HOW TO DETECT OUTBREAKS OF INSECTS AND 

 SAVE THE GRAIN CROPS. 



CONTENTS. 



A GREAT portion of the annual loss to the grain crop due to 

 insect injuries can be avoided by vigilance and vigorous action 

 on the part of the grain growers. Insect outbreaks frequently orig- 

 inate within limited areas, and when this is the case it often is pos- 

 sible to stamp them out before any great damage has occurred. In 

 other instances the outbreaks are of general origin, and then com- 

 munity action is essential in order that the inroads of the pest may 

 be overcome. The most serious insect enemies of cereal crops, such 

 as the Hessian fly, the chinch bug, and white grubs, belong to the 

 latter class. In the case of these and other widely distributed foes 

 of the grains no means of stopping their ravages will be fully 

 successful until community action can be secured in adopting the 

 methods of combat at present advocated by entomologists. 



Fall plowing, doubtless, is the most universally beneficial practice 

 for the control of the insect pests of cereal crops, and this measure 

 should be adopted except where it is rendered impossible by local 

 agricultural conditions. Corn never should be planted on freshly 

 broken sod land, because this practice is almost certain to expose 

 the crop to the ravages of cutworms, wireworms, and white grubs. 

 Crops belonging to the bean family, such as cowpeas, soy beans, 

 clover, alfalfa, etc., may be interposed safely between sod and grain 

 and especially between sod and corn, in order that injury to the grain 

 crops by these pests may be avoided. 



HESSIAN FLY. 1 



The Hessian fly, found throughout almost the entire winter-wheat 

 region (fig. 1), is a minute, mosquitolike fly which lays its eggs upon 



1 Phytophafja destructor Say. 



