144 CHINCH-BrO. 



If we make a cash estimate of this loss, by putting the price of wheat 

 at one dollar a bushel, barley at 60 cents, and oats at 25 cents, we shall 

 have an aggregate loss of upwards of eight and a half millions of dol- 

 lars in the central third of the State of Illinois. 



In this estimate we have made no account of the injury done to corn 

 throughout the State, nor of the damage to small grains north of the 

 central belt. Here the calculation becomes much more indefinite, but 

 I believe it will be generally admitted to be a low estimate if we add, 

 for this purpose, one-quarter part to the above aggregate of loss. This 

 will make the total loss caused by Chinch-bugs, in the State of Illinois, 

 in the year 1871, upwards of ten and a half millions of dollars. 



If we assume an equal amount of loss for the two States of Iowa 

 and Missouri combined, and another equal amount for the four States 

 of Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska and Wisconsin, we shall have a total 

 loss in one year, in the Northwestern States, of upwards of 80,000,000 

 of dollars, from this one species of insect. 



In consideration, therefore, of the enormous loss caused by the 

 Chinch-bug in the past year, and the well-founded apprehensions for 

 the year to come, every observation which can throw any light upon 

 the history and treatment of this formidable insect, becomes of the 

 greatest interest and importance. So much, however, has already been 

 written upon the general history of this insect, that we shall confine 

 ourselves, at the present time, to the practical treatment of the subject, 

 especially in the light of the experiences of the past season. 



The methods and agencies for the destruction of these insects, or for 

 the prevention of their excessive multiplication, may be reduced to the 

 following : 



Ist. Their natural enemies. 



2d. The plan of anticipating their ravages by sowing grain so early, 

 in the spring, as to get in advance of their depredations. 



3d. The attempt to save a part of our crops by preventing the mi- 

 gration of the bugs from one field to another. 



4th. The method of destroying them by burning corn stalks and 

 other rubbish, in the fall of the year. 



5th. The attempt to prevent their breeding, to any serious extent, 

 by abstaining from the cultivation of those grains upon which they 

 chiefly subsist. 



