AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Dmgtteft U imjpixe tlje Janner, t!je paitter, aitir tlje (Sarkiter* 
AGRICULTURE IS TEE MOST'.HEALTHY, TEE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN - Washington. 
PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ALLEH & CO., 189 WATER ST. 
V 0 L. XI. ] NEW-YORK, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1B54. [NUMBER 18. 
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THE CABBAGE. 
No. V. 
Another enemy of this plant attacks the root. 
Your young plants are set out, and do well for 
a while, when they begin to wilt, and the edges 
of the leaves turn brown or yellow. You dig 
around the root, and find all the little rootlets 
cut off and the stem half rotten, and swarming 
with small white maggots. We have not been 
able to book this scoundrel with entire certainty, 
but we suspect him to be the Anthomyia Ra- 
phani, or radish fly, so called from the botanical 
name of the radish, on the roots of which its 
larvae feed. They finish their transformations 
and appear above ground towards the end of 
June. There are several species of the Antho- 
myians, the larvae of which are often found in 
excrements. From the fact that this disease pre¬ 
vails most in very rich garden soils, and in 
ground heavily manured with-night soil, we 
think we are safe in classing this insect among 
the Anthomyiadce. We know of no help for 
these maggots when they have once commenced 
their attacks. They either entirely destroy the 
plant, or check its growth so that it fails to form 
a good head. Where it is not entirely destroyed, 
nature endeavors immediately to repair the in¬ 
jury, by sending out new roots from the stem ; 
but by the time these are established, the better 
part of the season has passed. The safest way 
is to pull up plants attacked in this way, and to 
put out fresh ones in their place. Something 
may be done by way of preventing the depre¬ 
dations of these maggots. If the attack is oc¬ 
casioned by a too rich garden soil, trenching 
will remedy the difficulty; if it is brought on 
by night-soil, it shows that the manure has not 
been well composted and thoroughly mixed with 
the soil. Ground, that is in deep and thorough 
tillage, will rarely suffer from these maggots. 
The Aphis Brassicce , or cabbage louse, is 
sometimes very abundant on the under side of 
the leaves, in the month of August. The louse 
has long bony tubes, and its body is covered 
with a whitish mealy substance. The plants are 
most liable to attacks of this insect in dry wea¬ 
ther. The leaves begin to cup, and the growth 
is checked. A dose of Scotch snuff and char, 
coal-dust, sprinkled on the leaves, will destroy 
the insects, and restore the leaves to their usual 
shape. 
The Pontia oleraceci, or pot-herb Pontia, a 
white butterfly, may be seen about the last of 
May and the beginning of June, fluttering over 
cabbage, radish, and turnip beds, for the pur¬ 
pose of depositing its eggs. These are fastened 
to the under sides of the leaves, and but seldom 
are more than three or four left upon one leaf. 
The eggs are yellowish, nearly pear-shaped, 
longitudinally ribbed, and are one-fifteenth of 
an inch in length. They are hatched in a week 
or ten days after they are laid, and the cater¬ 
pillars produced from them, attain their full 
size when three weeks old, and then measure 
about one inch and a half in length. Being of 
a pale green color, they are not readily distin¬ 
guished from the ribs of the leaves beneath 
which they live. 
The Mamestra picta, is a naked caterpillar, 
which is often found to be injurious to cabbages, 
cauliflowers, beets, and other garden vegetables. 
It does not conceal itself in the ground, but lives 
exposed upon the leaves of the plants it devours; 
when disturbed it coils its body spirally. It is 
of a light yellow color, with three broad, longi¬ 
tudinal black stripes, one on each side, and the 
third on the top of the back; and the head, 
belly, and feet are tawny. It comes to its full 
size in September, and is then about two inches 
long. 
The Arctia Virginica , or yellow bear, is a 
much more troublesome insect in the garden. 
It is a great feeder, devouring almost all kinds 
of herbaceous plants with equal relish. Where 
they are numerous, they completely riddle the 
large leaves of the cabbage in a few days. This 
kind of caterpillar varies very much in its colors; 
it is perhaps most often of a pale yellow or straw 
color, with a black line along each side of the 
body, and a transverse line of the same color 
between each of the segments of rings, and it is 
covered with long, pale yellow hairs. They are 
to be found of different ages and sizes, from the 
first of June till October. When fully grown 
they are about two inches long, and then creep 
into some convenient place of shelter, make 
their cocoons, in which they remain in the cry- 
salis state during the winter, and are changed 
to moths in the months of May or June follow¬ 
ing. The moth is familiarly known by the 
name of the white miller, and is often seen about 
houses. It has a black point on the middle of 
the fore wings, and two black dots on the hind 
wings. It expands its wings from one inch and 
a half to two inches. Its eggs are of a golden 
yellow color, and are laid in patches upon the 
leaves of plants. In some parts of France and 
in Belgium, the people have been required by 
law to uncaterpillar their orchards and gardens, 
and have been punished by fine for the neglect 
of the duty. Although we have not yet become 
so prudent and public spirited as to enact similar 
statute regulations, we might find it for our ad¬ 
vantage to offer a bounty for the destruction of 
caterpillars ; and though we should pay for 
them by the quart, as we do for berries, we 
should be gainers in the end, while the children 
whose idle hours were occupied in the picking 
of them, would 1 : this a profitable employ¬ 
ment. 
The salt-marsh caterpillar is another depre¬ 
dator upon the cabbage plantation. It closely 
resembles the yellow bear in some of its varie¬ 
ties, and commits similar ravages upon the 
leaves. 
These are the principal enemies of this plant; 
and the best remedies for their ravages are gen¬ 
eral measures for the destruction of all garden 
insects. For the destruction of grubs we have 
found salt and sea manures among the best of 
remedies. Lime, doubtless, and other alkalies, 
liberally applied, will destroy the eggs and young 
worms. These applications are safe and econ¬ 
omical for other purposes, and nothing is lost in 
their application. 
Their eggs are often deposited under the 
rough bark of fruit trees. These may be des¬ 
troyed by scraping off the rough bark and burn¬ 
ing it. If a pound of sal soda, such as is used 
for cooking purposes, be put into an iron vessel 
and heated red hot, and then dissolved in a gal¬ 
lon of water, and applied to the bark with a 
brush, it will destroy the eggs left by the 
scraper, make the bark smooth, and help the 
growth of the trees. 
We have found the following a good plan to 
trap insects. Put water into a half hogshead 
or other large vessel. Put a narrow board 
across the top, and on the board set a common 
lantern. Set this vessel in the garden, and light 
your lantern at night. The insects will be at¬ 
tracted by the light, and in attempting to alight, 
many of them will fall into the water and be 
drowned. 
Another method is to kindle a small fire of 
brush wood, or shavings, at evening. If this 
is kept up habitually through the months of 
June and July, when moths, millers, and beetles 
are most numerous, it will destroy a great mul¬ 
titude of them. Some gardeners put molasses 
and vinegar and water into narrow-mouthed 
bottles, and hang them up in their fruit trees 
and in other convenient places. The number 
of insects that will crowd into these bottles is 
astonishing. 
Any of these methods will pay for all the 
time and money they cost. The great difficulty 
is to convince cultivators of the necessity of 
using any means to destroy insects. They g et 
tolerable crops in spite of them, and have other 
business upon their hands, than to wage war 
against them. They are a large tax upon the 
laboi’s of every cultivator, and cost the nation 
millions of money every year. Let every tiller 
of the soil then, keep his own pi’etnises clear of 
insects. Let him burn, drown, smoke, salt, and 
