Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1874 — The Onion Maggot. [ARTICLE]

The Onion Maggot.

The maggot is the onion-grower’s worst foe, and those who endeavor to crush the power of an enemy before it becomes troublesome are wiser than those who endeavor to put a stop to its progress after it has become formidable. It is generally admitted that the maggot is the onion sty in its larval state, or in its first stage after leaving the egg. It is in this stage of its existence, and no other, that it can be styled an insect injurious to vegetation; and if we can destroy the eggs, or prevent their being deposited in the onion fields, we are at once rid of the, enemy. Having noticed some of the habits of the onion fly, I am inclined to the opinion that they select, as far as possible, partially decomposed onion tops in which to deposit their eggs. When onion tops and scullions are allowed to decay upon the surface of the ground, in process, of time they become a natural breeding bed and attract flies from the surrounding country in larger numbers than can be accommodated by those beds. They next attack the weakettplants, and sometimes those which are making a strong, luxuriant growth, to puncture and deposit tlieir eggs in the stalk. If the tveather is wTtrm these eggs hatch in a few days, and the maggots commence their depredations upon the crop. It has been my own practice to carefully turn under all refuse matter upon the onion field late in the autumn, dress liberally with well-fined manure, leaving it upon the surface exposed to the ameliorating influence of the winter’s frost and the drenching rains of springtime; sow early in thoroughly pulverized ground, and attend carefully to the afterculture. With this treatment the crop usually gets an early'start, makes a vigorous growth, and is able to withstand all attacks of the enemy or changes in the weather. I thihk damage by the maggot in this vicinity wohld not amount to 5 per cent, of the crop in the most unfavorable years.— Cor. If etc England Farmer.

Scarlet ♦•ever is prevalent among Children in the vicinity of Waukegan, 111.

“ Mr dear,” Raid a wife, looking up from her newspaper, “ what is the difference between ‘ collusion’ and ‘ collision’?” “ Oh,” .responded the husband, “it is simply the difference between u and t.” “ Oh, yes,” retorted the wife, “ and the same difference exists in your answer, which is more ingenious than ingenuous.”

A Pennsylvania paper says that “ milk from four Crawford County cows made 225 pounds of butter in a week." Over fifty-six pounds'of butter to a c6w. Such a flight of fancy must have been arrived at by gazing into the “ milky way.”