138 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



year as possible there will be but little damage. It is obvious 

 that the stubble should be plowed under where possible, or burned 

 during the late fall or winter. Cut infested grain as low as pos- 

 sible so as to remove the larva) in the straw. Where the stubble 

 cannot be burned, break it down by harrowing in the spring and 

 then collect with a hayrake and burn. Prepare the seed bed 

 thoroughly and fertilize well, when injury is expected, so as to 



FIG. 100. Swellings made by wheat joint-worms in straw enlarged. (After 



Pettit.) 



ensure a strong growth and early ripening. Green manure 

 containing infested straw should not. be scattered on land to be 

 used for wheat, and all infested straw which has not been used 

 up by April should be burned. 



.The Wheat Straw-worm * 



" The Wheat Straw-worm," says Professor F. M.Webster/' sus- 

 tains the same relation to winter-wheat culture west of the Miss- 

 issippi River that the joint-worm does to the cultivation of this 

 cereal east of this river. Both, when excessively abundant, 

 occasion losses from slight to total. A wheat stem attacked 

 by the joint- worm may produce grain of a more or less inferior 

 quality and less of it; but the spring attack of the wheat straw- 

 * Isosoma grande Riley. Family Chalcidida >. 



