68 
MUSTARD. 
“ Burning straw to cut off the beetles has been tried, but they 
burrow in the land and quickly reappear, and accumulate so rapidly 
that killing a few thousands is not noticed.”— Alfred Fuller. 
“ I do not know of any remedies, or rather preventive steps, being 
taken, except that sometimes when an army of beetles has been seen 
on its passage into or across a field of young Eape, Kohl Eabi, or 
some similar crop, stubble or straw has been burnt, and has been 
effectual.”— William C. Little. 
“ From a Mustard field they troop off to any neighbouring field 
where plants of the same tribe are to be found. They will completely 
devour a field of Eape if it is in a young stage, and a crop of 
Kohl Eabi, with bulbs as big as an orange, may sometimes be seen 
with the leaves bitten off by these insects, nothing but the rib of the 
leaf being left. At this period they seem to make little use of their 
wings. I have stopped their progress completely by burning damp 
straw in a gateway through which they were passing, but previously 
they fly vigorously. No attempts appear to be made to check the 
pest, excepting the above plan of occasionally burning straw or 
stubble to arrest their progress when moving from one crop to 
another, or burning the straw or haulm after the crop has been 
reaped, by which means the great numbers of beetles which had 
sheltered in the hollow stems of the plant are destroyed.”*— 
William C. Little, 1883. 
Dragging with Elder Boughs. 
“ Brushing with elder boughs fixed in a hurdle and drawn by a 
horse over the young plants is useful, as also is hoeing and rolling. 
These measures act as a check to the work of the beetles. Probably 
the birds destroy the chrysalids when drawn up by the hoe; young 
chickens and ducks, too, will eat the insects.”—W. Abbott. 
General Information. 
6.—As to effects of weather ; to the rotation of crops; to the neigh¬ 
bourhood of previously infested Jand; in fact as to any of the 
points which are known to Mustard growers as bearing on the 
subject, would all be of service. Any observations as to 
whether wireworm was found in Mustard fields, or attacked 
Wheat or other crops succeeding Mustard, would also be 
of much interest. 
* This observation, with which I was favoured by Mr. W. C. Little in 1883, is 
particularly worth consideration, as it points out the possibility of destroying the 
migrating bodies whilst passing through a confined space; and likewise mentions 
burning the Mustard straw after the crop has been reaped. Where this is carried 
out, sirring attack from the beetles which had wintered either in the stumps or the 
old roots, as mentioned at p. 59, would effectually be iDrevented.—En. 
