320 - QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ocr., 1898, 
DANGER IN BEET-SEED. 
Nor loug ago, says the California Fruitgrower (quoting the Salinas Index), 
Professor Duncan Stirling, while inspecting the growing crop of vegetables in 
his garden, came across a peculiar-appearing insect feeding on his beets. Tt 
seemed to be an entirely new species, and securing a specimen he sent it to 
Professor Iilgard, of the State University, for identification. The gentleman, 
it seems, was at a loss to place it, and later sent to Salinas, Professor C. W. 
Woodworth, who has been searching in various beetfields for more specimens, 
From the investigation which Professor Woodworth has so far been enabled to 
make, he is undecided whether it is a native insect or has come from Europe, 
where it does much damage to the sugar beets. If it be the European insect, 
it was probably brought over in the heet-seed, large quantities of which are 
imported into this country (U.S.A.) from Germany. 
The pest is hatched from a minute white ege, which is attached to the 
beet leaf by a fly similar to a common house fly in size and appearance. ‘The 
larva of the egg burrows between the layers of leaves, and soon attains a length 
of a quarter of an inch or more. After eating the substance out of the leaf, 
a chrysalis is formed, which falls to the ground, and from it, in due time, 
emerges the fly above mentioned. Professor Woodworth was to go to 
Watsonville for the purpose of investigating the beetfield there. Professor 
Stirling, who is an’ enthusiastic student of entomology, will continue the 
investigations at Salinas. - 
A NEW RACE OF SHEEP. 
A soMEWHAT peculiar experiment in sheepbreeding is at present being carried 
out by the Agricultural Department of the University of California, with the 
object of establishing a new variety of the domestic sheep from the produce of 
merino rams and Persian ewes. Coleman’s Rural World gives no particulars 
as to the character of the Persian sheep, and does not even mention if it is a 
woolly or a hairy sheep. ‘The inference is that the half-breds are to be bred 
together in the attempt to produce the new race. his is not regarded as the 
best combination to establish a new type. The next cross from either of the 
two breeds would give five-eighths of the sire’s blood and three-eighths of the 
dam’s blood, which is regarded as most likely to be more stable than the 
produce of half-breed. It is said that this combination has proved the most 
successful in establishing a race of hybrids between the goat andsheep. The 
experiment has not yet been carried sufficiently far to give definite results, but 
the indications are said to be promising. The objects sought in making this 
experiment are to produce a sheep with as good wool as the merino, and a 
carcass of mutton equal to that of the Southdown. Whether the Persian 
sheep used in this experiment is a woolly or a hairy sheep, the crossbreds will 
not yield fleeces anything like those of merinos, and here a serious defect is 
introduced which may not be possible to afterwards eradicate. A deal of time 
and care and money will be expended, says an exchange, in an experiment 
which, even if successful, will not give as good results as may be obtained b 
using one of the best breeds of British sheep, such as the Southdown, the 
Shropshire, or the Suffolk. The Agricultural Department of the Californian 
University might surely undertake some work of more practical value to the 
farmers of the country than this piece of fancy sheepbreeding. 
USE OF PEACH-STONES. 
Ix the great fruit-canning centres of California immense quantities of refuse 
in the shape of peach-stones are found. These have hitherto been regarded 
as useless, but it has been discovered that they form an excellent fuel, and 
when burning give out greater heat than an equal weight of coal. Owing to 
this fact peach-stones can now be sold at 248, per ton. 
