16 



miles from the shore of Lake Erie on the opposite side, was col- 

 lected late in April. At the time of collecting the leaves only an 

 occasional chinch bug was to be observed, but under a warm atmos- 

 phere they began to bestir themselves, and soon demonstrated that 

 there had been a large number ensconced unseen among the dried 

 and curled, dead grape leaves. 



Shocks of fodder corn, left in the fields over winter, certainly 

 afford protection for many chinch bugs, as will also coarse stable 

 manure spread on the fields before the chinch bugs have selected 

 their place of hibernation in the fall. In short, the first protective 

 measure to be carried out is a general cleaning up in winter or early 

 spring either by burning, or pasturing, or both. 



SOWING DECOY PLATS OP ATTRACTIVE GRAINS OR GRASSES IN EARLY SPRING. 



Judging from the manner in which the overwintered adults are 

 attracted to hills of young corn, wheat fields, or plats of panic and 

 foxtail grasses, it has always seemed to the writer practicable to 

 take advantage of tliis habit and sow small patches of millet, Plun- 

 garian grass, spring wheat, or even corn, early in the spring and thus 

 bait the adults as they come forth from their places of hibernation. 

 Their instincts will prompt them to seek out the places likely to 

 afford the most desirable food supply for their progeny, and, if an arti- 

 ficial supply can be offered them that will be more attractive than 

 that furnished by nature, the bugs will certainly not overlook the 

 fact, but will take advantage of it to congregate and deposit their eggs 

 there, whereupon eggs, young, and adults can, a little later, be 

 summarily dealt with by plowing both bugs and their food under 

 and harrowing and rolling the ground to keep the former from 

 crawling to the surface and escaping. The writer has thoroughly 

 tested this method in a case where the bugs, young and old, had 

 taken possession of a plat of neglected ground overrun with panic 

 grass {Panicum crus-galli) , which was mown and promptly removed 

 and the ground plowed, harrowed, and rolled before the bugs could 

 escape, thus bur3ang them beneath several inches of soil, out of which 

 they were unable to make their way. As a consequence they were 

 almost totally annihilated, hardly 1 per cent making their escape to 

 an adjoining cornfield. 



WATCHFULNESS DURING PROTRACTED PERIODS OF DROUGHT. 



It has always appeared to the writer as though a little watchfulness 

 on the part of farmers during periods of drought might enable them 

 to determine whether or not chinch bugs were present in any con- 

 siderable numbers in their fields in time to interpose a strip of millet 

 between the wheat and corn, to be utiliz(Ml later as ])reviously indi- 



[Clr. 113] 



