[121] Report of the State Entomologist. 263 



means towards diminishing the attack of the coming year, that the 

 larvae falling upon the floor should be frequently swept up (if the 

 floor was a tight one) and burned. If in the sweeping the larvpe were 

 liable to fall through the floor-joinings, it would be advisable to kill 

 them before attempting their removal by sprinkling them from time 

 to time with kerosene. 



The following extracts are from a letter received later from Mr. 

 Linsley in reply to the request made for additional information of the 

 occurrence of the larvse: 



They came wholly from the second cutting of the clover, cut about 

 the twentieth of September. The}' began to make their aj^pearance 

 about four days after it was drawn into the barn. They came out in 

 such numbers that they looked like red sand upon the floor. This 

 continued for about two weeks, since which time I have not noticed 

 any of them. I destroyed what I could collect from the floor, but the 

 greater part of the hay being put into a mow, they were, of course, 

 out of reach for the most part. ***** 



It is said that these weevils do not work in the Alsike, or large 

 pea-vine clover. This may be due to the fact that in these varieties 

 the first growth of cutting is used for seed, so that the seed matures 

 too early for the insect. But these varieties are far inferior to the 

 Medium clover and can not well supply the place of it. The destruc- 

 tion of the crop of Medium clover seed is a very serious loss to the 

 agricultural interest in this portion of the State, amounting to from 

 twenty to forty dollars i^er year on every farm of 100 acres, according 

 to the market price of the seed. 



The Hessian-fly. 



Gecidomyia destructor Say. 



Wheat infested between the first and second joints with the Hes- 

 sian-fly, was sent for examination, June twelfth, by Mr. A. F. Dowd, 

 of North Huron, Wayne county, N. Y. On stripping the sheaths from 

 the stalks, four or five of the puparia, or " flaxseeds " as they are 

 popularly called, would be found in company, showing the attack to 

 be a severe one. [See figure 45 on page 28G.] 



The perfect insects failed to develop. Under natural and favorable 

 conditions they would probably have emerged in the month of July. 



The fly had been more injurious in western New York the preced- 

 ing year (1884) than usual. The following statement in relation to its 

 operations, and containing some good suggestions for controlling the 

 insect, is from a gentleman in Monroe county, which joins Wayne 

 county on the west : 



A considerable part of the wheat of 1884 was injured by the Hes- 

 sian-fly, which crinkled the straw so that the heads of wheat were cut 

 off too short to be gathered in harvest. On some fields this scatter- 



16 



