Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1922-02-02
ConQuering the Hessian Fly.

SsseWt lIOtT SCT-
many by Hessian soldiers, who came
TO America TO fight the cplonists, was
scattered about the camps. Later
the wind carried it to nearby farms.
In that straw, entomologists say, the
colonists might have observed small,
hard, brown objects, resembling fax
seeds
In early spring and autumn start
ling changes might have been observed
in the Aaxseeds. There was a pro-
nounced disturbance in the she'll. A
hole appeared at one end. A small in
sect pulled itself out by stages and be-
fore hong few to where the colonists
had planted wheat
There it soon was joined by other
insects, also travellers in the Hessian
bedding roll from the old home in Ger
many. They mated. Soon afterward
the female began depositing eggs on
the first blades of tender wheat.
The eggs were oval and generally
three were placed on a blade. Some
times there were many more. The in
sect didn't stop until it had laid from
100 to l07 such eggs.
Three to FIVE days later the eggs gave
forth tiny red worms that wriggled
down between the leaf sheath and the
stalk. They continued downward until
they found location just under the
ground. There they fed and grew.
Other changes occurred and the next
season the process just described was
repeated.
That is the story OF the introduction
into America Of the Hessian fly. II
takes the largest toll Of any insect that
attacks wheat In 1916, according to
Federal estimates, it reduced the wheat
yield 100000 bushels. From the
beginning in the East in Revolutionary
days the insects spread to various Sec
tons. Now it is found chiefly from the
eastern boundary of Ohio 10 the
| western section of Kansas. Tennessee
and Kentucky also suffer losses due to
the fly.
The average yearly loss in the ma
ton, due to fly da mage, is estimated by
the same authority at 100000 BUSH
els.
Because, possibly, Of the standing Of
Kansas as a wheat-growing State, the
damage in the nation usually reflected
conditions in Kansas. In 1916, the
year the national loss was 37,0OOOOO
bushels, the Kansas loss exceeded g.
100000 bushels.
But the 1916 loss was not the largest
in Kansas. Several years earlier il
had been noted that Hessian fly dam
age was increasing there. In 1907 the
loss amounted to 100000 bushels.
When the loss in a single State
amounted to 100000 bushels it was
recognized that methods of fly control
then in use had failed.
F. M. Webster, representing the
United States Department of Agri-
culture, went to Kansas. There he con-
ferred with E. A. Popenoe, of the
Kansas State Agricultural College,
about new methods of fighting the in
sects. They decided that the Depart
ment Of Agriculture and the college
would cooperate in experiments.
E. G. Kelly, representing the depart
ment, was given charge OF the work and
the experiments began. Wheat was
planted under varying conditions.
Farmers fields were studied. A route
was established from Salina, Kansas, to
Medford, Oklahoma. 1t was covered
by Kelly and his assistants every year
for five years. Sometimes several trips
were made each year. Meanwhile the
hy-free date was more clearly estab-
lished in the various localities and
farmers were urged to plant about
that time. But losses continued heavy.
Kelly had been at work eight years,
seeking the new methods, when the dis
aster Of 1916 occurred. He was dis
couraged. Apparently he was no near
er solution than when he began in
1908.
81 knew some fields in the fly dis
tricts didn't have flies," he said, "but !
didn't know why"
: Such were conditions when Kelly
stood one day in 1916 on the farm Of
Ed Laney in Sumner County, Kansas.
The sun blazed down and the stubble
seemed to give of heat like furnace.
A '"hunch" came to Kelly that deep
blowing would eliminate the Hessian