pest of the crop in California. An outbreak occurred in 1953, and 
the California Agricultural Experiment Station estimated that this 
insect destroyed 10 to 20 percent of the crop, causing a probable 
loss of $16,009,000. In addition $1,200,000 was spent on insecti- 
cides. 
Small Grains 
Greenbugs frequently cause extensive losses to wheat, oats, and 
barley, in various parts of the Great Plains from Texas north to 
Canada. However, in some years they do little damage. They suck 
the sap from the plants, causing the leaves to turn yellow. In 
heavy infestations the leaves soon wither and tha plants die. During 
the period 192-51 they caused an annual loss of about $18,530,000 
to wheat, $5,750,000 to oats, and $1,279,000 to barley, or a total 
of $25,559,000, 
In recent years new insecticides have given excellent greenbug 
control. During outbreaks in Oklahoma in 1950 and 1951 about 
2,400,000 acres of small grains were treated. 
The hessian fly, distributed over the North Central and North- 
eastern States, a portion of the Southern States, and within 
limited areas in California, Oregon, and Washington, is the most 
destructive insect enemy of wheat in the United States, Local out- 
breaks occur nearly every year, and widespread damage can be expect- 
ed at irregular intervals, sometimes as often as every 5 or 6 years. 
The annual loss during the period 1942-51 is estimated at 9,389,000 
bushels of wheat valued at about $16,826,000. The greatest loss 
occurred in 196 when 11,932,000 bushels were destroyed by the pest. 
In the fall the fly maggots suck the juices of the young plants, 
killing them outright or weakening them so that thsy cannot survive 
the winter. I the spring they kill the plants in the same way and 
also cause the stems to break so that the heads are missed by the 
narvesting machinery. Serious damage can be prevented by seeding 
wheat on fly-free dates in the fall, by planting fly-resistant 
varieties whenever possible, and by adopting other recommended 
cultural and cropping practices. A satisfactory control of the 
hessian fly with insecticides has not yet been developed. 
The wheat stem sawfly is an important pest of wheat in the northern 
Great Pleins. It occurs throvghout North Dakota, in Montana as far 
west ss the Rockies, over much of the western two-thirds of South 
UVakota, in nine counties in northwestern Nebraska, and in nine 
counties in eastern and southern Wyoming. It is a pest of native 
grasses that has found wheat a favorable host. On the basis of State 
reports and field surveys, it is estimated that over the period 
19h2-51 this sawfly caused ar armual loss in Montana and North 
Dakota of 2,707,000 bushels of wheat, valued at about $l,,835,000, 
In 1951 the loss amounted to ,916&,h8) bushels, worth approximately 
#10,207,272. Loss in the other States has been much less important. 
BCom 
