The Wichita daily eagle., 1903-08-09
kbDSANS' fight
On HESS|AN Fly
Manhattan Experiment Station
Issues Bulletin.
WEAPONS TO BE USED
Other Matters of Interest to
to the Farmer
WEAPONS TO BE USED

z. A. Popenoe, of the Manhattan ex-
pertinent station, has issued the following
on preventive work against the Hess-an
fly:
The crop season just past has seen much
damage from the Hessian fly in the Kan
sas wheat region, and the correspondence
of the Office of the entomologist of the
Kansas State Experiment Station has
shown that too many farmers are still
unacquainted with, or do not practice,
the widely published modes of lessening
the destructive abundance Of this, one
of our chief wheat pests. AS preventive
measures for the preservation of next
years crop, if they are 10 be effective,
must be undertaken at once, and as the
season seems in every way to give prom
ise of abundance of the fly in the fall
planting, unless all possible measures are
taken to avoid it, what farmers should
be warned. and should enlist neighDor-
hood cooperation TO the greatest possible
extent, in putting into practice such
means against the pest as are warranted
by experience.
AS the last brood of the fly remains In
the pupa or fiaxseed state in the straw
until the time of the growth Of the
newly sown grain. it is the practice of
many to burn off the stubble as soon after
the grain is cut as possible. Where the
wheat has been cut with the header this
will kill the pupae remaining in the stub
bic. practically all in the field. If this is
done throughout an entire neighborhood,
the number Of adult flies left to deposit
eggs In the growing wheat viii be re-
dueed to the minimum. 1t has been
claimed for this practice that by it all
field pests are destroyed, and that valu-
able coat Of fertilizer in the form of the
ashes will be left on the field. With re-
spect TO these. the first claim is U:uch
too broad, as few insects except the fly
and its own parasites will be burned,
since they are not in the stubble at this
time; and no one can rightly claim that
the ashes left by burning are superior to
the whole stubble turned under to add
TO the humus content of the soil, the re-
verse being true, and one of the most
important of the manurial elements, the
nitrogenous. being dissipated by the
burning. 1t will thus appear that of the
two methods. that of plowing under the
stubble is the better; but TO be of avail
against the fly. ii must be done early,
and the ground should then be well
Ievelled by the use of the harrow or
disker
The exact appearance of the mother fly
after harvest is determined by moisture
conditions. continued dry weather tending
TO retard the change from the pupa. But
moisture sufficient to cause the growth
of volunteer wheat will also bring to ma
turity many of the flies. and these will
proceed to deposit their eggs in the vol
unteer growth. While we have no evi-
dence of a third brood in the state, it
Is not at all unlikely to occu- If conditions
favor As the first developed flies show
such a partiality for the volunteer growth
st is possible to cause them to exhaust
their egg-laying capacity by providing an
early growth in which 10 deposit, by SOW
ing early strips around or through the
fields to be resown to wheat the growth
on these strips TO be thoroughly covered
under before the main crop is put into the
ground. The destruction of this growth
should be deferred to the latest moment,
that all mature flies may have the oppor-
tunity TO deposit eggs therein; and this
provision for the early exhaustion of the
famales in egg-laying is the particularly
important feature Of the practice of trap
strip sowing
The experience of Kansas growers has
abundantly confirmed the argument that
late sown wheat is safer from the fly
The basis of this argument is that the
adult insect is very readily destroyed by
a sharp frost. and that wheat appearing
above the ground after the first sharp
frost OF the season is not infested While
II IS impossible TO determine the proper
date in advance. observing farmers can
readily approximate very closely to 1t
for their own locality. and IL is ordinarily
safe To seed 20 wheat at such a date that
the new growth shall appear after the
average date Of the first frosts. as shown
by the weather service records for a
station. for example. show this average
to be October 8. and this date IS doubt
less not far from he true one for the
central counties. To the north and west
It VIII be somewhat earlier. and TO the
southwark Of this station. somewhat later
than the date named. The practice Of late
seeding Is the chief reliance of some of
the most intelligent farmers in the Kan
sas wheat region, and should be given a
much more general trial by growers
throughout, whether in connection or not
with the other suggestions given above.
FOR there is nothing 20 be gained by early
growth if the plants are 70 be practically
killed by the fly before winter. as has
been often the case.