308 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORt. 



now to enable the agriculturist to see the folly of wasting any time in tty-* 

 ing to send for and cultivate and introduce the chinch bug disease into 

 his wheat or corn field. 



Chinch bugs cause a great deal of worry on the part of the agricul- 

 turist at about the time they are migrating from the wheat to the corn, 

 and, fortunately, this is one of the best times in which to combat this 

 insect. It frequently happens that at this time the chinch bugs migrate 

 in a mass and in great numbers, leaving the wheat field and crawling in 

 the direction of the corn field. When this is the case, whether the bugs 

 are leaving your own wheat field or your neighbor's wheat field, and are 

 moving in the direction of your own corn field, this corn field can be pro- 

 tected from the ravages of these bugs without any great amount of labor. 

 This is done by taking advantage of the fact that this migration occurs 

 . almost invariably on foot ; that even the adult chinch bugs in the migrat- 

 , ing army do not readily take to wing ; that these chinch bugs have great 

 'difficulty in passing over the loose and unprotected soil, such as a dusty 

 road or a plowed field, and that the hot sun readily kills great numbers 

 • of chinch bugs that can find no place for shelter. While it is a well known 

 fact that chinch bugs thrive better in hot and dry seasons and are easily 

 "killed or held in check by damp seasons, yet it is a fact that the chinch 

 Ibugs cannot endure to any considerable extent the direct rays of the sun 

 on a hot day. They are, for that reason, found in fields where plants are 

 numerous enough to give them shelter, and are not apt to occur in fields 

 where the plants are scattering and shelter from the direct rays of the 

 sun not so easily obtained. 



It is a fact that a migrating army of chinch bugs will be held in 

 check in hot, sunny weather by a dusty road and die in immense numbers 

 before many of them will succeed in getting across. We can take ad- 

 vantage of this fact, and, when we find the chinch bugs are about 

 to migrate from the wheat field to the corn field, plow a belt around the 

 corn field, or at least along the sides toward the migrating army of bugs. 

 This plowed belt should be about ten feet wide. After plowing, the 

 ground should be harrowed with a disc harrow, and rolled so as to 

 break up all the lumps, and then reharrowed, dragging brush after the 

 harrow so as to make this ten-foot belt just as dusty as can be made; 

 then a log or a V-shaped trough should be drawn lengthwise along this 

 dusty belt two or three times, so as to make furrows running length- 

 wise. Along one of these furrows, at least, it is well to dig little post 

 holes, which can be readily done by means of a post-hole auger. When 

 the bugs try to cross tliis barrier they will have great difficulty in even 

 crossing the dust to these furrows. Once they reach the furrows, they 



