PREVENTION BY FARMING METHODS I7 



less regular periods of migration and the strong tendency which 

 many have of depositing their eggs in the same field where they 

 have bred or hibernated. 



The value of these methods in the treatment of the Hessian 

 fly is summed up by Prof. F. M. Webster in the statement that 

 "four-fifths of its injuries may be prevented by a better system 

 of agriculture." 



SELECTION OF PLACE AND TIME FOR PLANTING 



With a knowledge of the insects which attain their highest 

 development in sandy locatigns, in marsh land or in the neighbor- 

 hood of woodland, we can prepare for attack from them after 

 the ground has been cleared for planting. Much depends upon 

 a judicious selection of the crop to replace weeds or to be grown 

 in forest clearings or in land that has long laid waste. Unfortu- 

 nately the crops frequently selected for planting in new land are 

 the very ones most subject to attack, and if farmers generally are 

 to preserve their crops from insect injury they must employ new 

 tactics. Corn and other cereals, potatoes and strawberries are 

 crops especially attractive to insects which have developed in 

 unused land. They should therefore not be planted in new land 

 until after some less susceptible plant be used as a first crop. 

 Buckwheat and clover are less likely to be injured. 



Corn should not as a rule be planted in marshy tracts 

 or in reclaimed river beds owing to the danger of injury 

 from bill-bugs, root-worms, wireworms and the like. Nor 

 should corn follow wild grasses, which are liable to be affected 

 by the same classes of insects as well as cutworms and white 

 grubs. 



Next in order is the choice of the proper time to plant to 

 avoid insects which are liable to attack the crops which we in- 

 tend to grow. With early and late planting must be combined 

 occasional planting between two generations of an insect, and 

 the timely disposal of the crop, particularly if this is damageable. 



