OCR Text |
Show "hessian f;.y harms winter wheat crop Infestation Regarded as Worst in Many Years. Where Parasite Is Present in Large Numbers Crop Should Be Plowed Under, as It Will Not Amount to Anything. A prevalence of Hessian fly 3 reported re-ported in winter wheat sections and. Judging from samples received from many areas, the Infestation is the worst for several years. Favorable climatic conditions, coupled cou-pled with an absence of a parasite that ordinarily destroys the larvae of the Hessian fly and too early planting of the wheat last fall, is the cause of the outbreak. Where wheat was sown early It needs to ' be carefully exnmlned for traces of the fly. Signs of the infestation may be detected de-tected by examining the wheat field. mmmmm will Hessian Fly and Wheat Insert Shows Adult Female, Greatly Enlarged. If it has stunted plants upon v.hlch small brown seedlike bodies are attached at-tached to the stalks, the fly is probably prob-ably present in the pupal or "flax seed" stage. These brown neetjlike bodies can be found below the surface of the ground between the leaf sheath and the stem of the plant. Within a few weeks small gnatlike flies hatch out, laying a second crop of eggs which result in the spring brood of flies. The Hessian fly has four stages in Its life. The egg, the maggot, the pupal and the fly. It is the maggot, a white, flaky worm, about one-fifth o) an inch long, that does the damag If the plant survives the first attack there is a chance of considerable dam age resulting from the second crov,, which eat the stems and cause the grain to lodge and lessens the grail production. Wheat tliat is badly infested witn the Hessian fly ought to be plowed under, un-der, as It will not amount to anything as a crop and will only serve as hatchit'g ground for further crops. Often some parts of the yield only are affected and the farmer may use his judgment as to turning under only a part of the field. Where volunteer seedlngs of last year's crop are detected containing Hessian fly tliey should be plowed under un-der at once. If there are any suspicious suspi-cious signs of the presence of the fly in the fields the entomologists urge that samples be sent to the state entomologist en-tomologist for examination. |