30 CORN AND GRASS. 



A note with which I was favoured by Mr. Colin Campbell, of Jura, 

 points also to preparation of the hay affecting the amount of Mite 

 presence. In reply to some of my observations, Mr. Campbell wrote : 

 — " There is no doubt that it is more of a northern infestation; and in 

 Scotland it is not the practice to allow hay to heat, which may account 

 for their being present. It is generally the case that good well-saved 

 hay is most infested." 



Mr. Campbell further remarked in some observations which he sent 

 to the ' Agricultural Gazette ' after reading my Eeport for 1890 : — 

 " Mites in hay. — Some five and twenty years ago, when a lad going 

 about the home farm at Jura, N.B., I often used to wonder at the 

 quantity of light-coloured dusty-looking material that used to drop on 

 the window-sills of a large haybarn (stone and slated) " ; . . . this — 

 Mr. Campbell mentions amongst other details — he further investigated, 

 and found it was a mass of living creatures corresponding with 

 descriptions given of the Hay Mite, and he notes : — " The hay stored 

 in this barn was always first and second years' Rye-grass hay, which 

 never heated, as it was allowed to stand a considerable time in tramp 

 ricks in the field to season, as it had to go into this built barn." 



These notes, amongst other information sent, point to the special 

 presence of the Mites being in stacks little heated, as the stacks have 

 been built of hay which has for some time been cut and standing in 

 large cocks or tramps in the field or yard before being stacked. 



The following observation gives a good record of the Mites being 

 found present to a very vmpleasantly noticeable extent in these cocks. 

 The notes were sent me on Nov. 6th, 1891, by Mr. Thos. Fraser, from 

 Ardfin, Isle of Jura, N.B., as follows : — " It is the general practice in 

 haymaking in the West of Scotland (West Highlands), as soon as 

 possible after cutting or mowing (which ranges from the end of June 

 to the end of August), to have the hay collected in large tramps or 

 cocks on the field, where it is allowed to remain some time. The first 

 appearance of the Mites (to an ordinary observer) is when removing 

 the said cocks, or tramps, from the field. 



" While forking the hay from the bottom or lower part of the cock 

 on to a cart, at a much higher elevation, it is necessary to raise the 

 hay overhead, and in minute particles, like dust, the Mites fall, and 

 from the backward position of the worker's head at the time, they stick 

 or adhere to the face in a very short time, causing itchiness or irritation 

 on the skin. At this stage, I think, they are less in size than when 

 they are found a fortnight or so later on emerging from the recently 

 made stacks." (This observation points to the Mites which have to 

 ^ go through various moultings before arriving at complete development, 

 being still young when thrown in the hay from the cocks to the stack, 

 In the samples sent me, I have found the Mites of difl'erent ages, as 



