THE WHEAT MIDGE. 81 



1852. 



Committed excessive ravages in late wheat in the county of 

 Hastings. Destructive in Northumberland; travelling westward. 

 The subjoined notice is by the author of the preceding quotation : 



140. "They are numerous in this county in late wheat very 

 numerous in later, and very, very numerous in the latest. I 

 should say that very probably one-half (certainly one-third) of 

 the whole wheat of this county is destroyed by this weevil. I 

 saw the fly about the first of this month, (July, 1852,) almost 

 forming a little cloud, proceeding westward. It will be in Mur- 

 ray and Sydenham this season, and will proceed westward from 

 seven to nine miles each year. The only remedy I can perceive, 

 as yet, is very early sowing on very early ground, well drained, of 

 very early kinds of grain. I have four fields of wheat ; in the 

 earliest there is little or none, except where there was after- 

 growth, but it becomes worse in each field in proportion to its 

 lateness, either in whole or in spots. Perhaps, through your 

 valuable journal, you will be able to hurry the farmers west of 

 us in their preparations for wheat sowing, and thus do a world 

 of good, as the progress of the weevil is as certain as the pro- 

 gress of time itself, and how great a scourge it is few of our 

 brother farmers in the West are aware. The Sole and Hutche- 

 son wheat appear to be the earliest, and will be ready for har- 

 vest with me, and around me, on the 22nd of July, which is early 

 for this season. I cannot say exactly why the earliest wheat is 

 the safest, but I dare say nature provides that the fly comes to its 

 natural strength at the usual time for wheat to blossom ; and if 

 the wheat be earlier than usual, the grain is too forward to 

 nourish its deposit. This year the coldness of the season re- 

 tarded the animal creation probably more than it did the vege- 

 table creation, and this may be another reason why the fly was 

 too late for early sown wheats." * * 



