August, 1859 . 
241 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
abdomen or belly than the mosquito. There are 
two broods hatched annually, from eggs deposi¬ 
ted in September and May. The full-grown fly 
deposits its eggs, which are very small reddish 
grains, in the upper channels of the wheat leaf, 
soon after the stalk begins to branch. As this 
takes place in September or early in October, 
late sown wheat usually escapes the Autumn 
egg. These eggs hatch out in about 15 days, 
producing a small worm (j fig. 3) which works its 
way down between the leaf-sheath and stalk to a 
point below the surface of the ground, where, in 
the form of a white or spotted maggot, it lies 
concealed, and sucks out the juice of the plant. 
In a few weeks it arrives at full growth, and 
changes to a pupa or chrysalis state, of a cone¬ 
like or flaxseed shape (m, fig. 4). In this state it 
lies until the following Spring, when the perfect 
fly comes forth and deposits a second brood of 
eggs, which attack the wheat stalks above the 
ground, but near the lower joints. The juice ex¬ 
tracted weakens the stalk, and it crinkles down. 
Its effects are not very visible until the stalk has 
attained nearly its full growth, when on going 
through a field the extent of its depredations is 
generally known by the number of lodged or fall¬ 
en stalks. The flaxseed grub when present, may 
be found much earlier by carefully stripping down 
the leaf-sheath from the still green and upright 
stalk (o fig. 4). Since the point of attack is usu¬ 
ally below the harvested portion of the straw, the 
grub is left in the field, where it undergoes its 
transformation to come out the perfect fly again 
in Autumn. It is on this account that burning 
the stubble soon after harvest has proved a par¬ 
tial remedy against future attacks. There is a 
parasitic insect enemy, which multiplies faster 
than the Hessian fly, and to which we are indebt¬ 
ed for the disappearance of this pest after its 
prevalence during a few years in any locality. 
The Midge, or Clear-winged Wheat-fly ( Ce - 
cidomyia Tritici ).—This is now the greatest pest 
to the wheat crop in this country. It produces the 
little yellow maggot found so abundantly upon the 
soft kernels in many of the northern wheat re¬ 
gions. At the time this article must go to the 
stereotypers we are in the daily receipt of letters 
on the subject, and since the above was put in 
type we have received several specimens of the 
maggot, but as yet none of the parent fly. In 
order to wait for further letters that may still 
come in, we will stop here, and continue the sub¬ 
ject in our next. We are very anxious to get 
fresh specimens of the fly to sketch from, and al¬ 
so to gather any information that may, in the 
least, point to a remedy for this most formidable 
enemy of the wheat grower. 
Become Acquainted with the Insects. 
Although the ravages of insects and their prog¬ 
eny, have become so destructive as to render the 
cultivation of many otherwise profitable articles 
almost an entire failure, comparatively few are 
sufficiently acquainted with even the more com 
mon species, to recognize them in their different 
forms, or to detect the indications of their work 
until the mischief is too far advanced to be rem¬ 
edied. This want of information is not from any 
great difficulty in learning their appearance and 
habits, but from the fact that general instruction 
in this as in other branches of natural science has 
been neglected. Education, according to the sys¬ 
tem pursued in most of our common schools, has 
been supposed to consist in imparting a fair 
knowledge of “reading, writing and ciphering,” 
and if any boy or girl was privileged to go beyond 
this, they were usually introduced to the myster¬ 
ies of Algebra, and the entertaining study of the 
dead languages. This system has not been with¬ 
out its use; it has borne noble fruits, but the ne¬ 
cessities of the present times demand something 
more, and steps in the right direction are being 
taken by the introduction of elementary works 
on natural science into many of the common 
schools. It is within the power of every farmer, 
by devoting a few leisure hours to reading and 
observation to become well acquainted with his 
insect enemies, to render valuable assistance to 
those who are engaged in professionally investi¬ 
gating the subject, and without doubt in a great 
measure ultimately to protect himself from their 
depredations. ■ It would be well perhaps to 
commence by procuring some standard work as 
Harris’s or Fitch’s, and after reading the descrip¬ 
tion of some one insect, find a specimen and watch 
its transformations, until it can be recognized in 
any form, and its habits fully understood. A taste 
for such observations will soon be formed, and a 
few years will suffice to render a person thor¬ 
oughly acquainted with most of the destructive 
insects of his own locality. 
* I ray ^g Ea— ' > • - 
Fruit Stealing—An Excellent Cure. 
[The following communication contains a very impor¬ 
tant suggestion—one too seldom thought of, but of ex¬ 
ceeding value, and we hope it will be read, and acted 
upon. — Ed.] 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I am glad to see that this matter is up for dis¬ 
cussion in your excellent paper. The evil is per¬ 
haps the most vexatious that lies in the path¬ 
way of the patient fruit-grower. Insects are 
troublesome but they take the fruit in the blos¬ 
som or in its green state, and so only cutoffyour 
hopes. But the tresspass of the fruit thief robs 
you of an actual possession, in its full perfection. 
He carries off with him not only the product of 
your toil, but the object of your affections in all 
its blooming beauty—luscious grapes and plums, 
with the bloom dust of maturity upon their melt¬ 
ing cheeks, pears hanging like golden goblets 
brimming with nectar, strawberries and the small¬ 
er fruits more tempting than ambrosia in the days 
when the heathen gods and goddesses were 
around. If you have such a thing as a new pear, 
that you have heard much of, or a new grape 
whose fame is in all the papers, it js sure to be 
selected by the gentlemen, who call only at the 
midnight hour, and on moonlight nights. It is in 
vain that you deplore their mistake, and welcome 
them to anything else in the garden, quite as good 
or better, the fruit upon which you had set your 
heart, is wanting, and there is no help for it. 
You have not even the melancholy satisfaction of 
knowing your tormentor. 
You boil over with more wrath than you would 
at the loss of a hundred times the value, in any 
other commodity. You threaten thrashing, shoot¬ 
ing with white beans, or coarse salt, riding on a 
rail, and seriously contemplate steel traps, buried 
scythes, pit falls, ipecac, tartar emetic, and other 
horrors. Nothing is too bad for the unknown 
enemy while he remains unknown. But when 
suspicion, amounting to positive knowledge, fast¬ 
ens the crime upon your neighbor, who is land¬ 
less, or upon your neighbor’s boy, little Ben, 
whose father never planted a fruit tree in his life 
you begin to relent. 
I have no doubt that severe remedies are some¬ 
times necessary, especially in cities, and their 
suburbs, where every fruit yard is not only ex¬ 
posed to the vicious in its own neighborhood, but 
to the vicious among a large foreign population. 
But the fruit grower in the country, or in rural 
villages, where he can exert a social influence, 
over the families infected with this disease, has 
a much better, and cheaper remedy. 
I have studied the matter professionally for 
some years, and have come to the conclusion ; 
that fruit thieves are moral beings like the rest of 
mankind, and that this infirmity is a malady, that 
admits of moral treatment. The plan that I have 
pursued for years is substantially the following, 
and I am happy to say, it is attended with the 
best results. 
Little Ben, and his young friends, having no 
fruit of their own, look upon every cultivator as 
a stingy old curmudgeon, who has trespassed 
upon human rights, in having strawberries and 
pears for family use. Of course with this view, 
“ Old Crusty’s ” garden is a legitimate object of 
plunder, and the higher he raises his walls, and the 
more he tops them with broken glass, and other 
horrors, the more fun there is in scaling them, 
and feeding the watch dog with strychnine, well 
coated with beef steak. Little Ben may be a 
scamp, or a scoundrel, or something worse, but 
he has a heart, and a sort of honor, upon which 
he prides himself. He is very true to his friends, 
and a box of strawberries sent to his mother, cost¬ 
ing you not over five cents, will make him your 
friend for life. The cheapest, and most impene¬ 
trable fence you can put up around your garden 
is one built of fruits, judiciously distributed in 
your own neighborhood. To this, add the distri¬ 
bution of plants and seeds such as every fruit 
grower has on his hands after his sales are over. 
A wise man, who will pursue this course, will 
soon get all his neighbors interested in fruitgrow¬ 
ing and will create a public sentiment that will 
guard his premises, better than high fences, man 
traps, and poison. If you suspect a boy of plun¬ 
dering your water-melon patch, send his father 
one of your best melons, the next day for dinner, 
you need not scold, or say a word. The melon 
will make little Ben look red in the face, and bring 
him to repentance. Establish your own reputa¬ 
tion for a liberal, good hearted neighbor, who 
raises fruits for his neighbors, as well as himself, 
and your garden will be about as safe as Paradise. 
This at least is experience, up here in 
Connecticut. 
-- —*-«* - 
Roses may be successfully budded at this sea¬ 
son. When several varieties of distinct colors 
are inserted on a single bush, trained to a stand¬ 
ard or tree form, the effect is very pleasing. 
Select the hardy perpetual bloomers, rather than 
the common June roses which flower but once 
during the season. 
