INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CORN. 305 



in such a corn field hibernate under these shocks in vast numbers, prob- 

 ably the bulk of the chinch bugs in such a field seeking this place of 

 hibernation, and in the spring they have but a few feet to crawl before 

 they are upon the young wheat plant, and in that way the farmer simply 

 reinfests his fields in as thorough a manner as could be done. Once the 

 chinch bugs are in a wheat field, practically no artificial means can be 

 taken, from an economic standpoint at least, looking towards any help 

 from this evil. 



We cannot economically kill chinch bugs that are scattered over a 

 wheat or corn field ; but it sometimes happens that the chinch bugs in the 

 spring coming from their winter quarters, especially if the wheat field 

 be near a forest, will get upon the first few feet bordering such forests, 

 and collect in great numbers, forming a band but a few feet wide along 

 this area. In such cases, it would pay to spray that badly infested area 

 with kerosene emulsion or ten per cent kerosene, as will be described 

 later on. 



A great many people send to this office in the spring of the year for 

 the chinch bug disease, with the idea of scattering this disease about the 

 fields of wheat and kilUng the chinch bugs infecting them. It is a fact 

 that under certain climatic conditions this chinch bug disease, which, by 

 the way, is nothing more or less than a minute fungous plant, will kill 

 great numbers of chinch bugs. But, from seven years' experience and 

 observation of this disease in the wheat and corn fields throughout the 

 State of Missouri, I am firmly convinced that the artificial use of this 

 disease by the farmers of Missouri does very little, if any, good. This 

 tallies with the experience of other Entomologists, who have had consider- 

 able to do with this matter in other states. While this statment may seem 

 strange to a good many, the reasons are perfectly obvious when prop- 

 erly understood. In the first place, the chinch bug disease is a natural 

 one found in nature, and is not an artificial one. What we did was to col- 

 lect the spores of this fungus and put them in boxes containing a great 

 mayy living bugs. The air and the soil in these boxes were kept con- 

 tinually moist and warm, and, as a result, the spores readily germinated, 

 and the mycelium of the plant found its way inside the bugs and fed upon 

 them, killed them, and produced spores again on the outside of the bugs. 

 It was these white, fungus-covered bugs that we distributed throughout 

 the State to any one applying for them. The persons receiving these 

 bugs were supposed to place them in boxes similar to ours, and keep 

 them under similar conditions, and thereby develop large quantities of 

 this fungous disease, and to scatter these throughout the wheat field. As 

 a matter of fact, I have each year found that over half of the farmers 



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