10 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
Wheat midge was prevalent in the rye fields of the eastern part 
of the State and caused somewhat more damage thanin 1917. The 
wheat fields of the western section were also generally infested by 
this insect. A survey of the situation in Erie, Genesee, Niagara 
and Orleans counties disclosed a general prevalence of the insect 
practically without reference to time of sowing, depth of plowing 
or previous treatment, though it was noteworthy that, generally 
speaking, the more vigorous fields showed less of the pest. The 
bearded wheats are usually lessinfested. The results of these studies 
are summarized in the body of the report. 
Grass lands, specially pastures and corn fields, were seriously 
injured in Broome county localities by grass webworms, the asso- 
ciated bronze-colored cutworm and also the greasy cutworm. There 
were complaints of serious injury to corn by webworms and damage 
by the lined corn borer was also reported. 
Investigation by the Entomologist of the European corn Dees 
shows it to be very destructive in eastern Massachusetts. The occur- 
rence of the pest in this state means possibly great losses unless 
there is early and effective control. Potentially it is a serious 
enemy of corn and other important crops. It is extremely desirable 
to prevent its spread. The history of other pests in this country 
suggests that actual extermination, though costly, would be true 
economy. There should be at least a determined effort to accomp- 
lish this through federal and state agencies. 
Field crops. There was some injury to beans by the seed corn 
maggot. This was much less than in 1917 in spite of the fact that 
there was considerable wet weather. The comparative immunity 
was due largely to modifications in methods, care being taken not 
to put beans on wet land, and if this was necessary, shallow rather 
than deep planting seemed to be the rule. 
Potato aphis appeared toward the end of June on Long Island and 
later developed in the Hudson valley and was reported from the 
central part of the State. The history of the attack was very similar 
to that of 1917. The damage was markedly less, because the farmers 
more generally appreciated the status of the pest and were ready to 
adopt control measures whenever conditions justified them. 
Black flea-beetles were unusually abundant and injurious on 
Long Island, in the Hudson valley and in some other sections of 
the State, the damage being limited mostly to potato and tomato 
plants recently transplanted. The probabilities are that poor 
culture the preceding year, due presumably to scarcity of labor, was 
a factor in producing conditions favorable to injury by this pest. 
