18 
July, and the rest had to be resown, and on the 2nd of 
November the crop on the drills sown at the rate of 
9 lbs. was estimated as worth £4 or £5 per acre more 
than the part sown with 5 lbs., although all were sown 
at the same time, and the same seed and the same 
treatment used throughout. 
This was an experiment in unusual and extreme cir¬ 
cumstances, and valuable accordingly; commonly the 
point needing attention is to provide enough plants to 
stand Fly attack (which may generally be expected 
more or less strongly), if it comes, but also to keep 
good watch lest, if it should not come, the plants should 
run each other into a valueless and spindly growth, 
which may he the result of even one or two days’ delay 
in thinning. The benefit of thick sowing is partly from 
the obvious fact that a certain amount of Fly cannot 
eat up more than a certain amount of Turnip plants, 
and although the Fly will eat broadcast, not sparing 
any, yet thus the amount of injury will he distributed 
over a larger number of plants, and its effects will be less 
deadly. It is also said by some growers that a thick- 
sown crop is the soonest ready for the hoe; this I con¬ 
jecture to be because in dry weather the young sprouting 
plants that are thickly placed have much more of the 
moisture they need, around and on them, than when 
they are sparingly scattered over the ground. The 
night dews fall on the leafage instead of being absorbed 
and to a great extent lost in the dry earth, and there 
is also a damper surface beneath their leafage than in 
the field around. 
The question of whether steeps or dressings for seed 
really act as preventives for Fly attack appears as yet 
quite undecided. 
Petroleum has been used in the proportion of one gill 
to moisten 10 lbs. of seed. Spirit of turpentine has 
been used in the porportion of 8 oz. to about 28 lbs. of 
seed, the seed being frequently stirred, and drilled three 
days after with a mixture of chalk and sand. Paraffin 
has also been used; and these various applications have 
