130 CLOVER CULTURE. 



the well known periods of the appearance of the midge, seem* 

 to have been found entirely practicable in Ohio and eastern 

 states where the midge has fully established itself. It is im- 

 portant to use very great care in procuring seed, as the midge 

 is likely to be carried in the seed and planted where it will 

 develop and form a new starting point for this pest. Clover 

 seed should never be purchased except after being examined, 

 with a strong magnifying glass. With or without a glass 

 the best way of detecting it is by running a handful on white 

 paper, and if the maggots are in the seed they will be easily 

 recognized. Where they are found the seed should be re- 

 jected, although they would probably be destroyed by the hot 

 water treatment known as that of Jensen for smut; viz. r 

 steeping the seed just before sowing, first in water at a tem- 

 perature of 120 degrees, and then afterward in water of the 

 temperature of 135 degrees. Although we have never tried 

 this on clover seed, oats has been found to endure this tem- 

 perature for fifteen minutes. Miss Eleanor Ormerod, of St. 

 Albans, Eng., formerly consulting entomologist of the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, states that the midge has been found in 

 American seed exported to England, and emphasizes the ne- 

 cessity for the greatest watchfulness in, purchasing clover 

 seed from any locality known to be infected. 



Like most other insects when they multiply in great num- 

 bers, the clover-seed midge seems to have its parasites. Prof. 

 Riley, in his report to the Commissioner of Agriculture, to be 

 found in the Report of the Department of Agriculture for 

 1879, page 196, describes two parasites which work on the 

 midge and greatly reduce their numbers. The first is a chal- 

 cid, called Eurytoma funebris, belonging to the same family 

 as the joint worm fly. This parasite, which is very minute, 

 undergoes its transformations within the seed, and gnaws an 

 irregular hole through the seed large enough to let it out 

 shortly after the time when the maggots have left the seed to- 

 go into the ground. An examination of an infected field by 

 Prof. Riley on the 20th of June showed that five-sixths of the 

 seed had been destroyed by the midges, and that four-fifths of 

 the midges had been destroyed by this parasite. 



Another parasite, belonging to a different family, called 

 Platygaster error, (Fitch,) has been found working on the 

 midge in New York. Instead of undergoing its transforma- 

 tions entirely within the seed, the parasite stays with the 

 midge, goes with it into the ground and emerges as a full- 

 grown parasite from the cocoon of the midge. Prof. Beal in 

 his work on grasses, p. 391, states that the larva (of the fall 

 brood, of course) has been found in seed on the market, and 



