MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 697 



fall wheat: and the destruction of volunteer wheat. The insects are 

 trapped by sowing strips of early fall wheat through what is to be the 

 wheat-field. The flies, coming to oviposit, will find these strips in good 

 condition and lay their eggs, ignoring the small sprouts of the real crop 

 which are just commencing to show above the surface. These trap- 

 strips may then be plowed and the grubs destroyed. 



Late sowing is useful for the following reasons: The flies appear 

 during the early part of September ready to lay eggs. If now we delay 

 sowing until the middle of September, the flies will, many of them, not 

 be able to lay eggs at all, and those that do will be obliged to do so on the 

 grasses and volunteer wheat. It may be said in this connection that 

 volunteer wheat should always be destroyed as soon as found. Para-. 

 sites, whenever we see little round holes in the straw and on examina- 

 tion find that this hole extends through the side of the pupa, or flax- 

 seed, then we know that parasites are present, and it is only on ac- 

 count of these parasites that we can raise wheat at all. These minute 

 wasp-like insects feed on the living grub inside the flax-seed and destroy 

 it. When these parasites are very numerous it may be understood as 

 a very good sign and an indication that the flies will soon disappear. 



Another insect which behaves very much like the Hessian fly is the 

 wheat-stem maggot. These little maggots work above the top joint in 

 wheat, rye, pigeon-grass, etc., eating off the succulent lower end of the 

 stem, causing the head to turn white long before its time. Such wdiite 

 heads, if at all numerous, become very conspicuous. The oniy remedy as 

 yet discovered is a rotation of crops. 



The frit-fly w r orks very much like the Hessian fly, and is hardly dis- 

 tinguishable from it. It may be controlled in the same way. 



The joint-worm does some little damage although generally it may be 

 ignored. It hardens short sections of the stem of wheat and passes 

 the winter in the hardened segments. The best way to get rid of them 

 is to use up all the straw and chaff or to burn up all that is likely to 

 be left, before spring. 



A very good general practice is to burn all straw and litter about the 

 entire place. 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO STORED GRAINS. 



While many insects destroy the growing grain and seeds, there are a 

 few that attack it after it has been harvested and stored away. As they 

 work here on a finished product which has a much higher market value 

 than before it w r as harvested, and as the work is done quietly and often 

 out of sight of the owner, considerable damage is often done before it 

 is found out. We may class among these insects all the grain beetles, 

 and there are a number of them, bean and pea-beetles, mites, etc. 



It is usually a cheap and easy matter to destroy all these insects as 

 well as any mice that may be in the building or bin if such building or bin 

 be tight. One and one-half pounds of carbon bisulphide should be used 

 for each ton of grain or one pound to 100 bushels. It should be poured 

 out in shallow pans and placed on top of the grain. The bin must then 

 be tightly closed and if necessary covered with blankets and carpets to 

 render it tight. The liquid will change to a gas and permeate all the 

 air-spaces between the kernels of grain, killing all insects as well as 

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