THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 95 



the first farm on which the attack was observed near Hertford, I found on 

 enquiry that London manure had been used of mixed kind, but mainly 

 cow and horse manure in very ' long ' condition." 



An observation of the greatest importance was made by Mr. Palmer, 

 of Revell's Hall, near Hertford, viz., that the " flax-seeds " are separated 

 from the straw in threshing. This was previously thought not to be the 

 case. As, however, they are thus loosened from the straw, they are, of 

 course, liable to be mixed with grain, and with it transmitted from place 

 to place ; but in Mr. Palmer's case they were not found amongst the 

 o-rain, nor in the chaff, but in the dust and rubbish which falls beneath the 

 threshing-machine. In a handful of siftings he found no less than fifteen 

 " flax-seeds." This rubbish is comparatively worthless, and if English 

 farmers are careful always to burn it upon a waste spot, it will certainly 

 reduce the number of the parent flies from which another serious attack 

 may originate. It is the custom amongst our best Canadian farmers to 

 do this in districts where the Wheat Midge (" Weevil ") is prevalent, and 

 is attended with very satisfactory results. 



Our authoress continues : '' From the above observations it appears 

 that puparia, or ' flax-seeds ' 7nay be transmitted in corn rubbish. In 

 samples of screenings and sweepings from imported corn, I have found, 

 besides a large amount of live and dead beetles, also weed-seeds, smuf 

 and other matters undesirable to spread abroad (as may easily be done 

 where these are used for poultry-food, and thus thrown out in farm-yards), 

 and as, with these, broken bits of stem are to be found, it appears at least 

 possible that ' flax-seed ' may also be conveyed. In Dr. Packard's paper 

 on the subject, he alludes to the possibility of the pest being transmitted 

 in wheat." 



The best methods of prevention are treated of at some length, and 

 their applicabihty to the farming processes in vogue in England are re- 

 viewed. The favourite preventive remedy — late sowing — is shown to be 

 appHed in England as an ordinary part of the regular arrangements of the 

 work on most farms ; as a rule wheat is not sown until some time after 

 the 2oth of September, the date which we consider the latest it is neces- 

 sary to wait to avoid attack, and thus the young wheat plants are not 

 up till after the autumn brood of the fly is dead. The importance of this 

 point cannot be laid too much stress upon, for if late sowing be regularly 

 practised, the Hessian Fly must be dependent for its subsistence upon 

 self-sown plants in fields which had been attacked, or upon rye or other 



