Scientific American Supplement, No. 803, May 23, 1891 | Page 5

its turn shall come.
As the season advances, as every one knows who has attempted to
force the lily of the valley, much less time is taken in bringing the
flowers to perfection under precisely the same circumstances as those
in which the first sods are forced. In February or earlier the buds are
more unwilling to start; there seems to be a natural repugnance against
being so soon forced out of the winter's sleep and rest. But when the
flowers do come, they are nearly as fine and their leaves are quite as
abundant in this way of forcing as from the pieces introduced much
later into heat. It would be easy to preserve the squares after all the
flowers are gathered, but I found that they would not, like strawberries,
kindly furnish forth another crop later on in the year, and, therefore,
mine are flung away; and I have often pitied the tender leaves in the
frost and snow after their short sojourn in the hot climate of the vinery.
But the reserve bed will always supply an ample quantity of fresh heads,
and it is best to take the new plants for preparation in the kitchen
garden from this reserve bed.

This very simple method of forcing lilies of the valley is within the
reach of any one who has even a small garden and a warm house, and
these two things are becoming more and more common among us
every day.--_A Gloucestershire Parson, in The Garden_.
* * * * *
[Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 802, page 12820.]

REPORT ON INSECTS.
THE ONION MAGGOT.
Phorbia ceparum (Meig.)
Early in June a somewhat hairy fly, Fig. 9, may be seen flying about,
and depositing its eggs on the leaves of the young onion plants, near the
roots, Fig. 10.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.]
Dr. Fitch describes this fly as follows: "It has a considerable
resemblance to the common house fly, though when the two are placed
side by side, this is observed as being more slender in its form. The two
sexes are readily distinguished from each other by the eyes, which in
the males are close together, and so large as to occupy almost the whole
surface of the head, while in the females they are widely separated from
each other. These flies are of an ash gray color, with the head silvery,
and a rusty black stripe between the eyes, forked at its hind end. And
this species is particularly distinguished by having a row of black spots
along the middle of the abdomen or hind body, which sometimes run
into each other, and then forming a continuous stripe.
"This row of spots is quite distinct in the male, but in the female is very
faint, or is often wholly imperceptible. This fly measured 0.22 to 0.25
inch in length, the females being usually rather larger than the males."
The eggs are white, smooth, somewhat oval in outline, and about one
twenty-fifth of an inch in length. Usually not more than half a dozen
are laid on a single plant, and the young maggot burrows downward
within the sheath, leaving a streak of pale green to indicate its path, and
making its way into the root, devours all except the outer skin.

[Illustration: FIG. 10.]
The maggots reach their full growth in about two weeks, when they are
about one-third of an inch long, white and glossy, tapering from the
posterior end to the head, which is armed with a pair of black,
hook-like jaws. The opposite end is cut off obliquely and has eight
tooth-like projections around the edge, and a pair of small brown
tubercles near the middle. Fig. 11 shows the eggs, larva, and pupa,
natural size and enlarged.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.]
They usually leave the onions and transform to pupæ within the ground.
The form of the pupa does not differ very much from the maggot, but
the skin has hardened and changed to a chestnut brown color, and they
remain in this stage about two weeks in the summer, when the perfect
flies emerge. There are successive broods during the season, and the
winter is passed in the pupa stage.
The following remedies have been suggested:
Scattering dry, unleached wood ashes over the plants as soon as they
are up, while they are wet with dew, and continuing this as often as
once a week through the month of June, is said to prevent the deposit of
eggs on the plants.
Planting the onions in a new place as remote as possible from where
they were grown the previous year has been found useful, as the flies
are not supposed to migrate very far.
Pulverized gas lime scattered along between the rows has been useful
in keeping the flies away.
Watering with