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From Mr. E. A. Hickman, of Independence. Mo., we obtain the 
following information: 
In reply to your inquiry on the subject of the Hessian-fly, I will 
state that I have made some inquiry of our best wheat-raisers, 
and they report as follows: First, the wheat-midge is not found in 
our State, hence is not further alluded to. A. L. H. Crenshaw, 
now an old wheat-raiser and quite successful, says he breaks up his 
ground in July, and lets it lie till September, then harrows it into 
good planting condition and lets it remain until after a killing frost, 
which is usually from the 25th of September to the 5th of October, 
then he puts in the seed by drilling. He has never lost a crop or 
had one injured by the fly. 
G. W. Compton is a successful raiser; he breaks up in July, 
and by the 1st of September sows his wheat immediately; and as 
soon as the wheat is up and of sufficient height, he turns sheep 
and other stock on it to keep it eaten down so that the fly can not 
shelter under its leaves. This has protected his crop until the fall 
of 1877, when the rains favored the breaking up of the ground, and 
the planting and growing of the wheat to such an extent that the 
stock could not graze it down. Its rankness protected the fly, and 
its abundance nearly destroyed his crops. He attributes his failure 
to the fact that his crop was not grazed sufficiently close. 
Mr. James Lobb sowed early in September, 1878—a fine growing 
season; brought up a luxuriant and vigorous stand; no pasturing 
was applied either in fall or spring, and the crop only yielded about 
four bushels per acre, the balance being destroyed by the fly. This 
was adjoining a field that produced a fine crop, but cultivated to 
thwart the fly. 
Two other successful men say they have followed the advice of 
an old settler, who told them to have everything ready, but never 
sow until after a killing frost, and they never suffer from that 
enemy. 
Mr. Robert McNeilly, of Charlotte, Dickson county, Tenn., writes 
us that “the best preventive found here is to pasture the wheat 
close in the winter with sheep.” 
We also reprint the following newspaper articles: 
“Another error is that pasturing will do no good. If sheep enough 
are turned in to eat the wheat down close before the eggs hatch, 
after being laid, very much good will result. This is an old remedy, 
and has proved very effectual in many instances. It is now too late 
to employ it, as the eggs are mostly hatched. During the fine 
weather of this fall, so far, very few days only were required to 
hatch the eggs, after which nothing could be done. Very few eggs 
are placed too close to the ground to escape the teeth of sheep, and 
if enough of these animals could be turned on to eat the wheat off 
within three days after the flies appeared, very little damage would 
result. Frost now will not do much good except with fields that 
have been sown late, where the blades have not grown large enough 
to attract the fly. The destruction of the entire crop does not fol¬ 
low the appearance of the fly always. Unless very badly infested, 
if the soil is rich and the season favorable, a fair crop may result 
in spite of the fly. Of course, the crop is always injured to some 
