86 
TURNIP. 
and laid in furrows about three weeks before being drilled was almost 
destroyed, whilst the portion which was ploughed one day and drilled 
the next escaped. Mr. Farrant mentions :— 
“ I herewith send you three grubs. ... I found them in a field 
of common Turnips after Vetches. The Vetches were mown and 
carried off for horses .and cattle, twelve loads of farmyard manure per 
acre put on and ploughed in, and 4 cwt. superphosphate and dissolved 
bones in equal quantities (drilled in with the seed) per acre. 
“ The spot attacked by grubs was where the Vetches were first cut, 
and the land ploughed directly and laid in the furrows about three 
weeks before being drilled ; in the rest of the field dunged in the same 
way, but ploughed one day and drilled the next (the same day and in 
the same manner as the attacked spot with two pounds of seed per 
acre), the seed grew well. The attacked spot will not be worth 
standing, whilst the other is looking well.” 
The following observations, sent on the 23rd of August from Wool- 
hampton Farm, near Beading, are of considerable interest, in reporting 
attack of the Agrotis segetimi larva9 on Mustard. Specimens of the 
maggots were sent me, which I could not find to differ in any way 
from the common Turnip caterpillar, and (as we know well) several of 
the common Cabbage and Turnip insects also attack Mustard, there 
does not appear to be any reason why this caterpillar should not 
likewise feed similarly. 
Mr. Colbauen mentioned that he sent me “ some specimens of a 
grub which had made great havoc lately in a field sown with Mustard 
for ploughing in green. The field is almost fifteen acres in extent, 
the soil being for the most part a light sandy loam. Large patches an 
acre or more in a place are almost entirely cleaned off, and there is a 
general thinning of the plant over the whole ground. At the base of 
the plant attacked there is a hole in the soil, from which the grub 
comes forth to feed upon the stem from its base upwards, as in the 
specimens sent. We have repeatedly grown Mustard in this 
neighbourhood, but have never known it to be attacked in a similar 
manner before.” 
Eelatively to the attack of this grub or caterpillar to other plants, 
Mr. Colbauen remarked;—“ I have battled with this enemy for many 
years, and have treated it with all sorts of dressings, but never found 
anything so effective on a large scale as the free use of the drags and 
harrows, especially amongst young roots. I have this year over 
100 acres of good Swedes, Turnips, and Mangolds, only saved by the 
free use of the harrow. This brings the grub to the surface, so that 
the Books and Starlings can pick them up. I fancy Books do not care 
much for them, if they can get other food; but Starlings seem very 
fond of them. I have a small patch of Mangold planted on the ridge 
