The North Carolina Corn Bulletin 1915 Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from The Bulletin of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, Raleigh, Vol. 39: Hessian Fly in Wheat, Control Methods and Safe Dates for Sowing Seed, August, 1918 The Hessian Fly did an unusual amount of damage to wheat in North Carolina during the growing season of 1917-18. At this writing (July, 1918) great numbers of them are present in the stubble in the maggot or flaxseed stage, and from these adult Hessian Flies will emerge in the fall and lay their eggs upon whatever wheat is up at that time - unless this be prevented. The prevention of damage by the Hessian Fly depends chiefly upon two methods of procedure: (1) to avoid it by sowing wheat at a sufficiently late date in the fall so that it will not come up until after the fall brood of Fly has died, and (2) to kill or prevent the development of the Fly in the stubble by burning over the field after harvest or by plowing the stubble under deeply before September, or by both burning over and plowing. This is especially advisable in seasons when the Flies in the stubble are as numerous as they are in this summer of 1918. These methods of control are further explained in the following pages. Many farmers of this state were disappointed in the wheat yield of 1918. The Hessian Fly was one of several causes which contributed to this. The special emphasis placed upon wheat-production in 1917 doubtless resulted in some wheat being sown on land which was not well suited to it, some on land which was not suitably prepared, some sown unseasonably early, and some sown unseasonably late. As evidence on this latter point the author found wheat on one farm representing four distinct dates of sowing, varying from September 30 to October 31, and only a few miles away found another field sown as late as November 30. These cases show a variation of two months in the time of sowing wheat in the same locality. It is also known that certain fungous diseases were a factor in reducing the yield. Experienced wheat farmers are generally aware that early-sown wheat is more subject to injury by Hessian Fly than that which is sown later. "After the first heavy frost" has become almost a proverb for sowing wheat, hence the Hessian Fly does not often do very serious damage to our wheat. But "after first heavy frost" is a very indefinite and highly variable date. Heavy frost may come unseasonably early, or it may be delayed until an unseasonably late date. It is generally a fairly good guide, but it is too variable to be followed if a better guide can be found. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.