CHAPTER VIII 



Plowing to Kill Insects 



L3 LOWING to kill insect pests is a most important 

 job for every farmer. It is the ounce of prevention 

 worth the pound of cure in the pest evil. 1 1 kills insects be- 

 fore they can do harm, and the cost is nothing. There is no 

 farm in the length and breadth of the land that is not 

 some time or other afflicted with insect pests of the most 

 ruinous type. One must not expect that all kinds of 

 insects can be killed with the plow. Most of those 

 which commit the greatest depredations can be eradi- 

 cated with the use of the plow. However, before one 

 can put insect pests out of business effectively he must 

 know and understand the life and characteristics of the 

 pests just exactly as he must know the life and character- 

 istics of plants and weeds. 



The most effective methods for getting rid of pests 

 are to break up the breeding places, starve them to 

 death and make impossible the hatching of insect eggs. 

 These three methods can be successfully worked by the 

 use of the plow if the work is done at the right time 

 and the ground cultivated to keep down all green growth. 



It is generally agreed among our entomologists that 

 there never would have been such inroads of insect pests 

 in the field had it been plowed at the right time of the 

 year so as to cover the trash deep in the furrow. Leav- 

 ing stubble, such as grain, corn stalks, cotton stalks, etc., 

 on the surface affords the most propitious protection for 



