19 



Where an invasion of the chinch bug is in progress from a fiekl of 

 wheat to an adjoining fiekl of corn, as an illustration, the marginal 

 rows of corn can be frequentl}^ 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 in case of those on the way to the field, while it 

 will not keep them out,, 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. If 

 a deep furrow is plowed along the edge of the field, running the land 

 side of the plow toward the field to be protected, the furrow will form 

 a temporary barrier to the incoming 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 bot- 

 tom, where they can be sprinkled with either kerosene alone or with 

 the much less expensive emulsion and killed. 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 sides more perpendicular, thus rendering it so much 

 easier for the bugs to follow along the bottom than to attempt to 

 climb the sides. If holes are dug across the bottom at distances of, 

 say, 30 or 40 feet, the bugs will fall into them and can be still more 

 easily disposed of by the use of Jierosene. That both of these meas- 

 ures are thoroughly practicable the writer can attest by ample per- 

 sonal experience, and he knows that under most conditions that are 

 likely to obtain prompt and efficient application is all that is neces- 

 sary. During a few days this work will demand the closest watching 

 and application, but fields of grain can be protected thoroughly and 

 effectually if these measures are faithfully carried out, and tlie 

 expense of time and money will be found to be less than in almost 

 any other plan that has been discovered up to this time. In no case 

 has a field attacked by a migrating army of chinch bugs come imder 

 the writer's observation but that might have been saved from very 

 serious injury by the prompt use of either of these measures, though 

 under some conditions the farmer might find it advantageous to 

 apply some of the other methods of protection here given. In all of 

 the following methods crude ])etroleum may be substituted for coal 

 tar if the former is more easily obtainable. 



[Cir. 113] 



