December 10, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
523 
for this insect to shelter in. Gaslime, well worked in, is a capital appli¬ 
cation where the presence of either of these insects is a known fact, 
although a correspondent has recently stated that he found the wireworm 
defied this agent; I can hardly believe that would happen, provided the 
article was good and rightly applied. Any stimulating manure, chemical 
or other, when freely mixed with the soil before planting Cabbages, will 
lessen the probabilities of injury from these and most subterranean feeders. 
Some advise the paring and then burning of the surface of soil that is 
infested with the crane-fly maggot. This will certainly prevent after 
mischief by stamping out this insect in that particular spot, but there are 
some objections to this proceeding unless the case is a serious one. 
Passing, however, from the larva of the crane-fly, one chiefly a foe to 
he cereals, and only now and then damaging to Turnips and Cabbages, 
we come to the larva or maggots of other flies that do special damage to 
the latter vegetable. Happily the season of 1885 having been dry has 
not favoured the increase of several of the Cabbage pests, and the maggot 
of the Cabbage fly (Anthomyia Brassicse) though it has been noticed in 
gardens and fields, has not been greatly injurious. Had there fallen 
heavy rains during the summer the plants might have died off frequently 
from the combined influences of heat and moisture after they were weak¬ 
ened by the attacks of the insect, which bores into the roots and the base 
of the stem, feeding concealed till mature. It then quits the plant and 
shelters under the earth, the fly appearing in two or three weeks. The 
last brood of the season remains, however, unchanged through the winter, 
to emerge winged during the spring. The reduction, or killing off, of 
this brood is therefore an important point, and the best step to take is to 
clear away the surface soil in October or November about autumn or 
winter Cabbages, for it may contain pupse of the insect. It is also very 
undesirable to grow Cabbages year after year on the same ground, a plan 
which saves the flies the trouble of a journey. To distinguish this fly 
from other species, it should be stated that the legless tapering maggot is 
of a whitish colour, with two brown points at the tail, in length scarcely 
th e third of an inch. The pupa is of a reddish brown, slightly spotted 
wUh black. In its perfect state the insect closely resembles the Onion 
fly, but is less, and has more dark markings upon the slender body than 
that insect possesses. The Onion is never touched by the larva of the 
Cabbage fly, but it makes occasional attacks upon the Turnip. There is 
evidently a rapid succession of broods during the summer, perhaps four 
or five some years, varying with the weather. Manuring, especially if 
superphosphate or ammoniacal compounds be used, strengthens Cabbages 
against this pest. 
Of minor importance is the insect popularly called the root-eating fly, 
and Anthomyia radicum by Curtis, distinguishable from the preceding 
by the fact that the larva or maggot, though similar in size, is of darker 
hue, being yellowish or brown, but the pupa, on the other hand, is much 
paler in colour than that of A. Brassicse. There is not much difference in 
their habits, only the maggot of A. radicum devotes itself almost entirely 
to the roots of the vegetable, seldom advancing upwards into the stem. 
Sjme districts of Germany have been greatly troubled with this insect, 
and on the Continent it has been noticed that the larvae, in some summers, 
occur very numerously in dung ; hence, where this article is applied as a 
manure, it is no wonder to find the Cabbages and Turnips (and possibly 
other vegetables) injured subsequently. It has been stated that where 
spent Hops can be obtained, if they are distributed round the stems of 
Cabbages, they check the increase of this species, and also of other 
insects that are apt to give trouble. 
Enemies, which from their minuteness may seem to be despicable, yet 
by their numbers accomplish mischief in sundry cases, as does the little 
fly Aleyro les proletella, or the Cabbage powder-wing, one responsible for 
the browning or withering of many Cabbage leaves, especially during 
autumn. Looking like a tiny whitish moth, and akin to a well-known 
pest of the Tomato, it is really a species of bug, and pursues the same 
plan as the sca’e insect, clinging to the leaves closely, while it exhausts 
them of their juices by means of a rostrum or sucker. We may find this 
insect upon Cabbages in any month of the year, but the autumn shows us 
most of them, at least in the fly state. As much harm, or more, is done 
by the larva or grub, which, from its small size and pale hue is usually 
unnoticed by gardeners. Burning all leaves seen to be infested is an 
obvious precaution, and plants that are beginning to languish may be 
syringed with clear lime water, tobacco water, or a solution of softsoap. 
Then, although Cabbages may be noticed to have feeding upon them 
more than one species of aphis or “ blight,” there is a species that is 
peculiar to the plant, and so is called A. Brassicse. These occur during 
the spring and summer, and even late in autumn they will be discovered 
sheltering in the folds of the leaves. The young Cabbage aphis is yellow, 
when older it becomes greyish green ; the winged form is of a brighter 
green, the head, legs, and antennse dark. For killing this pest the usual 
syringings or drenchings are applicable, or dusting at an early period with 
lime or soot. The drier the plants, especially if the weather be warm, the 
greater the increase of the aphides, which then appear winged and dis¬ 
tribute themselves in various directions. Keeping the Cabbages well 
watered is at all times a check upon the progress of this enemy. 
Occasionally the roots of Cabbages are covered with galls that 
usually appear in clusters, but are now and then solitary protuberances 
also arise from a vegetable disease called “ club ” resembling these ; the 
galls, however, on opening are discovered to have within them a plump 
yellowish maggot which the other swellings lack. This maggot in due 
lime developes into a small beetle or weevil named Centorhynchus 
sulcicollis, quitting the root-gall ere pupation to enter the soil, where it 
makes a cell, mixing particles of earth with a gummy secretion. It has 
been noticed that these grubs can bear a cold which freezes their juices. 
The perfect insect is of a very dark grey, having a long beak and ten 
narrow lines along the wing-cases ; it only measures an eighth of an 
inch. Having quitted the ground, after a little while the females re-enter 
it to place eggs upon the roots of the Cabbage ; to mix into the surface 
soil such substances as gas-lime or soot is, therefore, likely to have a 
deterrent effect upon them. The common practice of leaving about in 
heaps the stumps of Cabbages with roots attached has helped to multiply 
this weevil, which, where its maggots are numerous, weakens the plants, 
though it seldom destroys them. Young Savoys, it should be added, 
sometimes have their rootlets attacked by the maggot of a small fly, 
Chortophila floccosa, which nibbles these until the plants perish from ex¬ 
haustion. And, lastly, we may in some seasons find ants crowding upon 
young Cabbages. What harm they do we cannot exactly say, but it is 
just as well to clear them off, as for instance by well watering with a 
decoction of quassia.— Entomologist. 
THE INDIGO PLANT (Indigofera tinctoria) 
The uncertainty of the indigo crop is as proverbial as that from the 
Hop plants in England. In Bengal the crop is particularly subject to be 
destroyed by the annual inundation of the river, if it occurs earlier than 
usual. A storm of wind, accompanied by rain and hail, as completely 
ruins the crop as if devoured by the 'locust; neither from this latter 
scourge is the crop exempt. 
This proneness to injury extends throughout its growth. The seed¬ 
lings are liable to be destroyed by an insect closely resembling the Turnip 
fly, as well as by the frog. Caterpillars feed [upon the leaves of older 
plants, and the white ant destroys them by consuming their roots. 
To these destructive visitations may be added the more than ordinary 
liability of the plant to injury, not merely from atmospheric commotions, 
but even from apparently less inimical visitations. Thus, not only do 
storms of wind, heavy rains, and hail destroy the indigo planter’s pro¬ 
spects, but even sunshine, if it pours out fervently after showers of rain, 
] "s apt to scorch the plants ; and if it occurs during the_ first month of 
their growth is most injurious to their future advance. The reason of 
this effect appears to be the violent change from a state of imbibing to 
rapid transpiration of moisture. 
The Indigofera tinctoria belongs to the natural order Leguminoese. 
Its leaves are pinnate, its stem shrubby and erect; its flowers in racemes 
are pale with a red keel and vexillum. 
