126 



AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



Fijc. 11. 



land. Steeping the grain and rolling it in plaster or lime tends to pro- 

 mote a vigorons growth, and is therefore beneficial. Quicklime strewed 

 over the field immediately after the grain is cut would doubtless destroy 

 many of the pupa?. Sowing the field with wood-ashes, two bushels to 

 the acre, in autumn, and then again the first and last weeks in April, and 

 as late in May as the field can be passed orer without injury, has been 

 found useful ; and it is recommended that fresh seed be procured from 



localities not infested by the insect. 

 There are several parasitic hymenop- 

 terous insects in Europe which de- 

 stroy this insect, viz, Chalci8, Mac- 

 roglenes, Flatygaster ilnostemma) 

 semiotellus, (or Geraphron^) «S:c., and 

 which serve very materially to di- 

 minish the number of these insect 

 pests, and which might probably be 

 introduced with benefit. The larvae 

 of the wheat-midge, {Diplosis (Ceci- 

 domyia) destructor^) (Fig. 11,) in the 

 Western States are frequently mis- 

 called the weevil or red weevil, from 

 the color of the maggots. They are 

 very destructive to wheat, barley, rye, 

 grass, &c. The eggs are deposited in 

 June and Jnly, in the opening flowers of the grain. These hatch in 

 about eight days, and produce minute, orange-colored grubs, which feed 

 upon the juices of the grain when in a milky state, inside the chaff or 

 outer covering, or upon the pollen of the flower. When fully grown 

 most of the larvse descend and burrow in the earth, where they remain 

 all winter. The pupse usually are formed in the ground in May or June ; 

 some, however, remain in the heads, and the perfect fly or midge makes 

 its appearance the following season to deposit its eggs on the grain and 

 grass. Dr. Fitch says that late sowing is one of the most easy and suc- 

 cessful expedients to avoid the injury caused by them. Dr. Harris states 

 that fumigation, by biu^ning strips of woolen cloth dipped in melted 

 brimstone, to the windward side of the field, at the time the grain is in 

 bloom, i)roves very offensive to the flies when depositing their eggs. 

 Some farmers, however, who have made atrial of it, say that the remedy 

 is of no xH'actical benefit. Lime or ashes, strewn over the grain when 

 in blossom and wet with dew, will be useful. I^ewly-slaked lime and 

 wood-ashes will be required, in the proportion of a peck to a bushel to 

 the acre. When the maggots have left the grain and are in the ground, 

 plowing is recommended as soon as the grain is harvested. Per- 

 haps thoroughly liming the sod before plowing might aid in the de- 

 struction of these insects. A sieve may be used in winnowing to sepa- 

 rate the chaff from the pupae and dust, which should be destroyed ; or 

 the chaff' and refuse-straw together, containing the larvae or pupae, 

 should be scalded, burnt, or otherwise destroyed. Early sowing of all 

 wheat in the autumn, or late sowing of spring wheat in the spring, will 

 enable the wheat to become too far advanced, and hard, before the fly 

 makes its appearance in the first case, and by not coming into blossom 

 in the last, until the flies haA^e disappeared. When the midge has been 

 very abundant the previous summer, deep fall plowing has been recom- 

 mended, and a different crop should be put on the next season. 



In Massachusetts, w^heat sown after the 15th or 20th of May generally 

 escapes the ravages of the midge. Dr. Fitch states that in 1854= this 



