REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 19<J 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



'Waterford (ISTorfolk Co.), Out., December 3. — In the townships of Townsen<P. 

 and of Windham, the Hessian Fly will nearly ruin the whole wheat crop. My wheat 

 is half dead now, but some of it has started up from the root again. I have counted 

 as many as nine flax seeds on one stem. I sowed my wheat on September 19 and 20.. 

 I do not thinlv there will be half a crop of wheat. Some farmers sowed earlier and: 

 some later, but their wheat is as bad as mine.' — William Schram. 



Every plant sent with the above letter was heavily infested, and the roots were 

 apparently quite dead, with no appearance of new shoots being thrown out, as in the 

 case of the plants sent from the same place by Mr. Cowdry. 



* Gilencoe (Middlesex Co.), Ont., December 4. — The fall wheat is so badly killed' 

 that there is very little left. There will be hardly a field left by spring. I sowed my 

 first wheat on September 14, and on the 18th I sowed another field. The field I sowed 

 last is the worst I have, but it is a weak growing variety called Kansas Turkey Red.. 

 All the rest of my wheat is Dawson's. One of my neighbours sowed September 1; all 

 is gone. Another sowed on October 1, and this is not affected so far as I can see,, 

 but it did not make much top. I was about 40 miles west from here, and I saw a 

 great amount of the wheat affected. Some was not up which was sowed very late. 

 I sowed a field for one of my neighbours on September 19 on a gravelly loam. There 

 is not a single green leaf left in the field. I notice that there is a little more green- 

 ness on the heavy clay than on the loam, gravel or sand. We had no frost until very 

 late this year.' — James Glasgow. 



The samples sent by Mr. G-lasgow were all badly attacked, and about equally, by 

 the Hessian Fly (every specimen of which was in the flax-seed state) and by the 

 Wheat-stem Maggot (Meromyza americana. Fitch), all in the larval state. 



It will be seen from the above letters, which cover all the point-; brought forward 

 in other letters, that there are two features about this year's attack by the Hessian 

 Fly which are unusual. In the first place, the severity of the outbreak, accompanied 

 by a remarkable number of puparia in each stem, and the late date at which the 

 flies were active and laying their eggs this autumn, thus necessitating at least a delay 

 of one week more beyond the usual date recommended for safety, viz., the third week 

 in September, before it will be safe to sow fall wheat and have it free fro'm the 

 attack of this enemy. From correspondence and a personal investigation of the fields, 

 in the Niagara Peninsula made early in December, this year, it was apparent that 

 late sowing was attended with very beneficial results. Owing to the open and mild 

 autumn this year, it was possible to sow later than usual, and several fields sown in 

 the beginning of October were much freer from attack than those which were sown at 

 what was considered to be the proper time, namely, the end of August ot the begin- 

 ning of September. 



For many years previous to 1899 the Hessian Fly has done very little harm in 

 Canada to fall wheat, and as a result of a great many experiments which are being- 

 carried out .every year by the members of the Ontario Experimental Union, and other 

 progressive farmers, it had become well known that the best crops were reaped from: 

 fall wheat sown at or before September 1. This, therefore, had given rise to the 

 opinion that the proper time to sow fall wheat was at or about the date mentioned^ 

 This, however, is only true in such seasons and localities as the Hessian Fly and 

 Wheat-stem Maggot are not abundant ; but in periods when these two serious enemies 

 increase, as has been the case during the present season and last year, it will be found 

 that the proper season to sow fall wheat and rye is subseqvient to the time when the 

 egg-laying females of the autumn broods of both of these insects have disappeared. 

 For a year or two, at any rate, it will certainly pay farmers to acquaint themselves^ 

 better with the life histories of these insects and the remedies which have been found 

 successful in preventing the losses due to. their attacks. 



The life history and the remedies for the Hessian Fly have been frequently 

 given in the reports of this Division, and were fully treated in last year's report, 

 but it may be well here to again give a short synopsis of these. 



