De 



1958 



Decker: Economic Entomology 



115 



While many of the observations made 

 by Walsh and the other gentlemen men- 

 tioned were sound and are still valid, one 

 observation was in error and resulted in 

 a recommendation which, although it had 

 the desired effect, was based upon a false 

 premise. Walsh (1861:349) advised, 

 "Burn your tame grass meadows over 

 annually, in the dead of the year, and get 

 your neighbors to do the same, and you 

 will never more be troubled with the 

 army worm." Walsh thought that the 

 armyworm passes the winter in the egg 

 stage, but such is not the case, and there- 

 fore burning, as he recommended, did not 

 destroy the eggs. We now know that 

 when the moths appear in the early spring 

 the\ fly at night; in the daytime, they 

 hide in rank grass, preferably a dense mat 

 of old, dead grass in a vigorous meadow. 

 There, in April and May, they lay their 

 eggs. Thus, while winter burning did 

 not destroy eggs, it had a profound effect 

 on the number of worms developing in 

 burned-over fields and often, if not usu- 

 ally, prevented serious infestations from 

 developing. 



The recommendation for burning per- 

 sisted for several years, and by 1880 it was 

 supplemented by a recommendation for 

 the use of dusty trench barriers to trap 

 worms on the march. Spraying strips 

 with Paris green was proposed by some, 

 but was generally considered both dan- 

 gerous and impractical. 



The use of poison bait (a mixture of 

 bran and Paris green) for the control of 

 armyworms, cutworms, and grasshoppers 

 came into use about 1885, and with minor 

 modifications remained the principal and 

 most practical control measure available 

 until the advent of the modern chlori- 

 nated hydrocarbon insecticides. Since 

 1951, growers have been generally suc- 

 cessful in controlling armyworms by 

 spraying with such materials as toxaphene. 

 dieldrin, and endrin. Furthermore, with 

 the insect outlook and warning service 

 bulletins available weekly during crop 

 seasons from the Natural History Survey, 

 Illinois farmers are now able to control 

 armyworms eff'ectively when the worms 

 are one-fourth to one-half grown. Ap- 

 plied control measures save the small 

 grain and the meadow grasses as well as 

 protect adjacent crops from migrations. 



The chinch bug, another infamous pest, 

 has been well known to Illinois farmers 

 since 1820. This species, like the army- 

 worm and many others, is not a serious 

 pest every year, but tends to be sporadic, 

 perhaps somewhat cyclic, in its appear- 

 ance. Weather, of course, is a factor that 

 influences the chinch bug population. 



One is indeed surprised to learn that 

 the farmers of 1860 were just about as 

 much aware of this pest as are the farm- 

 ers of 1958. In 1861 Thomas (1865: 

 466—7) observed: 



Although we cannot predict with certainty 

 one season the action of insect enemies for the 

 next, yet we often can from the character of 

 the season itself, know that certain species are 

 likely to be upon us in increased numbers. 



This was the case the present season in re- 

 gard to the appearance of the "Army-worm." 

 The cold, cloudy spring hanging so long before 

 opening into summer weather, caused the ex- 

 clamation from several of our older citizens, 

 "I wouldn't be surprised if we had the Army- 

 worm this season." Although this was rather 

 guessing, yet there evidently pervaded the 

 minds of the elder settlers a semi-conscious 

 feeling of dread in regard to this insect, which 

 most assuredly originated from the similarity 

 in this spring to the previous seasons when it 

 had appeared. And when the long dry weather 

 we sometimes have in June and July has 

 parched the vegetation, we may expect the 

 grass-hoppers to multiply rapidly, and by their 

 attacks on the plants already struggling for 

 life, to soon effect a far greater injury than 

 the same attack made on vigorous plants 

 would have done. 



Later, Thomas (1880:242) observed, 

 "The high temperature of 1854, '71 and 

 '74, together with the diminished rainfall, 

 furnish the key to the cause of the great 

 development of the Chinch-bug during 

 these years." 



One could cite hundreds of quotations, 

 from the Prairie Farmer and other early 

 farm papers, concerning damage by the 

 chinch bug and other field crop pests that 

 would put the potato beetle reports to 

 shame. But let the words of Walsh and 

 of Thomas suffice. Walsh wrote as fol- 

 lows : 



It is only two years since the entire w^heat 

 crop of the State was so damaged by the chinch 

 bug that a great deal of it was not cut at all, 

 and a great deal that was cut barely paid for 

 the harvesting. Scarcely a year elapses but 

 what more or less damage is done to it by this 

 insect, and by the Hessian fly and the wheat 

 midge. A large breadth of winter wheat, 

 which is commonlv supposed to be "winter- 



