300 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



MARCH »*, I84I. 



Kot the New England Karmor. 



WHEAT INSECTS. 

 Wheat, barley, corn, and other grains, are sub 

 ject to the attacks of many different kinds of in- 

 sects, the history of which does not seem to be so 

 well known as it (jught to be, to enable us to pro- 

 vide effectually against the ravages of these insects. 

 Although much has been written on this subject 

 by naturalists in foreign countries, their writings 

 are not generally accessible here, and we are obli;;- 

 ed to depend for information mostly on our own 

 observations and resources. Naturalists seldom 

 have sufficient opportunities for making the neces- 

 sary investigations and experiments ; for these they 

 must look to the farmer, who will be able to fur- 

 nish valuable materials, if he prepares himself for 

 the task, by previously obtaining such a general 

 knowledge of the habits and transformations of in- 

 sects, as will qualify him to become a careful and 

 accurate observer. It is with a view to excite fur- 

 ther attention to the history of these insects, and 

 with the hope of procuring, thereby, more full and 

 correct details respecting the liabits of those which 

 are injurious to wheat and other grains, that I pro- 

 pose to make a few remarks upon some of thrm. 



Wheat is exposed to injury from insects in three 

 ways : by those that devour it after it is stored in 

 barns and granaries ; by those that attack the ears 

 while growing ; and by those which prey upon the 

 roots, the stems, and the leaves of the plant. 



Several kinds of insects are found to be very de- 

 structive to stored grain in Europe, and some of 

 them have also been observed in this country. One 

 of these is the grain-weevil (Cnlandra granaria,) 

 properly so called. This, in its perfected state, is 

 a little hard-shelled beetle, of a pitchy red color, 

 about one eighth of an inch long, with a slender 

 snout bent downwards, and a rather narrow and 

 slightly flattened body, apparently consisting of 

 two tiearly equal portions, the anterior of which is 

 the thorax or chest, and the hinder one the abdo- 

 men, on the top of which are theshort wing-covers. 

 This little beetle lays its eggs in wheat after the 

 latter is housed, putting only one egg into a single 

 grain. Tlie young, hatched from the egg, is a lit- 

 tle white grub, without legs. It burrows immedi- 

 ately into the grain, devouis the substance within, 

 leaving the hull only untouched, and remains con- 

 cealed till it has finished its work of destruction, 

 when it turns to a chrysalis, and soon afterwards to 

 a beetle like its parents, and then coines out of the 

 hull, and, alter pairing, provides for another genera- 

 tion of weevil-grubs. So prolific are tliese insects, 

 that a single pair may produce above six thousand 

 descendants in one year. It is said that our stored 

 wheat and corn are infested by these destructive 

 weevils, or by some insects closely resembling 

 them ; but to what extent I have not yet been able 

 to ascertain. If persons who have noticed these 

 weevils will send me specimens of them in the 

 beetle state, it will enable me to determine whether 

 they are the same as the grain weevils of Europe. 

 Another beetle (Trogosila mauritujiicaj about 

 one quarter of an inch long, of a chesnut-brown 

 color with a flattened bocly, a short thorax and 

 large head, is found among grain in Europe, where 

 it is called cade/Ze. The young of this beetle are 

 long, somewhat flattened, whitish grubs, narrowed 

 towiirds the head, which is brown and horny, and 

 armed with powerful nippers. They have six legs 

 under the fore part of the body. When fully 

 grown they measure about three eighths of an inch 



in length. These grubs devour stored grain in 

 Europe, and often do much damage to it; but I am 

 not aware that they have been found in our own 

 garners. i 



The most destructive insects to stored grain are 

 the young of a small moth (Tinea grnnella,) the 1 

 depredations of which are often carried to an alarm- 

 ing extent. The grain moth has a tuft of white 

 hairs on its head : its wings cover its back like a 

 sloping roof, but they are a little turned up behind, 

 and are edged with a deep fringe. The upper 

 wings are marked with grey, brown, and black, and 

 have the lustre of satin ; the lower or hinder wings 

 are blacki.^h. Its length, when the wings are 

 closed, is between three and four tenths of an inch, 

 and the winjjs expand six tenths of an inch. It 

 lays its eggs on the grain in May, June, or .luly, 

 sometimes early and sometimes late, according to 

 the season, and the young are hatched in a few 

 days afterwards. Those young insects gnaw into 

 the grain, covering the hole with a I'ttle web, and 

 afterwards fasten togetlier several grains with silk- 

 en threads, so as to forma larger cavity, lined with- 

 in with silk, in which they live. Thus wheat, bar- 

 ley, rye and oats, all of which they attack, will be 

 found full of lumps of grains cemented together by 

 these corn-worms, as they are called ; and some- 

 times the whole surface of the grain in the bin will 

 be covered with their webs. These worm-like de- 

 stroyers are really caterpillars, of a cylindrical form, 

 tapering a little at each extremity, and provided 

 with sixteen legs, the first three pairs of which are 

 conical and jointed, and the others fleshy and wart- 

 like. When fully grown they measure from three 

 to four tenths of an inch in length, and are of a 

 lioht ochre or buff color, with a reddish head. In 

 August or September, they get into cracks, or 

 around the sides of corn-bins; and each one makes 

 itself a little pod or cocoon, within which it remains 

 through the winter. In March or -April following, 

 they take the chrysalis form; and three weeks af- 

 terwards the shining brown chrysalis forces itself 

 part way out of the cocoon, and bursts open at one 

 end, so as to allow the little n.oth therein confined 

 to come forth. 



The foregoing account will probably enable the 

 readers of this paper to determine whetlier these 

 destructive insects are found in our own country. — 

 From various statements, deficient however in ex- 

 actness, which have appeared in some of our agri- 

 cultural journals, I am led to suspect that this corn- 

 moth, or an insect exactly like it in its habits, pre- 

 vails in all jiarts of the country, and that it has 

 generally been mistaken for the grain-weevil, which 

 it very far surpasses in its devastations. INJany 

 years ago I remember to have seen oats and shelled 

 corn (maize,) affected in the way above described, 

 and have observed seed-corn, hanging in the ears, 

 to have been attacked by insects of this kind, the 

 empty chrysalids of which remained sticking out 

 between the kernels ; but for some time past no 

 opportunity for making further investigations has 

 offered itself 



There is another grain moth, which, at various 

 times, has been found to be more destructive in 

 granaries, in some provinces of France, than the 

 preceding kind. It is the Angoitmois moth, (Alucita 

 cerealella, of Olivier,) -ipparently identical with the 

 CEcophora granetta, of Latreille.* From an inter- 

 esting little book of this insect, by Duhainel du 

 Monceau, and from Reaumur's "Memoires," I gath- 



"AI30 named TV;iea Hurdei and Ypsolophus granellus, 

 by Kirby and Spence. 



er the following particulars. The Angoumois moth, 

 so named from a part of France where it was first 

 noticed, is, in its perfected state, a four-winged in- 

 sect, about three eighths of an inch long, when its 

 wings are closed. It has a pair of curved feelers 

 turned over its head. Its upper wings are narrow, 

 of a light brown color, with the lustre of satin; 

 they are folded over the body lengthwise, and hori- 

 zontally above, but droop a little at the sides : the 

 rest of the body is ash-colored. This moth lays its 

 eggs, which vary in number from sixty to ninety, 

 on the ears of wheat, rye and barley, most often 

 while these plants are growing in the fields, but 

 sometimes also on the stored grain. The little 

 worm-like caterpillars, as soon as they are hatched 

 from these eggs, disperse, and each one selects a 

 single grain into which it burrows immediately at 

 the most lender part, and remains concealed there- 

 in after the grain is harvested. It devours the 

 mealy substance within the hull, and this destruc- 

 tion goes on so secretly, that it can only be detect- 

 ed by the loss of weight in the grain. When fully 

 grown, this kind of caterpillar is not more than one 

 fifth of an inch long. It is of a white color, and 

 has sixteen legs, resembling those of the corn-worm 

 already described, (t has also, just behind the 

 head, two little horns, and two short bristles at the 

 end of ihe body. It turns to a chrysalis within the 

 hull of the grain, having previously gnawed away 

 the inside of one end, so as to profide for its future 

 escape; and, in due time, it changes to a moth, 

 and conies out of the empty hull. 



It forms no part of my present purpose to state 

 what are the means to be employed for cbeckinc the 

 ravages of insects in stored wheat and other grain. 

 I apprehend that this subject is well understood by 

 our farmers and milllers. My object will be an- 

 swered if the foregoing plain descriptions will ena-' 

 ble other persons, who enjoy opportunities which I 

 do not possess, to ascertain by careful observation 

 whether any of these destructive insects are found 

 here ; and I trust they may be induced to make 

 known the result of their observations. It will be 

 perceived that, of the four insects herein described, 

 only one has any claim to the name of grain-wee. 

 vil or wheat-weevil. It is to be hoped, therefore, 

 that hereafter this name will be confined to the 

 true culprit. T. W. HARRIS. 



Cambridge, March 10, 1841. 



(To he conlinaed.) 



For the New England Farmer. 



PROPER QUANTITY OF GRASS SEED. 



Mr a. Putnam — Dear Sir — In the report of the 

 Committee on Farms, in which it became my duty 

 to express their opinion and decision, as published 

 in your paper of the 17th February, it was therein 

 expressed that in the statements of the eleven ap- 

 plicants for premium, there was a deficiency in the 

 quantity of seed applied to the land, when laid down 

 to grass. There was, in eviiry instance, less, and 

 in most cases much less, than there should have 

 been. 



This was doubtless to the disadvantage of each 

 cultivator; forbad the quantity of seed been en- 

 larged, the crop of hay would have been greater, 

 as the condition and culture of the land was such 

 as to make this evident to the committee. In fact, 

 the sufficient use of grass seed has been a matter 

 of long neglect with fanners. It is little over half 

 a century since many farmers thought and express- 

 ed an opinion that nature would do this iierself, and 



