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Hessian Fly ; Grain Moth ; Cut Worm. 



Philadelphia, October 30, 1817. 



Sir, 



It seems probable that the eggs for one of the broods 

 of the Hessian fly, are deposited in the stubble, or young 

 shoots about the old stalk of wheat ; for, that the insect 

 evolved in the spring, is so long lived as to deposit eggs 

 in the autumn, is hardly credible ; if this is the fact, it 

 follows, that destroying the stubble by burning, &c. 

 would also destroy the superabundance of these insects. 

 The experiment is well worth trying, and if done by 

 farmers simultaneously, wherever these insects have ap- 

 peared, the probability of success would of course be 

 still more obvious. Perhaps ploughing in the stubble, or 

 rolling it, would answer the same end if done at the pro- 

 per season, or proper state of the weather. 



I have not carefully examined the grain moth, though 

 it is to be found here plentifully, in the grain loft of eve- 

 ry brewery, in the warm weather. I will certainly attend 

 to it in the proper season, but at present I will observe, 

 that it most probably is a naturalized foreigner, and not 

 an indigenous insect ; if so, it may be the Tinea granella 

 which is the pest of corn lofts in Europe. Its wings are 

 described as marbled with grey, brown, and black, a lit- 

 tle elevated behind, and with a white head ; its larva 

 unites the grains together by means of its web, forming 

 a sort of tube, from which it occasionally ventures forth 

 to devour the grain. Upon recurring to your letter, I 



