52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
grain fields which had been plowed year after year and produced wheat 
three or four seasons as in other areas where seeding is commonly put 
in with the grain and therefore plowing is impossible after harvest. 
Furthermore, even if deep plowing did materially influence the abund- 
ance of the midge, there is a question as to whether farmers could be 
induced to modify their practices in order to obtain a slight benefit 
in reducing the probability of infestation by midge. 
The amount of infestation in fields remote from other wheat was 
carefully examined and here again little encouraging was found. 
The wheat midge, in areas where it is prevalent, appears to be fairly 
uniformly distributed throughout the entire section, occurring in 
almost equal abundance in wheat fields comparatively remote from 
land where grain had been grown the preceding year. There was 
also very little difference in the infestation between the margins of 
fields where the insects would presumably have better shelter through 
the winter and the middle of large fields in wheat. } 
There is some difference in the susceptibility of varieties, the 
bearded wheats with coarse hulls and considerable mineral matter 
in the chafi appear to be somewhat more free from the pest than the 
softer strawed, beardless varieties. White chaff, for example, was 
very frequently less infested, sometimes markedly so, than no. 6. 
There is a question as to whether this immunity is sufficiently great to 
warrant changing from one variety to another and asa rule that would 
not be advised. 
The survey brought out rather distinctly the fact that the more 
vigorous fields of wheat were as a rule less affected by the midge. 
This may possibly have been due to the fact that there was just as 
much midge in these fields as in the others and that the apparent 
difference was due to more numerous and larger heads; in other words, 
to a larger proportion of grain rather than a reduction in the number 
of maggots. It is quite possible that the truth is midway between 
these extremes and that the unusually good fields of wheat, because 
of their vigor, developed more grain and at the same time presented 
conditions less favorable to the midge so that somewhat more of the 
pests succumbed than if the growth of the grain had been less rapid. 
It is certainly true that no harm can come from giving the best possible 
fitting to wheat ground and thus putting the crop in the very best 
condition to outgrow its various enemies. 
It is very probable that weather conditions at the time the wheat 
is heading has a material influence upon the midge. Unusually 
cool, moist weather keeps the developing grain in a more succulent 
and therefore presumably more favorable condition for the growth of 
