The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1848-01-21
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From iss Amer. oasr. Jour. 4 Asrseui.src.
Drief nfsisry Afthe Hessian Fly.

From tsS Amer. ousr. Jour. u Agrseaissrc
Brief nfsisry afthe Hessian Fly,
The Hessisn fiy { Cecidomyia de.
ssraotor Of Say b . European in.
ssct and hes been dstsctedin Ger.
msny. France, Switzerland and Italy,
whore It at times commits severe
dspre dations upon the wheat crops,
It's ravages are alluded to as
fAr back Is the year 1922. 1t was
brought to this country. probably,
in some straw used in packages by
; the Hessian soldiers, who landed on
Staten and tue west end Of Long Is
land, August 1916, but did not he
come so multiplied as to severely in
jure the crop, in that ncig''borhood
until 1879. From thence asa CEN
trail point, it gradually extended over
tho country in all dire ctions, advan-
cling at the rate offrom ten to twenty
miles a year. Most Of the wheat
crops were wholly destroyed by it
within year or two Of its arrival at
a given place, and its depredations
commonly continued for several
years, when they would nearly or
quite cease-its parasitic insect enc
mics probably increasing to such an
extent as to almost extirminate it,
It's frequently reappearing in ex-
ceysiye numbers in one and another
district of our country, and in addi-
ton to wheat, Injuries also barley and
rye.
There are two generations Of this
insect annually. The eggs resemble
minute rcdish grains, and are laid in
the creases OF the upper surface Of
the leaf, when the wheat is but few
inches high, mostly in the month of
September. These hatch in about
week, and the worm crawls down the
sheath Of the leaf to its base, just
below the surface of the ground,
where it remains, subsisting upon
the juices of the plant, without
wounding it, but causing it to turn
yellow and die. 1t is small white
maggot, and attains its growth in
about six weeks. 1t then changes
to a aax.seed like body. within which
the worm becomes puma the follow
ing spring, and from this the fly is
evolved in ten or twelve days. The
Fly closely resembles the muSquito
in it appearance, but is third small
Ter, and has no bill for sucking blood;
it is black, the joints of its body be-
ing slightly marked with reddish
Itappears early ia May, lays its eggs
for another generation ,.and soon per-
ishes. The worms from these eggs
nestle at the lowerjoints ofthe stalks,
weakening them and causing them
to bend and fall down from thesweight
ofthe head, so that towards harvest,
an infested field looks as though cat.
tie had passed through it.
Wheat can scarcely be grown ex-
cept upon fertile soil in those dis
tricts where this insect is abundant.
The sowing should be deferred until
about the last Of September, the sea-
son then being past when the fly usu-
ally deposits its eggs. If at any time
in autumn the eggs ofthe insect are
observed to BIO profusely deposited
upon the leaves, the crop should be
speedily grazed down by sheep and
other stock, or if this cannot be done
a heavy rooler should be passed over
it, that as many of the eggs as posi-
BILE may be crushed or disloged there.
BY. One or the other of the same
measures should also be resorted to
in the spring, If the same contingent
cy occurs; or ifthe worms are at a
later date discovered to be numer-
GUS at the frst and second joints of
the young stalks, the experiment
maybe tried ofmowing as close down
as possible the most infested portion
ofthc field. Where the soil is ofbut
medium fertility, a resort to some of
the harder varieties of wheat, which
are known TO be in measure fly
proof, may be advisable.
Pampkms.-Largs quantities of
this vegetable are annually poduced
on most farms, and, while sound and