REMEDIES AGAINST THE WHEAT-FLY. 599 



Massachusetts, says that this preventive, if not infallible, 

 may be relied on with strong confidence.* For every acre 

 of grain, from one peck to a bushel of newly slacked lime 

 or of good wood-ashes will be required ; and this should 

 be scattered over the plants when they are wet with dew 

 or rain. Two or three applications of it have sometimes 

 been found necessary. 



Whether it be possible to destroy the maggots after they 

 have left the grain, and have betaken themselves to their 

 winter quarters, just below the surface of the ground, re- 

 mains to be proved. Some persons have advised ploughing 

 up the ground, soon after the grain is harvested, in order 

 to kill the maggots, or to bury them so deeply that they 

 could not make their escape when transformed to flies. I 

 am inclined to think that deep ploughing will prove to be 

 the best and most practicable remedy. Perhaps thoroughly 

 liming the soil before it is ploughed may contribute to the 

 destruction of the insects. The chaff, dust, and refuse straw 

 should be carefully examined, and, if found to contain any 

 of the maggots, should be immediately burnt. It is stated 

 that our crops may be saved from injury by sowing early 

 in the autumn or late in the spring. By the first, it is sup- 

 posed that the grain will become hard before many of the 

 flies make their appearance ; and by the latter, the plants 

 will not come into blossom until the flies have disappeared. 

 In those parts of New England where these insects have 

 done the greatest injury, the cultivation of fall-sown or 

 winter grain has been given up ; and this, for some years 

 to come, will be found the safest course. The proper time 

 for sowing in the spring will vary with the latitude and 

 elevation of the place, and the forwardness of the season. 

 From numerous observations made in this part of the coun- 

 try, it appears that grain sown after the loth or 20th of May 

 generally escapes the ravages of these destructive insects. 

 Late sowing has almost entirely banished the wheat-flies 



* Third Report on the Agriculture of Massachusetts, p. 67. 



