Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1919-07-25
TIMELY ADVICE
Mr.. Chas. HI. Waid Field Man of the
Ohio State Department of Agricul-
ture Gives Results of Investigation
of Prevalence Of Wheat Pests
Councils as to Methods of Control

The writer has spent the past three
weeks in Is counties of the North
western one fourth of Ohio in deter
mining the per cent of infestation Of
Joint Worm and Hessian Fly in wheat
fields.
Usually in company with the
County Agricultural Agent we have
gone to eight or ten fields in widely
separated districts and counted 100
stalks in different parts of field
with the following results:
Average per cent of infestation of
Jp.Gt Worm in the Is counties is 1928
and of Hessian Fly 12.1.
Shelby Co., was highest in Joint
Worm with 65 per cent and Richland
lowest with 6.6 per cent.
Seneca was highest in Fly infesta-
ton with 33.4 per cent and Defiance
lowest with % per cent. Average
of fields visited in Fulton County
showed Joint Worm in 100 stalks
Ala per cent and Fly 18 per cent.
The Joint Worm brood are usually
found just above the third or fourth
joint in winter wheat this year, but
lower down on the stalk on spring
wheat.
To find the fly at this season, strip
down the sheath or outer covering of
straw at second or third joint.
These insects are responsible for
large part of the shrunken grain in
Ohio wheat fields this season, though
wheat diseases, notably smut, rust
and scab have also taken their toll
For control measures for fly, if we
could plow down the stubble soor
after harvest, we would bury the "fa1
seed" pulp frcm which will come tht
winged adult early in September t.
distribute her eggs on the Fall sowr
grain. The usual rotation is gras
after wheat, which makes this methot
impracticable, and the only othe.
safe guard is to not sow before til
ely free date" advised by the Agri
cultural Experiment Station.
There seems number of ways t
head off the Garry Overs of tn
Joint Worm which live in the stra,
until Spring. Feeding and workin
down into we'll trodden manure tn
whole of he straw stack before Ma
1st, would destroy a very large pe
cent of them.
If farmers who clean their graf
at home, and elevator men would sii
and burn all "Straw Joints" ths
come through the separator with th
grain and burn them it would head o
quite source of carry over" Lac
of these corrugated sections of stra
that has prevented the free How {
sap to the head this year contain
from / to or larvae of the JON
worm as can be seen by careful
splitting them open.
If stubble fields can be pasture
by hogs and afterwards raked al
the scatterings burned it wou
destroy many.
If wheat fields are not fenced
that hogs can be turned in to act
cleaners it would seem well wor
while in these times of high cost
feed, to rake the fields thorough
preferably when the dew is on
that the toughened straw, wou
wrap around the teeth and pull oil
and haul the rakings to a feed lot f
hogs and poultry and after they ha
taken the grain, rake again and bu1
Only by concerted communi
action in these and other details tn
will suggest themselves can we no
to hold in check and lessen from We
to year these pests, and many othe
that are menace to our grain, veg
tables and fruit crops.
G. H. Waid,
~ Wauseon, Ohio July 21st, 1919