~ 
80 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, 
when they can be put through a process of cremation that will prove 
effectual in destroying them. Should the¥ first appear in the middle 
of a field of corn (as it not unfrequently happens they do), they can 
be surrounded on the foregoing plan and destroyed in the same way. 
This plan we consider the most practical of any that has come under 
our observation, and is corroborated to some extent by the experi- 
ence of J. W. Martin, an observing farmer whose experiments are 
given in the Osage Mission (Kans.) Journal.” 
Tarred Boards or Tar'alone.—The plan has been adopted and is 
recommended in the reports of Professor Riley and others of using 
common fence boards—6-inches wide and less—setting them uponedge 
and making a barrier of them‘around the infested fields, care being 
taken to cover the lower edge so that the bugs would not crawl under 
them. The upper edgeis spread with fresh tar, which is occasionally 
renewed. Vast numbers are taken out from holes dug at intervals on 
the hitherside of the barrier in which the marching armies are col- 
lected. Commenting upon this remedy Professor Riley says: “* Witha 
little care to keep the tar moist by renewal, the boards may be dis- 
pensed with and the tar poured out of a kettle onto the ground. 
About a gallon is required to the rod, and it should be re- 
newed every other day, oftener when rains prevail, until the 
bugs are destroyed.” According to Dr. LeBaron this method 
was extensively used in the central part of [llnois, and espec- 
ially in the vicinity of the Bloomington gas-works in 1872. 
He saw the operation performed near Bloomington where the 
tar was poured from an old tea-kettle on the ground along the ex- 
posed sides of a corn-field. This remedy, however, will seldom be 
used on account of its expense, except insuch situations as that men- 
tioned, where the tar can be readily and cheaply procured. 
Sowing Strips of Plants distasteful to the Bugs around the Fields to 
be protected.—This remedy has been urged by certain authors and 
the crops to be used as barriers are preferably flax, Hemp, Clover, or 
Buckwheat. The effect of this all be to deter and destroy the mi- 
grating individuals and cause the death of the young ones by star- 
vation. It is, however, not a thorough remedy, and is not to be 
compared with the more direct remedies which cause the almost 
complete destruction of the insect. ie 
Sowing Strips of favored Food around the Fields to be protected.—A 
strip of Timothy, Hungarian grass, or Millet may be sown around the 
corn-field to good advantage, with the object of entrapping the mi- 
grating bugs by plowing it under and burning the ground over when 
it has become filled with the migrating armies in transit. The bugs 
of the first generation which are full-grown will lay their eggs by 
preference in this protective strip, and these will be destroyed by the 
plowing and burning. 
Hot Water and Soap-suds.—The application of strong soap-suds to 
the insects when gathered upon the outer rows of corn 1s recom- 
mended by a writer in the Southern Planter many years ago, and 
was also given by Dr. Fitch. Statement is made that a half gill or 
a gill poured upon each stalk will kill them all, and that the labor is 
not half so great asa single hoeing of the crop. Hot water has 
been recommended for a similar purpose by subsequent writers. 
Kerosene emulsion.—A new and, under certain circumstances, very 
efficacious remedy for the Chinch Bug was introduced when Professor 
Riley, in 1882, first suggested to Professor Forbes the advisability of 
experimenting with this substance upon this insect. The results of 
