Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1919-10-30
Shepherdstow Jefferson County, Virginia. Thursday October 3d. 1919
Story of the Hessian Fly.

oversee trip. The fly subsequently
played havoc with the native American
grain fields. The most demeaning
name which the Americans could con-
ceive for this pest was "HeSsian fly"
and the winged despoiler, ravaging,
plunderfng, and pillaging wheat, has
run true to name and form ever since.
During recent years this pest has col
lected an annual toll Of approximately
from Uncle Sans wheat
growers. Kansas alone loses at least
100000 a year.
Fly time is spy time for the farmer
his spying being centralized on watch
ing for the date when his section will
be free from danger from the Hes
sian fly, so that he can safely SOW his
fall grain. The Bureau of Entomology
United States Department of Agri-
culture, has devised a calendar Of
safety, which, Il adhered to by grain
growers in the fall seeding of their
wheat, will operate as effective con-
trolls against the infestation and propa
cation of the Hessian fly.
The Hessian fly is methodical ma
rauder which works at regular inter
walls, although sporadically. There was
no important fly outbreak in 1917 or
1918, but the fact that there is an
abundance of these flies this year
brings a warning to farmers to exercise
care not to plant wheat until the period
of safety for planting in their locality
has arrived. The last important out
break of the Hessian fly in this coun-
try occurred during the period from
1914 to 1916, inclusive.
Fortunately the majority Of the fall
generation of Hessian flies appear and
develop rapidly within week or so.
This makes it possible for grain grow
ers to regulate their winter wheat-sow-
ing operations so as to avoid loss and
damage from the fly. There is no
remedy or succor for the wheat crop
once it is in the possession of the fly
Considerable losses to the current win
ter wheat crop from the Hessian fly
have already been reported from the
Shenandoah and Cumberland Valleys.
Straw-fallen wheat due to this cause
has been observed commonly in these
regions by the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture, and the percent
age Of infestation has increased very
materially during the past year. Re-
ports received from the western half
of the Mississippi Basin also indicate
increased abundance of the pest.
The chief food plant of the Hessian
fly is wheat, next to this barley, and
lastly rye. In the case of the last
plant, however, it does not develop
freely and it does not attack oats at all.
Popular supposition to the contrary,
there is no such thing as "hy-free"
wheat. Most wheatS will suffer when
the plants are young, regardless Of va
riety. In experimental growing, the
variety that seems to escape attack
one year may suffer the next; and
while the insect may prefer certain va
rieties over others, this all comes to
naught in years Of serious ravages or
where the supposed distasteful variety
is in a condition more satisfactory {
the insect at the time the eggs are
deposited. 1t is only in the case OF
the second brood of flies which occur
on the more matured plants that any
appreciable difference in infestation
has been noted, and here it has been
apparent that the ranker growing va
rieties, with strong, stiff straw, are the
least effected. 1t is recommended that
farmers select seed from the varieties
known to do we'll in their locality and
which are OF strong vigorous growth,
hardy, and with a stiff straw.
II is believed that the Hessian fly has
two generations, at least during favor
able seasons, over the entire area il
covers in the United States. In the
South the two generations are the most
widely separated, while in the North,
in the regions Of spring wheat growing.
one seems to follow the other in quick
succession. Throughout the fall
wheat-growing area, the fly passes the
winter in the wheat mostly in the fax
seed stage. In the spring, from March
in Michigan to May in Georgia and
South Carolina, the flies escape from
the faxseed and deposit their eggs
in the wheat, and the young from
these develop from faxseed before
harvest, passing the summer in the
stubble. The flies from the over-win-
ter larvae come on later, and it is quite
probable that some of the very earliest
deposited eggs may give rise TO adults
at about this time. Thus, owing to
this overlapping in certain seasons ant
in some localities, there appears just
before harvest what has been consider
ed by some experts supplementary
second generation.
In autumn the time Of appearance Of
adults, as between North and South
is the reverse. In Northern Michigan
the adults of the fall generation ara
abroad, under normal meteorological
conditions, during the last days Of
August and the first days Of Septem1
Der. In Georgia and South Carolina
under the same conditions,it may be the
last Of November or the first Of Decem-
Der before they have all left the stub
bic. The immunity Of the late sowr
wheat from attack by flies, hence, ].
not due to frost, but to the fact that b.