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a number of fields which to me looked like a rather rough XDasture or 

 poorly sown grass, and j^et these were pieces which had been seeded 

 with grass and sown to wheat last fall. There was no doubt of the 

 total failure of the grain crop in such cases. These, however, were 

 the worst; all grades of injury could be seen. Fields that escaped 

 without injury were quite few in the regions visited. 



This outbreak was utilized to secure some data which may be help- 

 ful in understanding the situation. Special reports were received 

 from about 45 fields, located mostly in Erie, Niagara, Genesee, Wyo- 

 ming, aild Onondaga counties, and representing about 760 acres. Of 

 these areas, 90 per cent or more of the grain on 134 acres was estimated 

 as lost, 85 per cent on 58 acres, 75 iDer cent on 83 acres, 50 per cent on 

 176 acres, 25 per cent on 63 acres, and 6 to 12 per cent on 248 acres; or, 

 50 to 90 per cent or more of the grain on 451 out of the total of 762 acres 

 was estimated as destroyed. These reports were not made on badly 

 injured fields alone, but on others as well, and they were made in reply 

 to a series of questions formulated for the purpose of ascertaining so 

 far as possible the cause for this extensive damage. The inquiry 

 developed the fact that a white beardless wheat, known as No. 6, was 

 seriously injured almost without exception, while the bearded red 

 wheat, known as No. 8, escaped with comparatively little harm. None of 

 the above-mentioned reports attributes more than a 25 per cent injury 

 to red wheat, while the white variety ranges from that figure to 99 or 

 100 per cent destroyed. The white wheat is a much heavier yielder, 

 and is therefore greatly preferred by farmers. This inquiry was 

 started primarily in the hopes of securing data on the date after which 

 winter wheat could be sown with comparative safety. So much grain 

 is grown in western New York, and the fields are so near each other, 

 that it was impossible to secure anything very definite, except that 

 white wheat sown the latter part of September or later was in all 

 probability infested in the spring by flies from overwintered puparia 

 or "flaxseeds." 



Some climatic effects were also observed. The continued rains in 

 the spring stimulated the transformation of the flies, and on July 10 

 a number of fields were seen where the spring brood of the fly had 

 completed its transformation and departed. This was further con- 

 firmed by finding several large fields of barley, sown about May 15, 

 badly infested with larvae and young puparia of this pest. The attacks 

 on the barley were- confined largely to the upper, softer nodes, and in 

 at least one field the infestr^tion was very thorough. Every stalk was 

 infested with a few of the pests, and 8 plants taken at random con- 

 tained from 19 to 54 individuals, most of them being in the larval 

 stage. Curiosity induced me to bring together Weather Bureau 

 records showing the total precipitation and the number of rainy days 

 in the growing months of the fall of 1900 and the spring of 1901. The 

 two localities selected were Alden, Erie County, and Elba, Genesee 



