﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 35 



other fields, tLe Spring wheat with its contents may be burned. Other 

 preventive measures of this character have been tried, such as the 

 sowing of a rod or two of Hungarian grass or millet around a wheat 

 field, with a view of satisfying the bugs till the desired crop is out of 

 danger. I have also known some to practice planting a few rows of 

 sorghum, which is tougher than the corn. The bugs remain on the 

 sorghum till ready to scatter by wing, when there is little danger to 

 the corn, because it is then too strong and vigorous to be much 

 aiFected by the young of the second brood. 



Preventing the Migration of the Bugs from one Field to An- 

 other. — When, after having exhausted a field of grain, they are 

 marching to another ; or when, after wheat is cut, they are making in 

 close columns for the nearest corn, they may be checked in their pro- 

 gress in the following manner, which I give in the words of Mr. H. J. 

 Everett, of Stoughton, Wisconsin, who first recommended it : 



Take common fence boards, six inches or less wide, and run tliem around the 

 piece, set edgewise, and so that the bugs cannot get under them or betvveen the joints, 

 and then spread either pine or coal tar on the upper edge, and they will not cross it. 

 The tar needs renewing until the edge gets saturated, so that it will keep wet and not 

 dry in any more, and either kind of tar is effectual. Then dig holes close to the board, 

 about like a post hole, once in four or five rods, and run a strip of tar from the top of 

 the board to the bottom on the outside, opposite the hole, and they will leave the board, 

 and in trying to get around the tarred stripe, will slide into the hole, where they will 

 be obliged to remain till they can be buried at leisure, and new holes opened for more 

 victims. It is seldom one has to fence more than one side of the field, but wherever the 

 fence is it is a sure stop. 



With a little care to keep the tar moist by renewal, the boards 

 may be dispensed with, and the tar poured out of the kettle onto the 

 ground. About a gallon is required to a rod, and it should be renewed 

 every other day, or oftener when rains prevail, until the bugs are 

 destroyed in the manner before indicated. According to Dr. LeBaron, 

 this plan was extensively resorted to in 1871, around Bloomington, 

 Illinois, where the coal tar could be easily obtained, and it gave most 

 satisfactory results. The same end may be attained by plowing a 

 deep furrow or two at a short distance one from the other around a 

 field it is intended to protect ; and from the ease and cheapness with 

 which this plan is executed, it is likely to become the most popular. 

 The earth ^ould be thrown away from the protected field, and the 

 furrow not allowed to settle or harden, but be kept friable or 

 dusty by dragging a log or a stone or a bundle of brush along it 

 each morning. The philosophy of the plan is that the bugs cannot 

 climb up the loose surface, especially on the perpendicular side. The 

 dragging each morning will kill many, but they should be either 



