Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-08-01

next September and October, when the
long-legged, gnat-like adults will
emerge and lay their long-oval reddish
eggs lengthwise in the grooves on the
upper sides of the leaves of the volun-
| teer or early-soWn wheat plants
These eggs, which are just large
enough to be seen with the unaided
eye. soon give forth tiny reddish larvae
that wriggle down inside the leaf
! sheath until they reach the joint. Here
/ they rasp the tissues of the stem, feed
and grow.
1t is usually the central stalk that is
worst infested, While the tllers, many
of which grow up after the flies have
deposited their eggs, will be almost or
entirely free.
The maggots soon lose their reddish
color and turn white, the majority
reaching maturity and transforming
into brown flaxseeds before cold
weather.
Thus they pass the winter, safely
tucked in between the sheath and the
main stem just above the joint, and
usually below the surface of the
ground.
In the late fall the presence of the
fly is indicated by the form of the
plant. The stalk infested with mag
gots has no strong central shoot, but
appears leafy and bushy.
The first effect of the fly is to make
| the wheat tiller freely, covering the
ground and giving the field deep
green color, thereby deceiving the in
experienced into thinking the prospects
for wheat unusually fine.
Later, if enough flies be present, the
deep green will be exchanged for a
siclkly yellow appearance, and it is then
evident to every one that something is
wrong.
! With the coming of spring the long
legged, gnat-like flies will crawl out of
the faxseeds and fly about over the
wheat, depositing eggs on the blades.
/ From the eggs laid at this time will
come the maggots that feed on the
| wheat, weakening the stems and caus-
ing them to break and fall over before
/ harvest Some of these maggots will
reach maturity and transform into
f1axseeds, from which will come adult
flies in May.
These flies will deposit eggs on the
blades of the most immature stalks
and the larvae develop about the heads
so sapping them that they may never
emerge from their sheaths.
The Hessian fly is now in the flax
seed stage, resting in the stubble just
above the joints between the sheath
and the stem.
4 The flaxseeds may be found just
above any of the joints, appearing from
the surface of the ground upward
They can easily be destroyed by
burning the stubble over or by diskins
it just after harvest and blowing it sc
deeply two to four weeks later tha
none of the straws or volunteer whea
plants shall be left sticking out to form
passa geways for the flies when they
emerge from the fiaxseeds.
The latter method has the advantage
of increasing the amount of humus.
All volunteer wheat should be plowet
under deeply before the regular croI
is sown, so the flies infesting it will
be destroyed and not left to attack tn,
main crop
Inasmueh as it has been found tina
the flies can wait for some time in or
der to secure a desirable place in which
) to deposit their eggs, it is often desir
i able and worth while to sow early
5 strip of wheat about or across thu
5 prospective wheat field, and, before TIL
} main crop is sown, to pillow this fly
infested wheat under deeply, thus no