146 ' CHINCH-BUG. 



can place much reliance upon this method of escaping the ravages of 

 the Chinch-bug. 



In this connection we may advert to the plan of sowing certain 

 etimnlatina: substances, such as salt and lime, with the seed, for the 

 purpose of hastening the growth and the ripening of the grain. It has 

 also been supposed that a pretty heavy dressing with such materials 

 might render the soil obnoxious to the bugs. I have known of at- 

 tempts being made to protect corn from the buga, by the application of 

 salt and air-slacked lime, but without any visible efifect, and it is not 

 probable that any quantity of such substances which we could reason- 

 ably apply to the soil would be effective in preserving our crops from 

 these insects. But in the other point of view, that of hastening the 

 ripening of the grain and thus placing it in advance of the depredations 

 of the bugs, this plan seems to me to be well worthy of trial. I was 

 informed by a farmer living in Dixon, that he bad tried sowing salt 

 with his spring wheat, at the rate of one barrel to two and a half acres, 

 and that upon the part of the field so treated, the crop was much larger 

 than on the other portions, and ten or twelve days earlier. The effects 

 of salt will differ, of course, to some extent, like all other applications, 

 according to the nature and condition of the soil. 



THIRD. THE ATTEMPT TO SAVE A PART OF OUR CROPS BY PREVENTING THE 



MIGRATION OF THE BUGS FROM ONE FIELD TO ANOTHER. 



It is well known that when the small grains become too mature and 

 dry to afford nutriment to the Chinch-bugs, they migrate in vast num- 

 bers into the adjoining corniields, and generally destroy from half a 

 dozen to a dozen or more of the outer rows, and nothing but the great 

 extent of these fields, at the "West, and the exuberance of the plants, 

 which, at this time, have nearly completed their growth, preserve the 

 corn crop from the same destruction which has overtaken the smaller 

 grains. 



As this migration takes place before the young brood have acquired 

 wings they necessarily travel on foot, and various attempts have been 

 made to intercept their progress. The principal of these are a succes- 

 sion of furrows plowed across their path, and a barricade of fence- 

 boards besmeared with coal tar or kerosene oil. The first plan, though 

 but very partially successful, is so simple and easy of execution that it 

 is always worthy of trial. I was informed by some of the farmers who 

 practiced it the past season, that it very materially checked their pro- 

 gress for the first day or two, so long as the furrow was fresh and the 



