OF INJUEIOUS INSECTS. 
21 
and is more gradually carried down into the soil. He mentions also 
that he never thins the Carrots until they are fit for use, as unless it 
is done very early there is great danger of leaving broken roots in the 
ground, and thereby encouraging the Grub. 
Mr. McLaren notes that the Carrot crop in the garden atHopetoun, 
South Queensferry, was lost for several years until paraffin oil, in the 
proportion of two wine glasses to a gallon of water, was run along the 
drill as soon as the Carrots were thinned. This proved very suc¬ 
cessful, but Mr. M‘Laren considers that a solution of alum in water 
applied by a watering-can with a rose is still more effectual, and also 
saves some risk of misapplication of the paraffin. Gas-lime is also 
mentioned as a cure for the Carrot Worm, dug two or three inches 
deep into the bed before sowing. Mr. Malcolm Dunn, writing from 
Dalkeith, notes the Carrot Fly as “ an annual pest in this district, but 
scarcely so bad as usual during the past season.’ Remedies have been 
given in former reports. Perhaps the most effective is a dressing of 
gas-lime forked into the soil before sowing, or an application of 
ammoniacal liquor or strong manure water whenever the Fly is first 
noticed on the wing. Mr. Alexander Forbes, of Skibo, mentions that 
in an experience of twenty years he has found more difficulty in 
securing good clean Carrots than any other crop, and that though he 
is seldom free from the Fly entirely, yet he has never had a complete 
failure since adopting the following course :—Before hard frost sets 
in he has ground double dug, putting manure at the bottom of the 
trench, and when this is complete gives a good dressing of salt, 
which is washed down before spring, and previous to sowing a good 
dressing of soot and wood-aslies is forked into the soil. He is careful 
to perform the first thinning as soon as the plants can be handled, 
leaving them an inch or two apart. When the thinning is finished 
he gives a sprinkling of guano, and if dry a thorough watering, and he 
particularly draws attention to the great importance of running on a 
healthy growth. He observes, “ We hold it of the utmost importance 
to keep them growing without a check till some time after they are 
finally thinned, when, if all has gone well, the crop may be considered 
secure, but it will be well, however, to look them over occasionally, 
and if any be found to droop, they had better be pulled up and 
burned.” 
Mr. Grierson’s treatment of his Carrots at Torloisk was quite 
successful. The ground (as with that for Onions') was drained in the 
previous winter, trenched about two feet deep, and a good layer of 
farm manure placed in the bottom of the trench. In the spring the 
ground was prepared in the usual way, but before sowing the seed Mr. 
Grierson had deep holes made about eight inches apart, and filled with 
a compost of old soil from the potting shed, soot, sea sand, wood- 
