The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1901-09-19
THE HESSIAN FLY.
How Late Must Wheat be Sown to
Escape Its Ravagesr

In the fall of 1900 the Ohio EX-
pertinent Station made weekly
sowings of wheat from August 81
to October 26 at the Central Station
at Wooster, and from September
1 to October 13 at the sub-station
at Strongsville, 40 miles north.
Other sowings were made at both
places from September 18 to Octo-
ber /. In both tests the first SOW
ing was practically untouched by
the fly. At Wooster, the wheat
sown September Z and IA was
more than half destroyed, and that
sown September 21 was practical
ly all destroyed by the fly. That
sown September % made about
three-fourths of crop, and that
sown after October 1 escaped in
Jury. At Strongsville the injury
eliminated in the sowings of Sept.
15 to 19, the wheat sown on the
later date being almost complete
ly destroyed. On wheat sown
after September 25 there was but
little injury,
At Columbus, wheat sown Oct.
4 and 5 suffered but little. In
the southern part of the State
wheat sown before October 10 wa s
considerably injured, while that
sown after that date measurably
escaped.
1t will be observed that the
dates of safety from fly indicated
by these experiments are gener.
ally later than it has heretofore
been supposed to be necessary to
wait to avoid the fly; but in 1877
Prof. A. j. Cook, writing Of the
disastrous attack Of fly in thai
state observed that destructive at.
tack was repeatedly observed or
wheat sown as late as September
20, and Director G. d. Smith, o1
the Michigan Experiment Station
has reported severe injury tc
wheat sown there the goth of las
September.
1t seems, therefore, that th'
date of actual safety, in seasons o.
general prevalence of this pest, II
80 late as to incur as great a risl
from winter-killing as the ordinary
risk from the fly. The farmer wht
will observe closely, however, has
it in his power to reduce his risl
somewhat by the followin
method: Sow part of the crol
at medium early date, say Sep
uember 5 to 7 for northern Ohio tt
September Is to 1S for the south
ern part of the state; and then il
about three weeks examine tn
wheat plants very carefully at tn
point where the we'll known "fla,
seeds" of the fly are found. l
; will be too early as yet to find tn
"hax seeds," but If the fly ha
commenced it's work the yer,
small, white maggots which late
develop into the 'flax seeds
should be found sucking the juic
from the plant. These maggot
are at first so small that it will re
quire close searching to discove
them, and magnifying glass o
low power will be help, thougl
not abs olutely necessary.
If the maggots are found it will
be wise to delay seeding few
days longer; but if none are foun'
the whole crop may be sown will
good assurance of escape.
The advantages of this methot
are not only that it will enable u
to discover whether the fly Is pres
/
ent in injurious numbers at al
earlier date, but that if the fly b
present 1t will probably be attract
ed to the early sown whe.-o and in
: duced to deposit all its eggs, thu
effectually protecting the whea
sown later. To accomplish thi
object a considerable area must b.
sown, for we have had no evidence
that the tenth-acre plots used il
our experiments in early and lat
seeding have exerted any protect
i've influence on the remainder O.
the field in which they were locat