lO NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Wheat midge was prevalent in the rye fields of the eastern part 

 of the State and caused somewhat more damage than in 1917. The 

 wheat fields of the western section were also generally infested by 

 this insect. A survey of the situation in Erie, Genesee, Niagara 

 and Orleans counties disclosed a general prevalence of the insect 

 practically without reference to time of sowing, depth of plowing 

 or previous treatment, though it was noteworthy that, generally 

 speaking, the more vigorous fields showed less of the pest. The 

 bearded wheats are usually less infested. The results of these studies 

 are summarized in the body of the report. 



Grass lands, specially pastures and corn fields, were seriously 

 injured in Broome county localities by grass webworms, the asso- 

 ciated bronze-colored cutworm and also the greasy cutworm. There 

 were complaints of serious injury to corn by webworms and damage 

 by the lined corn borer was also reported. 



Investigation by the Entomologist of the European corn borer 

 shows it to be very destructive in eastern Massachusetts. The occur- 

 rence of the pest in this state means possibly great losses unless 

 there is early and effective control. Potentially it is a serious 

 enemy of corn and other important crops. It is extremely desirable 

 to prevent its spread. The history of other pests in this country 

 suggests that actual extermination, though costly, would be true 

 economy. There should be at least a determined effort to accomp- 

 lish this through federal and state agencies. 



Field crops. There was some injury to beans by the seed corn 

 maggot. This was much less than in 191 7 in spite of the fact that 

 there was considerable wet weather. The comparative immunity 

 was due largely to modifications in methods, care being taken not 

 to put beans on wet land, and if this was necessary, shallow rather 

 than deep planting seemed to be the rule. 



Potato aphis appeared toward the end of June on Long Island and 

 later developed in the Hudson valley and was reported from the 

 central part of the State. The history of the attack was very similar 

 to that of 19 1 7 . The damage was markedly less, because the farmers 

 more generally appreciated the status of the pest and were ready to 

 adopt control measures whenever conditions justified them. 



Black flea-beetles were unusually abundant and injurious on 

 Long Island, in the Hudson valley and in some other sections of 

 the State, the damage being limited mostly to potato and tomato 

 plants recently transplanted. The probabilities are that poor 

 culture the preceding year, due presumably to scarcity of labor, was 

 a factor in producing conditions favorable to injury by this pest. 



