PACKARD.] ESrSECTS OF THE FIELD. 215 



States, and in this way the parasites with but slight expense 

 be had by the quantity. "Why have not commissioners 

 before this been appointed by the several state authorities 

 to attend to this important matter? 



"While the Hessian fly attacks the root, the wheat midge 

 adopts the ear as its point of attack. "When the wheat is in 

 blossom the females lay their eggs in the evening in clusters 

 of from two to twenty, by means of the long, retractile, 

 tube-like extremity of the body, within the chaffy scales of 

 the flowers. The orange-colored maggots appear in from 

 eight to ten days after, and when fully grown are one-eighth 

 of an inch long. They crowd around the germ of the wheat, 



Fig. 169. 



Parasite of the Wheat Midge. 



which by pressure becomes shrivelled and aborted. About 

 the first of August it casts the skin, either while in the ear 

 or after it has descended to the ground. After descending 

 to the earth it spins an earthen cocoon, smaller than a 

 mustard seed, and remains through the winter about an inch 

 under ground. The midge appears the next June and July. 

 Figure 169 represents its most deadly parasite. In dealing 

 with this midge it is obvious that if the wheat field is 

 ploughed after the stubble is burnt off, either in the autumn 

 or spring, great numbers will be cut off, for when buried five 

 or six inches, the fly is unable to reach the surface of the 

 ground. Another method is to sow grain late in the season, 



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