REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 

 SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



173 



BO as to destroy them or the pupse before the flies emerge. I have suggested that this 

 may be done either by ploughing deeply or by burning over the stubbles. As a few of 

 the cocoons occur high enough up in the straw to be cut with the grain, all straw which 

 cannot be used during the winter should be burnt. 



The Hessian Fly (Cecidomyia destructor, Say). — This destructive insect, which 

 a few years ago was the cause of such extensive loss in the fall wheat-growing districts 

 of Ontario, was hardly noticed during the past season. Prof. 

 Lochhead, of the Ontario Agricultural College, writes : ' This 

 pest of wheat, barley and rye is no longer a serious enemy in 

 the province. It has only been observed in one or two localities 

 during the past season. In the vicinity of Georgetown it did 

 much damage in wheat grown on stubble. A correspondent 

 writes : " In good crops very little harm was done. On one 

 occasion, in passing along the road, I noticed in a badly injured 

 field that there was one very luxuriant patch of grain. I ex- 

 amined this patch, where evidently a pile of manure had lain, 

 and found that the straw and grain were in good condition. I 

 could not find a single stalk infested by the Hessian Fly." Most 

 farmers are practising late sowing, that is about September 15. 

 This probably had a good deal to do with the disappearance of 

 the Fly.' 

 Fig. 4— Hpssian Fly : Eeports from Prince Edward Island show that the Hes- 



injured wheat-stem; 3 sian Fly was noticeably present in several localities, and Mr. 

 pupana-eBlarged. ^ j McMillan informs me that there was a considerable 

 amount of loss in some places. In the West, Hessian Fly was mentioned quite 

 frequently in correspondence from Manitoba and the Territories, but I believe that 

 there was a confusion, in some instances at any rate, with the work of the Wheat-stem 

 Sawfly. The only account of a serious outbreak was from Beulah, Man., where Mr. 

 A. J. Dennis reports that ' the Hessian Fly has been much thicker this summer than 

 I ever saw it.* 



On tlie whole, however, there was probably not quite so much injury in Manitoba 

 this year from Hessian Fly attack as in 1902. As has been frequently stated, there is 

 normally only one annual brood of the Hessian Fly in Manitoba; consequently, the 

 remedy is comparatively simple as compared with Ontario and the eastern provinces, 

 where the insect is carried over in fall wheat. When Hessian Fly is known to be 

 present in a district the grain should be cut high and the stubble burned over or 

 ploughed down in autumn, and straw should be fed or burnt before the time the flies 

 emerge the following spring. Screenings and rubbish from threshing machines should 

 be put where poultry can get at them or where they will be trampled into the 

 ground during the winter by stock. 



LOCUSTS. 



Locusts, or grasshoppers, which have been the cause of much anxiety in Manitoba 

 during the past three years, again appeared last spring in the same localities as pre- 

 viously. They were so abundant that the provincial 

 Minister of Agriculture again thought it wise to 

 help farmers with advice and to supply Paris green 

 for poisoning them with. Mr. Hugh McKellar, the 

 . , ^, „ , „ energetic Chief Clerk of the Department of Agri- 



Fig. 5.-Tho Rocky Mountam Locust, culture, by instruction of his Minister, visited tiie 

 infested districts and made arrangements for the distribution of poison. This was 

 taken advantage of by many farmers, who used the Criddle Mixture with great satis- 



