35 
or furrow was made several inches in depth. In the bottom of this 
holes were dug with an ordinary post-hole digger at intervals of 
twenty feet. The ground was too damp, however, even at first, 
to make a satisfactory barrier, and heavy rains falling on the 24th 
and 25th of June compelled a prompt abandonment of this part 
of the operation. 
Coal-tar lines, substituted for the furrow because of the weathei, 
were laid on the 24th to the 26th so far as needed to protect fields 
of corn on the Thorpe farm. June 30 it became necessary to lay 
also a similar line for a short distance along the border of the south 
field on the Thompson farm, as the hungry bugs were at this time 
crossing the road in large numbers on their way to the corn. All 
these tar lines aggregated about two hundred rods in length, and 
were maintained in an effective condition around the different fields 
from eighteen to twenty-eight days. It was necessary to renew 
them, on an average, twice every three days. One hundred and 
forty-five gallons of tar were used in all, at a cost of $8.85. The 
supply of tar being temporarily exhausted July 9, kerosene was 
poured along the dried-out line on the ground, with the effect to 
soften it and to keep it soft for thirty hours. Besides the hardening 
of the tar by exposure to the sun, the barriers were occasionally 
bridged by dust blown into them, and broken by rains which some- 
times washed them away in spots or covered parts of them with mud. 
It is needless to say that no chinch-bugs crossed the tar line as 
long as it was kept reasonably fresh. The post-hole traps, into which 
the bugs w^ere led by diagonal lines or leaders of tar, worked effect- 
ively, and bugs accumulated in them in variable amounts up to a 
quart for each hole. Here they were readily killed by pouring a 
little tar-water or kerosene upon them. 
The movement of the bugs was grea;tly influenced by the 
weather. On warm and sunny days they sometimes began to travel 
not long after sunrise and continued until near sunset, but in cool 
and cloudy weather they moved later or not at all, and the traps con- 
sequently caught few or none. Whatever the weather, they never 
traveled at night. July i to 5, when the last of the wheat was being 
cut, they left the field more rapidly, and more of them were then 
destroyed than at any other time. By the 24th of July the move- 
ment was practically over, most of the bugs remaining having fin- 
ished their growth and got their wings. Many of them had but 
recently transformed, as shown by their paler color, and pairing 
for the next generation was actively in progress. 
The final result of the above operation is given in Mr. Taylor's 
report of conditions July 30, at which time he says that "all the 
