PROTECTING TURNIP-CROPS FROM THE FLY. 183 
ointment, and he repeats this daily until he has consumed five 
or six pounds of the unguent.— Journ, Pratique, Fev. 1828. 
#lti5C£Uanea. 
-.— 
METHOD OF PROTECTING TURNIP-CROPS FROM 
THE FLY. 
By Mr. Charles Poppy, Junr. of Witnesham, Suffolk. 
THE turnip-fly is an insect of the genus coleoptera. There are 
two varieties, the crysomela oleracea, whose shells are blue 
tinged with green, and the crysomela nemorum, with black and 
yellow stripes. They are found in the banks of hedges from an 
early period of the spring until late in the autumn, and thence 
they migrate to any crops grateful to them, and particularly to 
young turnips before they get into the'rough leaf. To this plant 
they are sadly destructive, and sometimes devour almost the 
whole crop. 
It had long been observed, that where the plants were most 
crowded, and consequently more tender and succulent than the 
rest, the fly was most numerous. This suggested the idea of 
sowing several of these batches by way of decoy to the insects,* 
which were then destroyed by a heavy roller. The result was 
doubtful. 
Other agriculturists sowed their land unusually thick, that 
there might be plants enough to supply the insects, and also to 
stand for a crop. The success was more considerable, but the 
turnips were generally small in size, and consequently less 
valuable. 
Mr. Poppy has avoided this, and likewise prevented the ra¬ 
vages of the fly. He drills the seed in rows at only half the 
usual distance, and sows each alternate row thick with the white 
. turnip as a decoy for the fly; the other row is sown thin with 
the Swedish turnip and intended for the crop. In the thick- 
sown rows the plants (in agricultural language) draw each other 
up, and are tender and succulent, and attract the fly, which con¬ 
fines itself almost entirely to them. When the turnips intended 
for the crop are ready for the first hoeing, the other rows are 
turned in with the horse-hoe. By this means he obtains excel¬ 
lent crops, when those around him utterly fail. 
