THE HESSIAN FLY. 69 



122 \^\h. Burning and Ploughing %(,p the Wheat Stubble. — 

 Dr. Fitch says : " We commenced our account of this remedy, 

 impressed with a belief that it was the best that had ever been 

 proposed ; we close it, persuaded that it is the very worst." By 

 burning the stubble, you burn the parasites of the fly, which, as 

 has been shown, destroy nine-tenths of each generation. (See 

 paragraph 96.) 



We cannot give assent to the very sweeping denunciation of 

 this remedial measure contained in the foregoing sentence. It is 

 quite clear that before the parasites accumulate so as to over- 

 come the Hessian fly, the artifice is worthy of adoption. With 

 the exception of certain seasons, the ravages of the fly are local, 

 and may therefore be arrested by this artifice. It has received 

 so many favorable notices from diff"erent quarters, that it is cer- 

 tainly worthy of trial. We subjoin an extract from the " Gene- 

 see Farmer" (1849) on this subject : 



" This destroying insect is becoming more and more plenty 

 over the whole wheat district, subject to slight variations through 

 the eifect exercised over them by the severe and open ^-inters 

 and frosts. That they are extremely local, and, when once 

 colonized, do not emigrate far, when they can find a proper pa- 

 bulum for subsistence near home, we have been a long time satis- 

 fied. A respectable and extensive farmer in Pennsylvania states 

 that he has, for ten years past, almost entirely prevented their 

 depredations by burning over the stubble directly after cutting 

 his wheat, and before they had changed from the larvaa to the 

 winged state ; while fields in his immediate neighborhood were 

 , destroyed. 



" This view of the subject is remarkably confirmed by a case 

 related to us a few days since by one of our best wheat farmers 

 in this section. His crop was so entirely destroyed that it did 

 not pay for harvesting, and the land being in fine tilth he resolved 



