New York AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 343 
can not be given in some of the details in raising seedlings by this 
method, as would be desirable, but observations of the practices of 
a number of co-operating farmers are the basis of the following sug- 
gestions to the grower who desires to test the practicability of 
screening seed-beds as a means of protection against root maggots. 
SUGGESTIONS ON SCREENING CABBAGE SEED-BEDS. 
Locate the seed-bed on a fertile and well drained piece of land, 
where there can be no accumulation of water or washing by rains 
under the frame. ‘The ground should be free of weeds and should 
not have grown, the year before, cabbages or other cruciferous 
plants. For seed-beds it is customary to apply to the land a liberal 
quantity of a high grade chemical fertilizer. The seed should be 
drilled in rather thickly in rows six inches apart. The planting of 
the seed may be done at the usual season, but to avoid injuries by 
the flea-beetles it would be well to delay the seeding till the appear- 
ance of the beetles, which will largely have satisfied their ravenous 
appetites by the time the young plants appear. As the seedlings 
begin to show above ground, screen the bed immediately. For the 
frame, 12-inch boards are generally employed, which are held in 
place by upright stakes. To prevent the covering from sagging in 
the middle a heavy wire, running the length of the bed and a little 
above the height of the boards, and supported by stakes, is used. 
The screening, consisting of three or more widths of cheesecloth, 
sewn together to make one sheet, should be fastened to the frame 
by laths, through which small nails are driven. All openings into 
the bed, due to the unevenness of the ground, should be filled up by 
banking the boards with earth. To season the plants before trans- 
planting, the screening should be removed one week or ten days 
before the time of setting. In this interval of time examinations 
should be made occasionally about the stems of the young plants 
near the surface of the ground for eggs, deposited by flies coming 
to the bed from the outside. When any are discovered transplant- 
ing in the field should commence. 
