The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-08-16

resembling the ones that originally
laid the eggs II. the straw, ana NY
away In search of the new crop or
wheat which is just beginning To nice
ly lengthen out. They will fly to some
distance in this search, ut least half Il
mile, and perhaps farther. The Gus
tom Of using wheat land for clover
makes us hesitate 10 pillow under the
stubble, which would otherwise dis
pose of the adults. The greatest dan
ger comes from putting new fields OF
wheat near old improved stubble hcl
the stubbe is known To be badly In
tested with these joint-worms.
Two Kinds of Worms.
Besides the corin.on iointworm just
mentioned. there is another one far
less common i'm Michigan, and which
Is at present restricted TO few To-
caIities. In this species the leaf
sheath becomes involved I'm the swell
ing and the diseased sections have Il
wrinkled, gnarled and knotty appear
ance Plants attacked by this rarer
species of joint-v'orm often fail To fill
to como ont. and wher they do they
usually contain nothing Of any value.
In order Ia gain an idea of the con-
dition of affairs in the state as
waole. Il survey has been conducted by
Miss Eugcnia Mcdaniel. Il member OF
this department., aided by Don Il.
Whelan. also OF this department, and
~ 4 aiet. of
the department of zoology the various
county agents and members of the
Michigan Crop Improvement associa-
ton. As result of this survey, we
are led To believe that there is belt
of well-established infestatiOn which
starts in Van Buren, and Allegan
counties and which extends straight
across the state through Barry. Eaton
and Ingham to Livingston county.
With these counties are included
parts of Ionia, Clinton and Shiawassee
counties, notably their southern,
halves. jackson and Washtenaw
counties also have suffered quite Sc
verely. This area of oval form ex-
tending east and west across the state
festation, although all parts Of the
state, apparently wherever wheat Is
grown in the lower peninsula, show
more or less of the work to be pres
ent.
The rarer and more serious species,
l. vaginicola, is present only very
sparingly except that there is an in
| a Ia. II sx-i,,
Oakland and Macomb counties and
also one in Saginaw county.
When the presence of the joint
worm in ours state first became appar-
ent, the situation appeared as alarm
ing in the light of ou' pressing need
for wheat but since investigation has
progressed to this point we are becom-
| ing greatly reassured, because from
the immense number of samples sent
in from all over the state we
have been able to rear clouds
Of parasites. These parasites are
small, wasplike creatures, that lay
their eggs in the larvae of the joint
worms. resulting in the destruction of
the pests. We know that ordinarily
the parasites hold the pests in nearly
complete subsection, and the presence
of the parasites at this time shows
that their work is progressing and
that the invasion of the pest is likely
to be soon thing of the past.
Recommendations.
The ,rincipal source of infestation
Is the improved Gtubble, which is left
unplowed because of the seeding Of
clover. 1t is desirable to put new
wheat as far from such stubbe as may
be. When the infestation of the CON-
mon trtici involves more than half
the wheat plants, it may be well to
substitute Rosen rye on that particu-
lar farm. A smaller percentage of
plants infested by the more serious
form, I. vaginicola. would seem To war
rant the substitution. This advice APP
plies merely to the coming fall SOW
ing.
1t has been found that raking Of
the stubble late in the fall with side
delivery rake will make it possible to
collect and burn large proportion of
the infested stubble If the catch of
clover happens to be poor ii is, of
course. advisable to pillow the stubble
early I'm the fall, and thus to do away
with the danger of infestation in that
particular field. In no case should
one SOW wheat after wheat this year
The Hessan fly. fortunately, is not
plentiful. except locally, but 1t Is with
u.s. and liable to make itself felt If CIV
en- chance. We are, therefore, rec
ommending that in the lower third OF
the lower peninsula the date Of SOW
ing be from the 10th to the 25th Of
September. and that the time be grad
ually extended as we proceed north
so as to include from the 1st to the
18th in the northern part. Where the
Hessian fly is known to be present. 1t
will be safer to sow near the latter
dates.