THE WHEAT CULTUKIST. 417 



wheat insects is, to commence with the seed first, as 

 directed in the chapter on Seed Grain. Follow all the 

 minute directions about cultivating and fertilizing the 

 soil, so as to produce a luxuriant and healthy growth of 

 both straw and grain ; sow the seed at the most pro- 

 pitious period ; and the growth of the grain will be so 

 healthful and rapid, that the insects will do but little 

 damage. Read the remarks about The Best Time to 

 Sow Wheat, on pages 260-269. 



Levi Bartlett, an experienced farmer of Warner, 

 N". H., writes : 



" To avoid injury from the ravages of the midge, 

 some farmers, when the season will permit, sow early, 

 sometimes in the latter part of April. In favorable 

 seasons the wheat gets into blossom before the fly makes 

 its appearance, and thus the grain mostly escapes the 

 midge and rust. Others prefer sowing their wheat late, 

 say from the 20th of May till 1st of June, the midge 

 having generally disappeared before the wheat comes 

 into bloom. But late-sown wheat is more liable to 

 suffer loss from rust, mildew, etc., than the early sown. 

 From better manuring of the land, and more care in its 

 preparation for the reception of the seeds, wheat-grow- 

 ing is evidently upon the increase in this State ; though 

 much of this increase is derived from the more extended 

 culture of winter wheat within the past ten years. 

 Winter wheat can be grown, yielding good crops, on 

 low-lying farms, where it was useless to attempt the 

 raising of spring wheat, for the reason that the winter 

 wheat would, when sown early, and on suitable soil, get 

 so far advanced in growth before the appearance of the 

 midge fly, as to entirely escape its ravages, provided the 

 soil is filled with grain-producing pabulum." 



18* 



