52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



grain fields which had been plowed year after year and produced wheat 

 three or four seasons as in other areas where seeding is commonly put 

 in with the grain and therefore plowing is impossible after harvest. 

 Furthermore, even if deep plowing did materially influence the abund- 

 ance of the midge, there is a question as to whether farmers could be 

 induced to modify their practices in order to obtain a slight benefit 

 in reducing the probability of infestation by midge. 



The amount of infestation in fields remote from other wheat was 

 carefully examined and here again little encouraging was found. 

 The wheat midge, in areas where it is prevalent, appears to be fairly 

 uniformly distributed throughout the entire section, occurring in 

 almost equal abundance in wheat fields comparatively remote from 

 land where grain had been grown the preceding year. There was 

 also very little dift'erence in the infestation between the margins of 

 fields vv^here the insects would presumably have better shelter through 

 the winter and the middle of large fields in wheat. 



There is some difi"erence in the susceptibilitj^ of varieties, the 

 bearded wheats with coarse hulls and considerable mineral matter 

 in the chaff appear to be somewhat more free from the pest than the 

 softer strawed, beardless varieties. White chaff, for example, was 

 very frequently less infested, sometimes markedly so, than no. 6. 

 There is a question as to whether this immunity is sufficiently great to 

 warrant changing from one variety to another and as a rule that would 

 not be advised. 



The survey brought out rather distinctly the fact that the more 

 vigorous fields of wheat were as a rule less affected by the midge. 

 This may possibly have been due to the fact that there was just as 

 much midge in these fields as in the others and that the apparent 

 difference was due to more numerous and larger heads ; in other words, 

 to a larger proportion of grain rather than a reduction in the number 

 of maggots. It is quite possible that the truth is midway between 

 these extremes and that the unusually good fields of wheat, because 

 of their vigor, developed more grain and at the same time presented 

 conditions less favorable to the midge so that somewhat more of the 

 pests succumbed than if the growth of the grain had been less rapid. 

 It is certainly true that no harm can come from giving the best possible 

 fitting to wheat ground and thus putting the crop in the very best 

 condition to outgrow its various enemies. 



It is very probable that weather conditions at the time the wheat 

 is heading has a material influence upon the midge. Unusually 

 cool, moist weather keeps the developing grain in a more succulent 

 and therefore presumably more favorable condition for the growth of 



