The Hessian Fly.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 314, 25 February 1888, Page 3

The Hessian Fly.

Tlio Government have receive cl a renort from Mr Hudson on tho Hessian fly, in vvlv.eh ho states tint the pest has ravaged tho wheat cr ipg o? five o: si t farm <at Rngitikoi. He t'diks it alvisab'.o to isolate the district as much as po3sibloin order to prevent tho spread of tho pest to other parts of tho Colony. Some of tho : usects, together with their larvae and several of tho injured wheat stalks wore sent to tho Agent- General by tho Tongariro, with instructions that ho shoe’d obtain the opinion of Miss Omerod and Mr It. S. Meade, two well-known entomologists, as to whether tho settlers at Mavton are right in supposing that tho Hecsian fly has made its appearance in that district. If S’" Di”’on Be 11 , fads that it is tho Hessian fly, he is to make an effort and obtain some pupae of insects which aro bred in I nerica to prey upon the fly. It is believed t.. t tho mseots, which are causing much concern in the Rangitikei district just now, were brought from tho United Stales "n seme pack’ng case fdraw.

Professor C. V. P'loy, fhe great agiicrltuial entomologist of the United States, who has been on a professional visit to England, writos fj the Times as follows:—“I am fi mly of tho .opinion arrived at by B. Wagner, and based on tho lust ’’uformation we possess, that tho Hessian Ely is an indigene of tho Mediterranean country, . . . and kcamo conspicuous when transplanted to America It nourishes most along tho temperatj l sit, whero it readily and pretty uniformly produces two generations annually. . . . Tho practice of sow’ng late, and tho slower grow ill of the young plant, protects the autumn sowing from the attack of the flies, which, so far as produced in the late autumn and summer, must confine the' ■ work either to the relatively few self-sown and moro scattered plants, or to the early sown rye intended for green foddor. Thon your colder summers w' ’ tend to retard development and to increase the proportion of summer puparia that w'T w'nter over in stubble and straw with greatly reduced chances of Sr -viva]. Again, you. r_lntive frequency of rain will destroy a larger number of the flies when they have issued; for, wh”o excessive heat and drought aro prejudicial to it in tho adolescent states, excessive cold and rain is injurious to tho perfect fly, which is a fragile creature and lives hut a few days. Einally, iho mildness of your winters is rather against successful hibernation, and will cause the larvie to more freely die and the invt.fiin?* to more freely issue prematurely and perish. r I;ho conditions in Great Britain rre, therefore, gener.d'y unfavorable to tho : iscof, as compare 1 with parts of America and other parts of Europe.”

However reassuring this npiy he to English farmers, it distinctly indicates the danger to be feared from the introduction of the Hessian fly to New Zealand, where tho conditions of tho climate would be favorable to its multiplication.