294 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW YORK 
and stop raising wheat till we starved them out. From the small 
amount of damage done here by the midge, within the last two 
years, our farmers begin to take courage that the midge is about 
to leave us. 
In relation to the midge, as well as the Hessian fly, I have found 
that crops of wheat of a healthy growth , where the land is properly culti¬ 
vated , all other things being equal, the damage from either of those in¬ 
sects much less than where the crop is but half put in, and the wheat 
of a poor and sickly growth. Let the indolent half farmer mend his 
way, and prepare and cultivate his land so as to get a healthy 
growth of wheat, and sow it so as to get an early harvest. In 
that case he will be beforehand with his enemy ; but on the other 
hand, if he neglects the proper cultivation of his land, and puts 
off the proper time of sowing his seed, he may expect what he 
calls bad luck in crops, when his bad luck is nothing but the neces¬ 
sary consequence of bad conduct. 
Yours, respectfully, 
G. H. BARSTOW. 
JOHN JOHNSTON — Near Geneva. 
May 26, 1858. 
B. P. Johnson, Esq., 
Secretary Mew York State Agricultural Society: 
Dear Sir — I have received your circular respecting the wheat 
midge. The first season we noticed it in this county (Seneca) 
was in 1848, but I have no doubt we had some for two or three 
years previous. It came from the east to U3. It had destroyed 
the crops of wheat in the eastern counties of this State a number 
of years before we knew anything about it but what we read in 
the papers, and fifty miles east of here it had ruined their wheat 
crops before it injured us. In 1848 it was not very destructive 
here, but in the following year it ruined the greater part of the 
crop on many farms, and on some totally. In every late season 
since, it has been very destructive, but in early seasons when 
wheat was ripe (or nearly so) by 10th of July, the damages have 
been greatly lessened. My own farm being underdrained, I have 
been able to obtain fair crops of wheat since the weevil or rather 
midge made its appearance. My crop has not been under twenty- 
five bushels per acre, with the exception of last year which was 
only a little over twelve bushels per acre. The failure last year 
was owing to the great drouth of the previous autumn and the 
unprecedented cold and late spring of last year. My wheat never 
