The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1916-08-04

tba Hess;an flies which winter in vol
nnteer wheat or early sown wheat. 4
The flies that come out or emerge
in The snring constitute or make up
the main snrinv brood of the Hessian |
dv This spring brood Of the Hessian I
Az Is often more destructive to the
wheat crop than the fall brood of the
Hv because the snring brood feeds up
on both early wheat and late wheat. |
The fall brood of the Hessian flies !
feeds almost entirely upon early sown
wheat and volunteer wheat.
This snring brood Of the Hessian fly
laws IFS eggs upon wheat, and these
acos hatch INTO maoots that feed on
wheat inst as thew did in the fall. AS
soon as the magots become full grown
thew PASS into the ilaxseed or resting
stage. The great bulk of the flies
reach this flaxseed or resting stage
about the time the wheat ripens.
This brings US up to the present
time. and now we find the Hessian flies
collected principally in the old wheat
stubble fields, and since they are in
this dormant or resting stage, they
are at the mercy of the wheat grower
or farmer. None of the insects are
living about at this time and none will
he fonnd in any other fields than wheat
or rye
Methods of Control
Since these flies are collected in the
old wheat stubble fields. the most
nractical and hest measure to adopt
for their control is to plow the
oround as soon as practical after har-
vest or To disc the wheat stubble
and then plow three or four weeks
later. The discing will mash and de-
strov many of the flies in the flax
saod stage II will turn others IN to-
the sun and DESTROY them. And it
will exnose many of the fiaxseeds to
insect narasites which will DESTROY
tbam This discin0 will also conserve
moisture causa Volunteer wheat to
perminate and make the plow easier.
Manv successful farmers believe that
there Is mo better wav than to disk
the old wheat stumble soon after har-
vest and then follow fine disk with a
NOW The nlowed Ground should be
narrowed soon after nlowing in order
40 frr, ond contract the soil This will
nrevent tha Hessian flies from escap-
mo and when we have Moved the
Ground about G inches deep. and fol-
lowed the plow with harrow or disk.
we hurry tbe flaxseeds SO deeplv in the
soil that few are ever able to emerge.
The second sremedv in the control
of tbe fv is to cultivate the plowed
Ground as often as necessary during
4nguet and Senten,her 70 keen down
voI,1nteer wheat and weeds. The de-
strnction of tbe volunteer wheat kills
fine Hessian flv in the egg and magot
stage and starves II bv preventing it's
food nlants from GROWING The de-
strnction of volunteer wheat during
the summer and fall cannot be empha-
, sized too STRANGELY because II II Is al
lowed TO grow. It NAV carry the flv
over mill fall when If NAV come out
and attack fhe wheat or II NAV al
low the fv to live over in It until
snTino wIen II will come ont and
den,age tbe wheat
Tho third remedy for the control of
the fly is to SOW the wheat crop on
or soon after the fly free date, and the
fly free date for st. Francois county is
October 18th for the northern half
and October 18th for the southern
half. If the wheat crop is sown on or
soon dlI6F OCLODeT lZIU, Tile WncdL Will
come up after nearly all the Hessian
flies are dead. During a series of
years, wheat sown on a good seed bed
and fertile soil on October 18th or
soon after, will make maximum
Weld of wheat. That is, the yield will
be Just as great on the average as it
would have been had the crop been
sown any time earlier. If the ground
has been plowed and prepared early,
we have a firmer and more compact
4 seed bed which is more capable of
producing a good crop of wheat.
Wheat NAV be sown on such a seed
bed with perfect safety as late as Oc-
| tober 10Th. because it will terminate
quickly. grow off rapidly. and become
well established in the soil before win
ter sets in, and will be apt to go
through the winter in Just as good
condition as wheat that may have
been sown earlier than October 18th.