Lime. Hot lime should be soaked in water for about twenty-four hours. When clear, the infested Cabbages should be well washed with the liquid. Superphosphate of lime may also be applied with advantage.
CABBAGE GALL WEEVIL (Ceutorrhynchus sulcicollis). This is a pretty little beetle, about three-quarters of a line or one line in length. Its colour is dark, but the insect is really of a coppery hue; on the thorax and head are rather large depressions; the wing-cases vary in colour from green to greenish-blue, or even black, and along the entire length of the elytra are parallel lines or holes, as may be seen with the aid of an ordinary lens. This insect, which causes much damage to plants of the Brassica family, is, in some places, very difficult to eradicate. It is also very destructive to other crops, and, therefore, any effectual remedy is valuable. The following methods may be recommended:
Carbolic Acid. Mix 1oz. Calvert's No. 5 carbolic acid with two gallons of soapsuds, and add sufficient loam or clay to make a thin paste. Dip the roots of the whole of the plants into this before they are set out. Well stir the mixture, and put the plants out in a damp soil, so that watering will not be necessary.
Paraffin, or Coal Oil. This, applied in the same manner as recommended for Carbolic Acid, is also very good.
Guano, Superphosphate of Lime, and Nitrate of Soda. A good dressing of either of these, given after the ground is dug, and in wet weather, about a month before the plants are put out, has been found very beneficial; but, although preventatives, they do not totally clear the crop from insects for the season.
Soot and Lime. Take equal parts of air-slaked lime and soot, and mix together. Set the plants with a trowel, and, having placed some soil over the roots, throw in a little of the mixture, filling up the hole with soil.
CABBAGE MOTH. See [Cabbage Caterpillars.]
CABBAGE PALM. See Euterpe oleracea.
CABBAGE POWDERED-WING (Aleyrodes brassicæ). A small four-winged powdery fly, closely allied to the Aphides. As implied by its name, this pest infests the various sorts of Cabbages. It is more particularly prevalent in autumn. Its presence may be readily detected by the partial discoloration of the leaves attacked. The head and body between the wings are black, with yellow variegation; abdomen yellow or rosy; wings white and mealy (whence its common name), the upper pair each having a darker spot, near the centre. Its destructive power resides in the rostrum, or sucking-tube, with which its head is furnished.
Remedies. The only effectual means of exterminating this pest is to destroy the leaves, preferably by burning. If its presence is detected early, an application of tobacco water, or diluted soft soap, may prove beneficial.