Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1915-06-25
tBy HERBERT A. sHEARER9

tBy HERBERT A. SHEARER9
II there is volunteer wheat or if you
sowed your wheat too early, you had
better look for hessian flies as soon
as the wheat plants appear. You can
do this until the leaves turn brown.
The eggs are always laid on the sur
face of the leaves, and the maggots,
as soon as they hatch, make their way
Gown the leaves to a point just above
the roots of the young plants where
they begin to feed. Later you will find
from six to fifteen small brown humps
like small fax seed.
This pest has been known for over
one hundred years but not one farmer
in a hundred knows whether or not he
has got it. Don't mistake plenty of
other insects which may be more or
less beneficial.
Infested wheat has broader leaves
of a much deeper green color, resem-
bling in this respect the leaves of vol
unteer oats. The rolled central leaf,
through which grows the stem, is al
ways absent and infested plants stand
much more erect in the drill-row and
do not spread out and cover the ground
like healthy plants.
In the uninfested plant, the leaves
are more slender, of a lighter green
and do not stand so erect, and as TIL
lers are thrown up they spread out
and cover the ground. They may have
every appearance of being less vigor-
ous than the infested plants, but this
Is not the case, and the central rolled
leaf is always present, indicating a
healthy stem. The difference between
the infested and uninfested plants Is
shown by the illustrations.
You may be able to save your in
tested field by pasturing in dry wealth
er only, young or light weight ami
mails. The tramping of the soil will
probably crush many of the maggots
and thus facilitate infested plants
throwing up fresh and healthy tillers
OF sprouts as shown at the left of
Figure No. 2, and these will appear
above grsund too late to become in
! tested. Surviving the winter, these
uninfested tiIlers will give the field
an increased number of plants in the
spring. While this will not entirely
destroy the enemy, it may save the
crop.
The hessian fly immigrated to the
United States about the year 1873.
He is an undesirable citizen.
The hessian fly has spread over the
states between the Mississippi river
and the Atlantic coast. Some years ii
has become very destructive, then re
mains in hiding for a period of years.
1t has been quite destructive lately in
the middle West. 1t cost Kansas dear
ly last year.
The hessian fly has a life cycle Of
four different forms: egg, larva, pupa
lalso called f~axseec), and adult. The
appearance of the insect in the differ
ent stages is very different. The adult
is a tiny fly or l~onglegged gnat, some
what resembling a small mosquito.
The egg is deposited on the upper
small to be seer by the naked eye,
The tiny maggots are so small when
first Matched that they lay between
the creases in the leaf and soon hide
themselves between the leaf sheath
and the stem.
Before they are detected the injury
to the wheat plant has been accom-
plished and the maggots have become
fully grown and transformed into the
so-called fiaxseeds. When these fax
seeds are discovered, they are blamed
for the damage done by the maggots.
The adult flies come out of the
ground in September, and immediate
ly commence laying eggs on the leaves
of the new wheat plants.
The fly is abou 1a of an inch in
length from its head to the tip of the
abdomen. Its legs may be 1-6 of al
inch in length. The fly is dark il
color and has a single pair of trans
parent. wings. The abdomen of the
male fly is slender and has a blum
ending. The abdomen of the female is
heavier and is sharp-pointed.
The eggs are laid on wheat, rye and
| Valley III 1aIO NcloOO, liz Il w
posted on the blades of young tendel
grass.
The egg of the hessian fly is oval
elongated and reddish, about 1-50 o
an inch in length, and slim enough tt
lie in the grooves of the wheat leaf
They are easily detected by the aid o
a magnifying glass.
The young larva is slightly large
than the egg and is of a reddish color
The maggot soon goes down into thu
plant by following the grooves unit
it reaches the leaf sheath. It squeeze
between the sheath and the main sten
and continues down to the bottom o
Coil Cor Nnlhan1e