Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1901-08-24
The Hessfan Fly.
Experiment Station

Manhattan; Kan, Aug, 20, 1901
During the season past the Hessian
fly has caused some loss and much
comment in parts of the Kansas wheat
belt, and numerous letters of inquiry
reaching the Kansas Experiment
Station have shown the need Of wider
popular information on this subject.
An extended account of the insect
appears in chronological bulletin No.
16, of the United States Department
of Agriculture, which should be con-
suited by those interested in full de-
tails of life history. For practical
purposes, however, the methods of
preventive procedure are those of
widest interest, and of these it ap-
pears that the most important are
still the practices recommended by
earlier writer's.
Concerning the value of burning
the stubble, and thus destroying the
pupae Of the fly, opinion is somewhat
divided. If done at once after har-
vesting, especially in fields where the
header was used, this method is GER
tainIy effective, if practiced by the
neighborhood in general. But by
burning, not only are the pupae of
the fly destroyed, but the contained
parasites as well, whose aid is the
most important factor, after all, in
the subjugation of the pest. More
over, the burning of the stubble, in
the opinion of some wheat-grOwers,
robs the soil of important physical, ii
not manurial constituents, which
should be incorporated by blowing
under and not destroyed by burning.
Early blowing of the Stubble-groWn,
as soon as possible after harvest, if
the ground be compacted afterward
by narrowing or rolling, will serve the
same end with less loss in this re-
spect.
Considered IN all relations, where
one method alone is followed, it is
best, in the writer's opinion, to de-
pend on late sowing. The adult in
sect flies and lays eggs according to
season earlier or later in summer or
fall, but cannot withstand the frost;
and wheat appearing after the first
white frost of the season will be free
from attack. This fact is confirmed
by the present years experience of
correspondents of the Kansas station.
Early Sown areas, on the other hand,
will sometimes be found so badly in
tested, through the masSing of the
insects thereon, that the wintering
of the plant will be matter of doubt.
If egg-depoSit be delayed by the alb
Sence of suitable plants, the flies will
remain alive for some time in waiting,
but if proper opportunity is provided
the eggs are laid at once and the in
sects then die. Small areas or strips
through fields in infested localities
may be seeded early, as trap crops,
and after egg-deposit these may be
plowed under, destroying the contain
ed eggs or larvae before the general
seeding of the field.
Against the spring brood, which
weakens the stalk and lightens the
grain, little can be done except by
means to limit the winter brood OF
larvae. The thorough destruction of
volunteer wheat, accompanied by late
seeding, through their reduction of
the numbers of insects wintering
over, are the most practical means.
Owing to the situation of the larvae
down in the crown of the plant, there
is little possibility of valuable results
from pasturing the wheat during fall
and winter. Where fields are pastur-
ed early, chance eggs may be destroy
ed before Matching, but the advantage
thus gained will be slight, if any.
1t is the combination of early sown
trap-strips with general late seeding
that is recommended for practice by
Kansas wheat-growers.
E. A. POPENOE.