Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1855-08-03

day they remain at rest on the stems and
leaves of the plants where they are shaded
from the heat Of the sun; they continue
to appear and lay their eggs through a
period of thirty days. The eggs are
oblong, transparent, and of pale buff CO.
lor, and hatch in eight to ten days after
they are laid. The young insects produ-
ced from them, are little footless maggots,
tapering towards the head and blunt at
the hind extremity. They are at first per
fectly transparent and colorless, but soon
take deep yellow or orange color. They
Do not travel from one foret 70 another,
but move in wrigglins manner, and By
sudden jerks of the body, when disturbed.
They soon crowd around the lower part Of
the germ and there appear to su5sist on
the matter destined to form the grain.
The latter in consequence Of their depre-
dations, become shriveled and abortiye.
The maggots when fully grown are nearly
one-eighth of an inch long" 1t is gener-
ally believed, and Mr.. Gorric has written
satisfactorily upon the subject, as has also
Mr.. Sheriff, Judge Buel, and Mrs. Gage;
that these maggots leave the ears of wheat
as soon as the kernel has hardened, and
descend to the ground and 60 into it, to
the depth of half an inch, where they re-
main in torpid state during the winter,
coming out of the ground in the winged
form in the spring, about the time the
wheat is in blossom. This theory has
been pretty we'll proved by the discovery
Of great numbers Of these flies in June, in
fields where wheat had been raised the
year before.
The subject to the farmer is one Of
great interest-much has been written
upon it, but up to this time no remedy
has been found to materially lessen the evil.
Burning the stubble after harvest has been
restored to, and doubtless would be des-
tructive to the maggot while in the torpid
state in the ground Fumigation has also
been resorted to. Strips of woolen cloth
dipped in melted birthstone and burned on
the windward side of fields, for several
successive evenings at the time when the
grain is in blossom and the fly is laying
her eggs This is however not only
troublesome preventive, but quite doubtful
in its results. The most likely and easily
tried preventive would be lime or wood
ashes strown over the grain when in BIOS
som. Early and late sowed wheat are
said to be less likely to be injured-the
former being out of blossom before the fly
takes wing and the latter after it has dis
appeared.
The best remedy in my opinion, for the
farmers of our valley, would be to put
their wheat fields for few years in with
corn, oats, rye, barley and grass. In this
way they may starvc out the fly and put
money in their pockets at the same time
Unless other farmers have been more
successful with their wheat crops than
have been for the last few years, they will
find the fly, which may drive them into
rails ing other crops, rather a blessing than
otherwise. The fly, the rust, and the
frost, with other, Hills' which wheat ''is
heir to-" make it two uncertain a crop
just now, when "money is made by the
operation and would put me in "specu-
lating in Shapghais. ."-Record Of tie
Times. [Firwood, July 3, 1850.