THE CHINCH BUG. 19 
at hand for immediate use. The emulsion has the further advantage 
that it can be reduced sufficiently in strength to preclude injury to 
the vegetation and still be strong enough to be fatal to insect life. 
Diluted and ready for use, the emulsion is prepared as follows: 
Dissolve one-half pound of hard soap in 1 gallon of water, preferably 
rain water, heated to the boiling point over a brisk fire, and pour 
this suds while still hot into 2 gallons of kerosene. Churn or other- 
wise agitate this mixture for a few minutes until it becomes of a 
creamlike consistency and, on cooling, forms a jellylike mass which 
adheres to the surface of glass without oiliness. For each gallon of 
this emulsion use 15 gallons of water, mixing thoroughly. If ap- 
plied to growing corn, it will be best to use the emulsion either during 
the morning or evening, say before 8 a. m. or after 5 p. m., as at these 
times it will be less likely to affect the plants than if applied in the 
heat of the day. The great drawback in its use is that if not prop- 
erly made it will prove as destructive to the corn as the bugs. 
Where an invasion of the chinch bug is in progress from a field of 
wheat to an adjoining field of corn, as an illustration, the marginal 
rows of corn can be frequently. saved, even after the bugs have 
massed upon the plants, by spraying or sprinkling them freely with 
kerosene emulsion, being careful not to get much of it directly into 
the crown of the plants, and using a sufficient quantity so that the 
emulsion will run down the outside and reach such bugs as are about 
the base of the plants. This treatment will kill the bugs clustered 
upon the corn, and while it will not keep out those on the way to 
the field, it will cause a halt in the invasion, and thus give the farmer 
an opportunity to put other measures in operation, one of which 
will include the use of kerosene in another manner. In cases where 
the young bugs have already taken possession of one or two border 
rows of corn and quick action is required on the part of the farmer 
in stopping their advance, the drenching of the corn plants by a 
strong soap suds, 1 pound of soap dissolved in 4 gallons of water, 
may be of service. If a deep furrow is plowed along the edge of the 
field (fig. 9), running the land side of the plow toward the field to 
be protected, the furrow will form a temporary barrier to the in- 
coming hordes. 
UTILITY OF DEEPLY PLOWED FURROWS SUPPLEMENTED BY THE USE OF KEROSENE 
EMULSION. 
In dry weather the sides of the furrow can be made so steep and the 
soil so finely pulverized that when the chinch bugs attempt to crawl 
up out of the furrow they will continually roll back to the bottom. In 
case of showery weather, which prevents the sides of the furrow from 
remaining loose and dry, the bottom can be cleared out with a shovel, 
making it more smooth and the side more perpendicular, thus render- 
ing it so much easier for the bugs to follow along the bottom than to 
