17 



cated. Instances have come under observation where, in wheat fiekls 

 overgrown with panic grass and meadow foxtail, the bugs transferred 

 their attention to these grasses as soon as the wheat was harvested. 

 In such cases a prompt plowing of the ground would have placed the 

 depredators beyond the possibility of doing any serious injury. If 

 the weather at the time is hot and dry, a mower may be run over the 

 stubble fields or along the borders of them, cutting off grass, weeds, 

 and stubble, as the case may be, leaving them to dry in the hot sun, 

 when, in a few hours, they will burn sufhcientl}^ to' roast all bugs 

 among them, and, while not destroying every individual, this will 

 reduce their numbers to such an extent that they will be unable to 

 work any serious injury. 



DIFFICULTY OF REACHING CHINCH BUGS IX MEADOWS. 



There is, however, some doubt in regard to the practicability of 

 applying these measures in timothy meadows. Meadow lands can be 

 burned over with perfect safety to either the grass or clover, if done 

 while the ground is frozen, but there is danger of injury if burned 

 over in spring, and it is somewhat doubtful if the hibernating chinch 

 bugs would be killed unless the surface of the ground was heated to a 

 degree that the grass and clover plants would hardly be able to with- 

 stand. , 



Infested areas of meadow land could be plowed, it is true; but the 

 work would have to be done very carefully, else the grass and stubble 

 would be left to protrude above ground along each furrow and con- 

 stitute so many ladders by which the chinch bugs could easily crawl 

 out and make their escape. Where the ground will admit of sub- 

 soiling, or where a "jointer" plow can be used, this latter difficulty 

 can be easily overcome. Usually, however, the chinch bugs work too 

 irregularly in a field to permit of plowing under infested areas without 

 disfiguring the field too much for practical purposes, especially in the 

 case of meadows, unless it be where the bugs have migrated en masse 

 from an adjoining field, when a narrow strip along the border can 

 often be sacrificed to good advantage. In many instances the drastic 

 measure of turning under a few outer rows of corn with the plow would 

 have saved as many acres from destruction. In the majority of cases it 

 is the fault of the farmer himself that these measures are not effective, 

 as he will seldom take the trouble to burn the dead leaves, grass, and 

 trash about his premises at the proper time, and when there occurs an 

 invasion of chinch bugs, instead of resorting to heroic and energetic 

 measures to conquer them on a small area, he usually hesitates and 

 delays in order to determine whether or not the attack is to be a 

 serious one, and by the time he has decided which it is to be the 

 matter has gone too far, and the chinch bugs have taken possession 



[Cir. 11.3] 



