REMEDIES AGAINST THE WHEAT-FLY. 599 
Massachusetts, says that this preventive, if not infallible, 
may be relied on with strong confidence.* For every acre 
of grain, from one peck to a bushel of newly slacked lime 
or of good wood-ashes will be required ; and this should 
be scattered over the plants when they are wet with dew 
or rain. Two or three applications of it have sometimes 
been found necessary. 
Whether it be possible to destroy the maggots after they 
have left the grain, and have betaken themselves to their 
winter quarters, just below the surface of the ground, re- 
mains to be proved. Some persons have advised ploughing 
up the ground, soon after the grain is harvested, in order 
to kill the maggots, or to bury them so deeply that they 
could not make their escape when transformed to flies. I 
am inclined to think that deep ploughing will prove to be 
the best and most practicable remedy. Perhaps thoroughly 
liming the soil before it is ploughed may contribute to the 
destruction of the insects. The chaff, dust, and refuse straw 
should be carefully examined, and, if found to contain any 
of the maggots, should be immediately burnt. It is stated 
that our crops may be saved from injury by sowing early 
in the autumn or late in the spring. By the first, it is sup- 
posed that the grain will become hard before many of the 
flies make their appearance ; and by the latter, the plants 
will not come into blossom until the flies have disappeared. 
In those parts of New England where these insects have 
done the greatest injury, the cultivation of fall-sown or 
winter grain has been given up ; and this, for some years 
to come, will be found the safest course. The proper time 
for sowing in the spring will vary with the latitude and 
elevation of the place, and the forwardness of the season. 
From numerous observations made in this part of the coun- 
try, it appears that grain sown after the 15th or 20th of May 
generally escapes the ravages of these destructive insects. 
Late sowing has almost entirely banished the wheat-flies 
* Third Report on the Agriculture of Massachusetts, p. 67. 
