70 



the State, collected in June and placed in breeding out of doors here 

 at La Fayette, has indicated the truth of this. 



The sowings of 1888 were made on August 30, September 18, October 

 3, 6. Of these, only the first sown were attacked in the fall, that sown 

 on September 18 being in the best condition the following July. Dur- 

 ing May, 1889, the plants of these plats were found to be much less 

 infested than some fields a considerable distance away, although such 

 fields had been sown on oats stubble, while the ground on which my 

 experiments were located was the same that had been used for this 

 purpose the previous year. 



The sowings of 1889 were continued on the same grounds, the plats 

 being sown September 3-20, October 4-18, November 4. The autumn 

 attack was the most severe on the first plat, but the extremely mild fall 

 and winter was so favorable to the development of the flies that the 

 spring attack was unusually severe, and appeared to fall upon the 

 three earlier sown plats with about equal force. The later sown plats, 

 though the plants were much the younger, did not suffer so much, but 

 these were very seriously affected by the weather during early spring. 



These experiments appeared to indicate that, in this latitude, while 

 wheat sown as early as the last of August may under favorable con- 

 ditions and during particular seasons produce as good or even a bet- 

 ter crop than when sown at a later date, yet such cases are the ex- 

 ception and not the rule; but that wheat sown as soon as possible 

 after the 20th of September stands the best chance of evading the at- 

 tacks of the fly and withstanding the unfavorable weather, the regular 

 operations of the University farm during the last seven years certainly 

 substantiate. It is the custom with the experiment farm, each year, 

 to sow the regular field crop at this time, and in no case has severe 

 injury been sustained from attacks of the Hessian fly. Fields on ad- 

 joining farms sown at earlier dates have frequently been seriously in- 

 jured, although this has not invariably followed. 



Another series of experimental sowings was carried on for me by Hon. 

 W. A. Banks, near La Porte, Ind., about latitude 41° 35'. The first 

 series of these sowings was begun in August of 1887. The sowings of 

 1888 were not carried on under Mr. Banks's immediate supervision, and 

 were of little value. No experiments were made in 1889, but a well 

 planned and carefully executed series were sown in the fall of 1890. 

 The series of 1887, each of which comprised two widths of a grain drill, 

 extended along one side of the field about 60 rods in length, the first 

 of which was sown on August 13, the plants appearing above ground 

 within a few days. The second sowing was on August 23, a third on 

 September 2, the fourth September 12, the fifth September 22, the 

 sixth and last on October 7. These plats were visited by me on Octo- 

 ber 14, and their condition found to be as follows : The first was found 

 to be infested by great numbers of larvae and puparia, some of the 

 shells of the latter being empty, and the plants were seriously dam- 



