342 Report oF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENTOMOLOGY OF THE 
purposes is not materially lessened. All report that in the growing 
of plants under screening considerably less seed is needed than by 
the old methods to produce the required number of seedlings and 
some assert that this saving is sufficient to pay for the cheese-cloth. 
The belief is generally expressed that the screening of seed-beds in 
communities where the cabbage-maggot is an annual pest, is prac- 
ticable and that seedlings can be efficiently protected from injuries 
by these insects. 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. 
The experiments that have been made show that by the use of 
tight frames, covered with cheesecloth, cabbage sets can be grown 
free from injuries by root-maggots. ‘The plants raised under cloth 
grow faster and in average years will probably reach the desired 
size for transplanting earlier than the seedlings in the open beds. 
The screened sets are also quite liable to be more tender, and if not 
well hardened, are generally more subject to wilting on replanting. 
Present experience indicates that the seedlings may be made more 
resistant to the usual injuries upon transplanting by the removal of 
the screening for at least one week before the time of planting, and 
that this seasoning may be done without much risk of injuries by 
maggots. 
Screening of cabbage seed-beds is practiced by comparatively few 
growers, and usually only small percentages of the number of 
plants required for their purposes are at present raised under cloth. 
The methods that are employed in growing seedlings under screened 
frames often vary in minor particulars with individual farmers, 
and there is a diversity of opinions on such details as the grade of 
cloth and size of mesh to use, and the amount of seed to sow in 
beds to be screened, to produce the maximum number of plants, 
etc. More exact methods in growing sets in this manner can only 
be determined after more time for proof and verification. There 
is no question but that with screened frames, cabbage seedlings can 
be raised absolutely free from losses by maggots, but the practicabil- 
ity of the attempt, by the average grower in this State, to raise all 
or a large proportion of his plants under cloth, remains to be 
demonstrated. For this reason we would not advise, at least for 
the present, the extensive use of screening; but it is hoped that cab- 
bage growers who are subject to annual losses in their seed-beds 
by maggots will make at least a small test to determine the value of 
screened frames under their own conditions. Precise instructions 
