TURNIP FLY. [By "G.A." in Hawera Star.]

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2241, 18 November 1886, Page 3

TURNIP FLY. [By "G.A." in Hawera Star.]

I The tnrnip fly, Altica Nenorum, is one of the most formidable pesta with which our farmers have to contend. Although called a fly it is in reality a beetle, and is equally drgtiuctive bolh us a grub aud as a perfect insect. The remedies proposed for its destruction arc innumerable: such as mixing the seed with flour of surphur before sowing, brushing the insects off the plants, and dusting the plants when the dew is on them with quick-lime, &c, &c. These have had good effects in some instauces, but in many other instances it i* better to us. preventive measures against this ins< ct, if it can be done, than to wag* a hopeless war against it after it has once gained a footing. A Home correspondent, writing on the subject, says :— "Experience having taught me that insects abominate smoke and are killed by the fumes of sulphur, I endeavoured to bring this experience to bear on the turnip beetle, and found it most successful. Observing that the beetles, when there was any breeze at all, came against the wind, I believe most experimentalists ! would have lighted the fire to the windward of the turnips, so that the smoke would be blown all over the field ; but, knowing the direction the enemy was taking or would of necessity take, I thought it better to meet him outside the treuches, and thus render the field of battle, if I may call it, offensive instead of inviting. This strategy was followed until the turnips were strong enough to resist the invader, and the crop was saved." It is well known that the fumes of sulphur are very destructive to the animal and vegetable kingdom alike, for one teaspoonful allowed to burn in a small greenhouse, with all the lights closed will kill all in 3ects and do irreparable damage to tin plants. The correspondent quoted say* 5s worth of sulphur is sufficient for a good-sized farm, and the best mode of using it is to gather rubbish togethei sufficiently dry to burn or smoulder, and cast a few pinches of sulphur on the burning mass. I quite believe if the above was followed out for a week or ten days after the first appearance of the plant coming up, it would prove to a great extent effectual; but 1 should prefer using the sulphur at night, as more of the iuines will fall to the ground than would if used during the daytime. Another conespondciit writes as fullows : "I ha\e been free from this plague for two years. In the district in winch I firm, turnip culture is conducted in\anably on the ridge sytem, and the onl> means I used to secure a crop in spte of the fly is to sup .ly it abundantly with itsfavounto food— the white tnrnip. Tlusj I do by having a third canister fitted on the centre of my turnip di ill, and the seel intended for the fly is deported upon the ground betweeu the ciop hearing ridges. It is covered over l/y the fin* earth which is displaced by the coulteis, •uid, I eiug slightly covered, vegetates earlier than the crop (swede). Even when the aop consists of white turnip ..'■■ne, it has been only slightly damaged, tlv-» extra qinntity of food supplied to the insect having reudeied its ravages comuariti\ely harmless. About ten yeais >'nc^. I sowed some white turnip <e^>] with the swede broad cast, and t\v iesu ( was that I had a fair crop of owpili.n, ')n» rather patchy, whilst my neighnoMr's plants weie all taken away by the h\." As the time is now approaching for sowing mam crops ot swedes, it will be well to consider and devise some means to arrest the progress of the turnip fly if possible. No doubt, sowing superphosphate with the seed, thereby stimulating it into quicker growth, is in itself oftentimes a success, but in order that the seed may get the full benefit of the superphosphate both seed and manure should be sown in drills, but the present pi ice for meat does not yet warrant this expensive mode of culture.

The New Zealand correspondent of the Australian Banking Record says :— " It is stated that no less than 100 mortgaged farmers in Canterbury are unable to pay interest, and that in the majority of cases their estates will come to the hammer shortly. From 1800 to 188.3-86 the Governor had cost the country £51,459, the ministers have entailed an expense of £02,264, luxury of parliamentary government has been enjoyed at an outlay of £158,124, and the departments, under the control of the various ministers, have been maintained by the modest expenditure of £5.625,889. "An Old Volunteer" proposes in the Daily Telegraph to raise a new Volunteer force of 13.000 Volunteers of the Guard, who should be liable for service abroad, whenever the Guards were ordered into the field. To stimulate such volunteering he would exempt Volunteers of the Guard from jury duty, and allow them a rebate of fiom 10 to 30 per cent on direct taxation. They should be assisted in pelting drill halls, and supplied with train and commissariat departments. Mr Gladstone, in a recent letter to Leveson Gower, M.R, re Home Rule in Ireland, writes :-" I advise you to take resolutely to the study of Irish history. I have done in that way the little that I could, and I am amazed at the deadness of vulgar opinion to the blackguardism and baseness which have been practiced on that unfortunate country." Children who are allowed to go baretoot (-"iys the Lancet) enjoy almost periect immunity from the Hanger of cold by accidental chilling of the feet ; and they are altogether hetlthiei and happier thau those who, in obedience to the linage of social life, have their lower extremities permanently invalided, ami so to say, carefully swathed and put aw-iy in n' j.l cases. As regards the poorer clashes of children there can be no sort ut doubt-, in the mi-id of any oiip that it i^ inc-om paralily better that they should m\ base footed thin wear boots that lft in thf wet and stookinga that are nearly -ilwajs damp »md foul. Valkntine Vapsden, thp o»p iim<' rlevei ronri-io*ei , mimic, --aid y utrilo. t uinr ('V >1 V'-d''). whose entertainment, "The Unity of Nations," brought him tevpral fortune", which he lo.st in dissipation, and who has wince been an inmate of the \vorkhi*use and the attempted to end a mi«eiable existence by throwing himself into Kingston haibour, near Dublin. He was, however, resoupo* ny • ho.-itman when in an cxhau-n d state, and is now in the hospital. Every eifon to reclaim this once brilliant man has b< en made. A Piper Boat. — An adventurous Frenchman named De Wojyon lms been wandering about the sea and rivers of the Coutinent during the last two years in a paper boat of his own construction. The fragile craft has already borne its owner over six thousand miles— through the Channel, by the coast, into creeks, and up rivers. This novel piece of naval architecture is named the Qui Vive, and is shaped like a canoe. It is sixteen feet long, two and a half feet in width. The shell is about an im-h thick, and it weighs fifty pounds. W hen at Cologne eighteen months ago M. De Wogou suffered a night attack from the Germans, who, it is said, were enraged at the sight of the French colours, and battered the rather badly— not with shells, but with their feet. M. De Wogan lately left Brussels, where he was congratulated on his invention by the King of the Belgians, passed by Calais, and has just arrived at Havre, where he will proceed up the Seine to Paris. Yes ! it is certainly true. Ask any of your friends who have purchased there. Garlick and Cranwell have numerous unasked for and very favourable commendations from country customers on their excellent packing of Furni« urc, Crockery, and Glass, &c. Ladies and gentlemen about ti furnish should remember that Garlick and Cramvell's is thk Cheap Furnishiug Wharehouse of Auckland. Furniture to suit all classes ; also Carpets, Floor Cloths and q)| H'lii^f \er essarie* It your new house s nearly finished, or, you - A^v *o w"t mar r.ed, visit Gariick .inn Lnnvvu., v uflJ>stre 6t and Lome-street Auckland Intending purctasep ca^ h*ve a cat&lfgue sent free.