
able, therefore, to keep the ground near the vegetable gardei 
clear of thick grass and weeds, and to destroy all piles of rubbish 
decaying sticks and leaves, and such like. The mole cricket 
which burrows in the ground and bites through the roots of plant 
of all kinds is very harmful. It can usually be detected by the 
piercing whirring noise it makes as it sits in the mouth of its hoi 
in the evening, and can be dug o^ e. Tomatoes are apt to be des 
troyed by the common red miileped, which appears to bite 
