168 • EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



5-6 EDWARD VII., A. 1906 



for liciy while there is any risk of allowing the Joint Worm to increase. Moreover, if 

 a few pounds of clover seed are mixed with the grass seed at the time of sowing, the 

 growth of clover will much more than pay for the seed used by the extra fertility thus 

 added to the soil. Mr. Rattee states that the areas specially infested in his district were 

 the western portion of Queen's county and the eastern part of Prince county. 



The standard remedies for Joint Worms are deep ploughing or the burning over of 

 stubble before the insects emerge in spring, the destruction of straw and screenings, 

 and a short rotation of crops, with high farming to keep up the fertility of the soil. 

 Prof. F. M. Webster, who has made a special study of the insect enemies of small 

 grains, writes on this subject in Circular No. 66, U. S. Bureau of Entomology, as 

 follows : ' There are no known remedies for Joint Worms ; but, there are several pre- 

 ventive measures that are not impracticable and are reasonably efficient. The Joint 

 Worm Convention which was held many years ago at Warrenton in Virginia, recom- 

 mended officially that a better system of farming be adopted, with the use of guano 

 and other fertilizers, to promote a rapid growth and early ripening of the grain, and 

 also the burning of stubble, all of which are as advisable to-day as they were at that 

 time. The most serious ravages are observed on thin or impoverished soils, aspecially 

 along the margins of the fields infested. Anything, then, that tends to add vigour to 

 the young growing grain, will constitute a preventive measure. Burning the stubble 

 where this is practicable, is, of course, most efficacious ; but, over the larger portion of 

 the territory ravaged by this pest, it is customary to seed for grass after wheat, and 

 under this condition burning over the stubble fields is impossible. Such fields should 

 be raked over with an ordinary hay rake and the loosened stubble removed and burned 

 before the adults emerge in spring.' 



If the straw can be cut low enough to carry the larva-bearing joints from the field 

 with the crop, the using up of this straw before spring would dispose of the insects in 

 a satisfactory manner. It must not be forgotten that at threshing time many of the 

 broken off hardened pieces of straw become separated and are carried through with 

 the grain or with the rubbish. These, therefore, must be attended to in some way 

 which will destroy the larvte or prevent them from hatching in the spring. All screen- 

 ings are far better for feed when crushed, and the larvae in the refuse might be de- 

 stroyed by placing this in a cattle yard, where it would be trodden into the sodden 

 earth, or into a fresh manure pile, where the insects would be destroyed by the heat of 

 fermentation or by being saturated with the ammoniacal liquids. 



The Wheat Midge (Diplosis iriiici, Kirby). — In my last year's report I referred 

 to an outbreak of this old enemy of the wheat grower, in the Chilliwack valley of 

 British Columbia. As it was thought possible that the injury might recur this year, 

 a full account of the life history was then given, with a list of the best remedies. 

 During the past summer the Wheat Midge again appeared and was the cause of much 

 loss. Mr. Thomas A. Sharpe, the Superintendent of the Experimental Farm for British 

 Columbia, reports as follows : — 



' Agassiz, July 19. — Our spring wheat is badly infested with weevil ( = Wheat 

 Midge). Last year it took a large share of Chilliwack spring wheat and some late 

 patches on this side. This year it is taking every one's crop so far as I can hear.' 



In 1904 the British Columbia outbreak was the only one reported; but during 

 the season of 1905 I have received reports that the Wlieat Midge has been detected at 

 one or two localities in Ontario and in Prince Edward Island. Undoubted specimens 

 were received from the Rev. E. J. Rattee, of Malpeque, P.E.I., and Dr. Charles E. 

 Saunders handed me a specimen found at Ottawa in wheat grown on the Experimental 

 Farm. He further tells me that he found a few of the larvae last year, when examining 

 hybrid wheats produced in the experimental plots. He also gave me grains of wheat 

 showing the characteristic injury of this insect. In the Ontario Crop Report for 

 Augiist last it is stated that, although all correspondents are silent as to the presence 

 of Hessian Fly, three or four mention injury from either Midge or Joint Worm. 



