Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-09-30
REPORT I :.
From Experiment
Station
Relating to the Hessian
Fly.
Has Attacked Nearly All Early
SOWn Wheat.

was found busily at work laying its
eggs on the experimental sowings
OF wheat made at the Ohio Expert
mental Station, Sept. J., and H.
On the latest sown wheat, the plants
of which consisted of a single spear,
three to four inches high, practically
every plant carried from one to a
dozen eggs. On the earlier sowings
the eggs Were not quite so abundant,
especially on that of Sept. 1.
1t is extremely desirable that more
thorough observations be made upon
this insect than have ever yet been
| reported, especially with regard to
its appearance and disappearance in
various localities, and the Experl.
ment Station urges that such obser-
vations be at once undertaken
throughout all that portion of the
State where the fly may not yet have
| finished its work.
The Hessian fly is a minute insect,
somewhat resembling a mosquito, but
considerably smaller. The abdomen
| vi Jlt lGIluiC 10 ShttutlSu lOuS
slender ovipositor. and when engaged
in egg laying she flies from the ground
to the plant, deposits one or more
eggs. an operation requiring but a
| fraction of minute, then to the
ground and soon to another plant.
The eggs, which are only barely Wis
ible to the unaided eye, are reddish
| in color, several times as long as
| wide, and are deposited end to end
| in the minute creases of the young
wheat blade, usually on the upper
or inward side. They are said to
hatch in four to ten days, owing to
the temperature, but further obser-
walton is needed on this point. They
are so small that glass magnifying
3 to 5 diameters is necessary to a
satisfactory examination. A suitable
pocket lens In rubber case can be
purchased of any optician for 80 to
| IS cents.
1t would seem probable that sharp
frost, occurring while the eggs are
exposed, would prevent their hatch.
ing, but no observation seems ever to
have been made on this point.
Care must be taken not to confuse
the Hessian fly with gnat-like plant
louse, which is often found fixed on
! the wheat blade with its sharp pro-.
boscis inserted into the blade, from
which it is sucking the sap. These
| 81 al
Gus to cause any material injury, but
some of them are about the size of
the fly. Their rounded abdomen and
sluggish action serve to distinguish
them readily from the slender, active
flies.
In neighborhoods where occasional
fields of wheat have been sown the
flies will probably have expended all
their egg laying energies upon these
and it will now be safe to sow the
general crop; but where everybody
has delayed sowing the risk may be
greater, for we do not know how
long the fly is able to hold her eggs,
waiting for the farmer to provide
/ II Sulluuic pidCc loI 'hoih'
Where wheat is as badly infested
as are the experimental sowings at
this Station 1t would be wise to plow
under and sow again; for such wheat
will not only be almost destroyed, but
1t will serve to carry over a host of
the we'll known "f1ax seeds" of the
fly, from which a new brood will
emerge next spring to continue the
destructive work.
The Experiment Station urges that
careful observations be made all over
the State on the points above indi-
Gated, and the results reported to 1t
at Wooster.
CHAS. d. THORNE,
Director.