Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1860-11-08
WHOLE NO. 200.
From the Indiana Farmer.
THE WHAT FLy..HOWT TO FORTIFY

- AGAINST IT'S RAyAGEs. Ua1
J. nr. Editor: In accordance with your
request, l give you my experience with
this dread scourgc of the wheat field--a
small insect that is almost as much to be
dreaded as war or pestilence. Although
no blood marks its footsteps. yet famine.
want. and misery follow in its train. and
many poor farmer has been robbed Of
his all by these tiny iasects-almost i'm
perceptible to the human eye. And you
May we'll ask. how shall we destroy them,
or fortify against their ravages9 In an
swer to the first query, l would say.
| know Of no way to kill them. We
might as well undertake to count tho
sands upon the sea shore. by Withholding
the food it feeds upon-that is, ceasing to
grow wheat--we might starve it out after
while. but it would no doubt appear
again upon resuming Its cultivation The
ay first made its appearance here eight'or
nine years ago. AMI being almost cxclu-
sively wheat growing region, its rayages
were fearful, and many ways and means
were devised to kill them. or stop their
work Of destruction, but Of no avail, and
many farmers who had raised their han
drcjs of bushels of wheat yearly were
compelled to buy -four TO feed their fami-
lies, and wheat growing for two or threo
years almost entirely ceased But in tho
fall of 1857 few farmers in the country
ventured to try a few acres as an expert
ment, and The result was pretty fair yield.
The next year more was sown, which yield
ed well, and last fall nearly every farmer
sowed from one acre up to twenty or
thirty, in some cases, and the result is as
good crop as ever was harvested, ac-
cording to the number of acres sown.
You viii now ask, how do you manage to
get such good crops? Have you starved
the fly out? | answer. no., They are
nearly aS plenty as they were when they de-
stroyed all the wheat. bnt we have managed
to head item Of. BY procuring varieties
of wheat which ripen early. and sowing
in gool season, on dry, well prepared land.
we get the crop SO far along before the fly
appears that it cannot injure it. = 49,.
The Mediterranean aud Golden Drop,
are, in my opinion, sure crop. in this
section, at least, if sown early. with the
land in good condition. But these kinds
do not yield rs we'll as the kinds we raised
before the fly made its appearance. The
Dayton is said to yield better, but from
what hear, it is not 50 carly, but has
escaped this year. There is. variety
called the Lambert wheat, said to be fly
proof, whether sown late or early. The
glumes are supposed to contain a large
amount of silica in their composition.
which prevents the fly from penetrating and
depositing It's egg within. The kind lis
said to ripeu few days before the Medi-
terrancan. But think all we. want is a
variety Of wheat that will ripen early,
yielding as well as the Soules, which we
raised previous to the appearance OF the
fly. and, with plenty of 5arn-yara naanure,
and good, dry land, we can defy drouth.
flood, wire-worm. or wheat-hy. In raising
spring wheat we manage somewhat differ
emily. If we sow as early as the ground
can be got in order in the spring, tue crop
is pretty sure to be in the right condition
for the fly. We therefore sow, in this
section, about the iisst of May, varying as
the season is late or early TIE crop, then,
does not head out until after the fly has
disappeared, as they are short lived. and
work only few days. / have. known
some crops of winter wheat to escape by
being SO late that the Ely was gone before
it was in head; but in sowing late we
must risk the rust; we therefore sow kinds
that are not liable to rust, even if sown
late. Bnt would not recommend sowing
winter wheat late. as it will not generally
get top enough to stand the winter The
spring varieties which we raise that are
not liable to rust are China Tea and Fife.
In conclusion to sum up the whole mat
ter, farmers must sow less acres, and take
more care in preparing the soil, undcrdrain
and ditch out well, so that water will not
stand upon the surface, as the surface
water is one great cause of wheat winter
killing. If the land is not rich enoughto
bring It to maturity early. mako it so;
procure early varieties, and SOW in season,
and the fly will soon ceaseits ravagsx. a
G. G. Wilson.
NEw FAME, Niagara Co.. NJ