METHODS OF AVOIDING INJURY 57 



Removing Crop Remnants 



Other insects have the habit of hiding away under rubbish or crop 

 remnants, such as old potato vines or cabbage stumps. It pays to 

 remove these as soon as the crop is off. The vegetable matter that they 

 represent need not be lost if they are piled up in some odd corner and 

 allowed to rot, so as to form humus which later may be used where 

 desired. 



Destruction of Weeds 



Weeds are a genuine nuisance in the matter of encouraging noxious 

 insects. It is common for a pest that feeds on a given variety of plant 

 to make use of some closely related weed as its source of food until 

 the cultivated crop is ready for attack. Some of our garden insects 

 habitually thus eke out an existence in the early spring or late fall. 

 In the case of other species it is the habit of the pest to go through 

 its first generation of the season on a weed, a second generation coming 

 forth in irresistible numbers as the time arrives for the cultivated 

 crop to put in its appearance. 



Changing Time of Planting or Harvest 



Sometimes, as in the districts where wheat is attacked by Hessian 

 fly, there is advantage to be gained by changing the time of planting. 

 With the Hessian fly it is the aim of the grower to defer the planting 

 of winter wheat for a few days beyond the customary time, so that the 

 plants will not be large enough to serve the purposes of the fly when 

 it comes out later to lay its eggs. On farms where this procedure is 

 followed carefully and accurately, injury from this pest has largely 

 been avoided. With other insects similar variations in farm practice 

 have been worked out, wherever the habits of the pest make such a 

 remedy possible. 



The Value of Poultry 



Countless numbers of insects are picked up by poultry when allowed 

 to range over considerable area, as is especially the case where the 

 colony system of housing is followed. Not only arc troublesome 



