The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1877-08-11
THE HESSIAN FLY.

This ancient pest has appeared in
force in various sections of different
States, effecting considerable injury to
the wheat crop in some localities though
the percentage of loss on the entire crop
of the country will be very small. The
Midge is also reported in many places,
but injury from this source is SO small
comparatively, as not to be worth TAX
ing into the account. The Hessian fly
now appears in many localities for the
first time, and we are receiving speci-
mems of the insect in its "faxseed" or
pupa state, for identification. These
pupe are the product of eggs laid last
spring by the mature insects of the first
brood-the progeny of the fall fly. The
eggs are. lad on the leaf, insects hatch
in few days, pass down the leaf be-
tween the sheath and stem, to the joint
usually the first or second-where it
attaches to the stem. The worm attains
its growth about the first of June, pass
es into the pupa state and comes full
fedged fly the last of July or the first of
August. AS these pupa are situated at
the first or second joint, mostly the
greater portion remain in the Stubble
after cutting, and the most effectual
remedy against future trouble is to burn
the stubble as soon after cutting as pos
sible. Another remedy is late sowing.
The fly deposits its eggs early in Sep
tember, usually and then perishes. The
object is to defer sowing SO that the fly
will disappear before the young wheat
appears. There are serious elections to
this method, as the advantages of early
sowing and the disadvantages of late are
well known. Another remedy is pas
turing-turning in sheep Immediately
after the eggs are laid-and it has always
been effectual when stock enough are
turned in to eat down the entire crop
in day or two, before the eggs hatch
out. Moving Immediately after the
eggs are deposited, raking off the tops
Thoroughly, and feeding them to stock,
is another method. Rolling to crush
the eggs is another. The advantages of
a rich soil and careful preparation are
obvious, in fighting against this insect.
Where the wheat is vigorously sustained
by rich and abundant food, the fly does
comparatively little injury as there is
sustenanCe enough to sustain both wheat
and insect. In pasturing or moving,
also, and in late sowing, the advantages
of rich soil and vigorous growth are
equally apparent.
There are two broods or generations
of this insect, each year-in fall and
spring. The eggs of the first brood are
deposited in September, upon the leaves
of the young wheat plants. These
hatch out in few days and crawl down
70 tnc CiOWn 0T tlID Iuot, "tCIC, III TfyS
pupa state, they pass the winter secure
ly, and emerge full-hedged flies about
the first of May. These flies immedi-
ately deposit eggs for the second brood,
which hatch out and crawl down to the
leaf to the first joint, as before describ-
ed. When several of the larvae faSten
on the stem at the same joint, it be-
comes weakened at that point, and be-
fore maturing falls down. This is the
condition reported by several of our cor
to whom the insect is new.
But this is not the only injury which the
crop sustains. Wheat infested by the
fall brood, withers and dies in the spring,
and that upon which the spring brood |
subsists in numbers will have deficient
grain or none at all, the plant becoming
impoverished by the draughts made up
on it.-OM0 Farmer.