INSECTS NOTABLY INJURIOUS. IN 1902. 
F. L. WASHBURN. 

iE ES SVAING EY: 
Cecidomyia destructor, Say. 
This pest well deserves to head the list as I found it alarm- 
ingly abundant over the southern, southwestern and the entire 
western part of Minnesota. Complaints began to come in about 
Aug. 5, and from that time on increased in numbers until after 
Aug. 11, when every mail brought letters relative to this insect. 
It has been a very favorable year for the fly, an abundance of 
moisture being highly favorable for its development. The result 
of its attacks appears most serious where grain is on sandy soil, 
evidently because, on account of thinner growth, the stalks fall 
more easily, while on richer soils the ranker growth helps to keep 
up the weaker plants. 
Reports of injury have come from: Perham, Mora, Fergus 
Falls, Little Falls, Crookston, Moorhead, Lake Park, Hawley, 
Pelican, McIntosh, Alexandria, Beltrami, Litchfield, Maine, War- 
ren, Luverne, Cambridge, Kensington, Stodt, Oswell, Forest City, 
Glyndon, Gentilly, Liberty, Lynd and Garfield; representing the 
following counties: Otter Tail, Kennebec, Polk, Clay, Becker, 
Douglas, Meeker, Marshall, Rock, Isanti, Lyon and Morrison. 
Personal investigation upon the farms of G. E. Pratt near Mc- 
Intosh, Eli Benoit near Gentilly, E. J. Grover near Glyndon and 
_ Mr. North and G. S. Barnes in Clay county ; James Hanna, Forest 
City, E. J. Scott near Fergus, E. S. Wemple and Eli Dewey same 
place; Mr. Gruett, Clay county, Henry Bausman, Fergus, A. J. 
Letson, Philip Rutter, L. Bartlett, A. J. Thompson, J. M. Whigh- 
ton, George Renzell and W. H. Mitchell all near Alexandria, re- 
vealed the fact that loss from this pest ranged from a fraction of 
one per cent to as high as fifty per cent in a few localities or 
parts of farms, and Mr. Keefe of Maine stated that his wheat 
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