No. 12. 



The Hessian Fly. 



367 



2nd. Sowing seed obtained from places in 

 which the insect has not made its appear 

 ance— American Museum iv. 47. This re- 

 commendation also assumes the error, that 

 the eggs are laid on the grain, and will be 

 found, as it has often proved, useless as re- 

 spects this insect. 



3rd. Abstaining rigidly throughout the 

 whole grain growing region of North Ame- 

 rica from planting wheat, rye, barley, or 

 oats, for one, two, or three years, and thus 

 to starve out the insect! This plan might 

 be effectual, but would obviously involve 

 some inconveniences. 



4th. Manuring the land very highly, so 

 that the plants will grow vigorously, and be 

 sooner out of the way of the insect, and also 

 better able to resist it. This proposal has 

 some merit, but does nothing towards de- 

 stroying the insect. 



5th. Sowing some variety of bearded wheat, 

 flint wheat, &c., supposed to have a harder 

 and more solid stalk than common wheat, 

 and better able to withstand the impression 

 of the larvae. A suggestion of some value, 

 but, equally with the 4th, leaves the insect 

 unharmed. 



6th. Fumigating tho wheat field, and 

 sprinkling the young wheat with infusion 

 of elder and with other steeps. If success- 

 ful, which is quite uncertain, it is plain that 

 these measures are impracticable on a large 

 scale. 



7th. Sowing winter wheat very late in 

 the autumn, so that the fly shall have most- 

 ly disappeared before the plants are large 

 enough to be attacked. No doubt this plan 

 is to some extent useful, but the wheat 

 sown late is in great danger of perishing 

 during the winter. The fly will of course 

 attack it in the spring, yet one attack will 

 do less damage than two. 



8th. Sowing oats early in autumn on the 

 intended wheat field. It is supposed the fly 

 will lay its eggs on the plant; then let them 

 be ploughed in, and the wheat sown. The 

 fly having nearly exhausted itself on the 

 oats, the wheat will suffer less. This plan 

 may possibly be of some partial utility. 



9th. Drawing a heavy roller over the 

 )foung wheat both in autumn and spring. 

 This process must be useful in crushing 

 many eggs and larvse. 



10th. Permitting sheep and other animals 

 to graze the wheat fields while the insects 

 are laying their eggs. By these means, 

 large numbers of the eggs will be devoured 

 with the leaves. 



11th. Burning the stubble immediately 

 after harvest, and ploughing in the remains. 

 This is by far the most practicable and ef- 

 fectual mode of exterminating the insect, 



or, at least, of checking its increase. In 

 the stubble are many pupa? of the fly, at 

 this time completely in our power; if, in 

 reaping, the stubble is left high, the flre 

 would sweep rapidly over a field and de- 

 stroy nearly all these pupse, the few which 

 escaped the fire, would, by the plough, be 

 buried so deep as to perish in the earth ; 

 mere ploughing in of the stubble must be 

 highly useful. If the two recommendations 

 last named were thoroughly put in practice 

 over the whole country — not only upon 

 wheat, but also on rye and barley, and any 

 other plants attacked by the Hessian fly — 

 the ravages of this insect would, in all pro- 

 bability, ere long, become scarcely worthy 

 of notice. 



It may not be improper, in this place, to 

 state that the foregoing account of the habits 

 of the Hessian fly is derived from my own 

 long continued observations, and that I have 

 moreover endeavoured to consult all the 

 papers of any importance which have been 

 published on the subject. 



There are in the United States, besides 

 the Hessian fly, several other insects which 

 attack the wheat while in the field. Those 

 persons who assert that the former lays its 

 eggs on the grain in the spike or head, have 

 undoubtedly mistaken for the Hessian fly 

 some one of these other insects. The fol- 

 lowing brief notices of the more important 

 of these enemies, I have abridged from the 

 accounts comprised in Dr. T. W. Harris's 

 "Treatise on some of the insects of New 

 England, which are injurious to vegetation;" 

 (Camb. 1842: 459 pages, 8 vo.,) a work of 

 great interest and value. 



In it the inquirer will find a faithful digest 

 of all the reliable information we have on the 

 numerous insects which injure our plants, 

 fruits, and trees; and, in addition, he will 

 learn the means of defence, so far as any 

 have been discovered. The book ought to 

 be in the hands of every intelligent tarmer 

 and orcbardist. 



1. A grain moth (Angoumois moth — alu- 

 cita cerealella, Oliv.) probably the same as 

 described by Colonel Carter, in the Trans- 

 actions of the American Philosophical So- 

 ciety, volume i, 1771; and by J. Lorain, in 

 Mease's Archives of Useful Knowledge, vol. 

 ii, 1842. It is about three-eighths of an 

 inch long when its wings are shut. The 

 upper wings are of a light brown satin colour 

 and lustre, covering the body horizontally 

 above, but drooping a little at the sides. 

 The lower wings and the rest of the body 

 are ash-coloured. The moth lays her eggs 

 usually on the young and tender grain in 

 the field ; each caterpillar from these eggs 

 selects a single grain, burrows into it, and 



