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their usual season, and not sowing too late, there need be little 
danger from the Hessian-fly. But it is the poorness of the soil 
which leads farmers, year by year, to sow their wheat earlier in 
order to get a larger growth. Making the soil richer removes the 
difficulty by removing its original and principal cause.”—W. J. F., 
Monroe county, N. Y. 
INFLUENCE OF THE WEATHER AND FAVORABLE AND UNFAVORABLE SEASONS. 
To properly discuss this very important subject would require an 
intimate knowledge of the meteorological conditions and the relative 
abundance or rarity of the Hessian-fly during each year since its 
first appearance in this country in 1776. All that we can say with 
our present exceedingly imperfect knowledge bears but slightly on 
this point, and must be considered as simply provisional. We may 
here quote from the Cultivator and Country Gentleman what has 
been stated by Mr. Biley, in speaking of the condition of the Hes¬ 
sian-fly in 1877: 
“The Hessian-fly is rather an insect of moist climates and mild 
latitudes; and therefore, unlike the Chinch-bug, its multiplication 
has been favored by the cool and wet summers and autumns of the 
last three years. While the rainy period, which, as a general state¬ 
ment, may be said to have commenced in May, 1875, and continued 
to the present date, and during which time there have neither been 
severe droughts nor continued summer heats, the Chinch-bug has 
so nearly disappeared that its depredations have been scarcely 
noticed, the Hessian-fly has developed and thrived, and to the ex¬ 
tent that if the weather favors—that is, if from now to harvest it 
should continue cool and moist or warm and wet—the damage likely 
to be done to the incoming and the following crop can scarcely be 
estimated. But if dry weather prevails from this time to harvest, 
the damage done can hardly be considerable—and if it should turn 
very dry and hot, all danger from serious depredations from him 
may be cast out of the account, in measuring the outcome of the 
crop—since a certain amount of moisture is absolutely necessary for 
the successful development of the several stages in the growth and 
progress of this insect scourge. But then Professor Pdley warned 
me against drawing final conclusions on insufficient data, it being 
quite possible that other forces and causes appearing might bring 
about a quite different and unexpected result. Nevertheless, there 
are many reasons for expecting a dry spring, a warm harvest and 
a hot summer, and comparatively trifling damage to be done by the 
fly on the wheat harvest of 1878.—W. J. F.” 
. That this fly flourishes best in a rather warm and moist season, 
is shown by its habits. The flies hover in the spring and autumn 
over the wheat-fields in countless numbers, especially at morning 
and evening, avoiding the direct heat of the sun. 
PARASITES OF THE HESSIAN-FLY. 
How useful, nay indispensable, parasitic insects may prove in 
keeping the noxious ones within due limits is well illustrated by the 
case of this fly, for whenever it suddenly disappears from a given 
