190 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



CEKE^LS. 



The large wheat crop of the Dominion was got in for the most part in good condition. 

 In some sections of Ontario late rains were a cause of loss, from the grain sprouting 

 in the field. There was no serious damage from injurious insects in any of the provinces, 

 although in Manitoba some loss resulted from an unknown cause, by which many ears 

 of wheat turned white before the grain was mature and the stems remained standing in 

 the field ; this injury was spoken of generally as " dead heads " and was in places of 

 much importance. It was thought by some to be due to the attacks of a fungus, but 

 other observers spoke positively of finding insects which were actually attacking the 

 roots. From the information given by correspondents, I judge that this was not the 

 work of the Wheat-stem Saw-fly (Cephus pygmceus, L.) treated of in my last report but 

 of a dipterous larva. During the past summer the perfect flies of Cephus pyginceus were 

 reared from straws sent from Souris, Man., by Mr. Wenman, thus proving without doubt 

 the identity of the species which injured Mr. Wenman's wheat last year. During the 

 past summer some harm was done by the same insect near Indian Head, N.W.T. 



With regard to the " dead heads," Mr. A. C. Hawkins, of Swan Lake, Man., writes 

 — and his opinion seema well supported : — " I still think that the ' fungous disease ' 

 is an after effect and not the cause of the death of the wheat plant, the cause being, 

 in my opinion, the larva forwarded in my last letter which you could not find, but of 

 which, at the time that it was collected, I had no difficulty in finding many more than 

 I wanted, one or two in the root of every plant I examined of which the heads were just 

 beginning to dry up." 



Mr. A. W. Pritchard, of the Manitoba Department of Agriculture, writes : — 

 " Numerous reports have been received by the Department, of damage done to the wheat 

 crop by an insect which is commonly spoken of as attacking the root, though some of 

 our reporters call it a ' Joint-borer.' The effect of its attack is everywhere the same, 

 to cause the plant to turn white and produce an empty head. The ravages of this insect, 

 if insect it be, have extended over a large area. The damage done is reported is some 

 cases as much as one-half the crop." 



Arrangements have been made to study this attack more fully next year, and speci- 

 mens of injured stems will be thankfully received. , 



The Joint-worm (Isosoma). — An attack on wheat by a joint-worm is reported from 

 Verdun, Bruce Co., Ont., by Mr. William Welsh, who has studied the matter with some 

 care. He writes as follows : — 



" July 28. — The year before last was the first when I noticed this new pest ; it was, 

 detected in the broken straw at threshing time, the larvae of the insect being easily seen 

 by splitting the hard pieces of broken straw with a sharp knife. Last fall there was 

 much more of the broken straw in the threshed grain. It seems almost impossible to 

 get thes e pieces out with the fanning mill, and consequently many larvae are sown with 

 the fall, wheat. I think this insect must have had much to do with the injured grain of 

 last fal . On looking in the bins of wheat at mills or elevators, I became convinced 

 that this insect is worthy of full inquiry and that it is rapidly spreading here. 



" November 25. — Since corresponding with you I have felt much interest in this 

 subject, and have made special observations and inquiries concerning the joint-worm. I 

 send you by this mail specimens of infested straws which I have picked from the fall 

 wheat stubble. The piece of ground where I had my fall wheat having been seeded to 

 clover gave me a chance of getting some specimens nearly as good as those I sent before 

 harvest. I also inclose some samples of the broken straw as found in threshed wheat. 

 You will find that these short pieces are hard and woody from the action of the insect 

 upon the growing stem. The pupae are still alive and ready in the warm days of spring 

 to eat their way out and go through the same routine as their parents before them. In 



