44 



which the insect may be introduced, and it is shown that it may come in the " flax-seed "" 

 state amongst seed-grain, or in straw which, having come from infested countries, either as 

 straw-cargoes or as packing, is used for horses and cows in London, and then sent out to 

 farms in the country as slightly used litter, or as " long-manure." When this is the case,, 

 says Miss Ormerod, " a sufficiently large proportion of the flies in the flax-seed state are 

 likely to develop to cause mischief, such as we have seen in the past season. On the first 

 farm on which the attack was observed, near Hertford, I found, on enquiry, that London 

 manure had been used of mixed kind, but mainly cow and horse manure, in ' very long ; 

 condition." 



An observation of the greatest importance was made by Mr. Palmer, of Revell's 

 Hall, near Hertford, viz., that the flax-seeds are separated from the straw in threshing. 

 This was previously thought not to be the case ; as however, they are thus loosened from 

 the straw, they are of course liable to be mixed with grain and with it transmitted from 

 place to place ; but, in Mr. Palmer's case, they were not found amongst the grain, nor in the- 

 chaff, but in the dust and rubbish which falls beneath the threshing machine. In a 

 handful of siftings he found no less than fifteen " flax-seeds." This rubbish is compara- 

 tively worthless, and if English farmers are careful always to burn it upon a waste spot, 

 it will certainly reduce the number of the parent flies from which another serious attack 

 may originate. It is the custom amongst our best Canadian farmers to do this in districts- 

 where the wheat midge (weevil) is prevalent, and it is attended with very satisfactory 

 results. 



Our authoress continues : " From the above observations it appears that puparia or 

 ' flax-seeds ' may be transmitted in corn rubbish. In samples of screenings and ' sweep- 

 ings ' from imported corn I have found, besides a large amount of live and dead beetles, 

 also weed-seeds, smut and other matters undesirable to spread abroad, (as may easily be 

 done where these are used for poultry food, and thus thrown out in farm yards), and as 

 with these broken bits of stem are to be found, it appears at least possible that " flax- 

 seed " may also be conveyed. In Dr. Packard's paper on the subject, he alludes to the 

 possibility of the pest being transmitted in wheat." 



The best methods of pievention are treated of at some length, and their applicability 

 to the farming process in vogue in England is reviewed. The favorite preventive 

 remedy — late sowing — is shown to be applied in England as an ordinary part of the 

 regular arrangements of the work on most farms. As a rule, wheat is not sown until some 

 time after the 20th September, the date which we consider the latest it is necessary to 

 wait to avoid attack, and thus the young wheat plants are not up until after the autumn 

 brood of the fly is dead. The importance of this point cannot be laid too much stress 

 upon, for if late sowing be regularly practiced, the Hessian fly must be dependent, for its 

 subsistance upon self-sown plants in fields which had been attacked, or upon rye or other 

 grain sown as sheep-feed. This reduces to narrow limits the lines in which experiments 

 may be successfully tried to prevent this enemy to England's staple crop from establish- 

 ing itself and getting beyond the control of the farmers. 



Perhaps, the most satisfactory feature about this outbreak of the Hessian fly in 

 England, is the fact that it has appeared in so many places, and has thus been brought 

 forcibly before the attention of farmers in all parts of the kingdom, and they being aroused, 

 will now see the necessity of promptly carrying out the instructions necessary for its 

 extermination. 



The Royal Agricultural Society, through Miss Ormerod, and the Government, through 

 Mr. Whitehead, have done everything in their power to apprise the farmers of their 

 danger, and have put in their hands as weapons, with which they may confidently hope to- 

 cope successfully with their new enemy, concise information as to its life-history and 

 habits, which will enable them to l'ecognise it at once, and apply without delay the proper 

 treatment. 



Briefly, this consists of (a) late sowing of the main crop, so that there is no accom- 

 modation ready for the autumn brood by which a large proportion will necessarily perish 

 without egg-laying ; (b) feeding off, or ploughing in any early-sown or volunteer crops,. 



