108 FARM SPIES 



I about another. I am talking about chinch-bugs, 

 which are field-bugs, but you are talking about 

 chinches, which are bedbugs. They are both in- 

 teresting kinds of bugs, but while yours is merely a 

 sleep and peace-destroyer, mine is a bread-destroyer. 

 If I had my choice, I would rather have your bug in 

 my house than my bug in the cornfield, because I 

 know how to get rid of chinches but do not know 

 how to control the chinch-bugs." 



"Mr. Sprague, do you know that bedbugs carry 

 diseases?" Frank Gates asked. 



"I did not know that, Frank; is that so?" 



"Yes," all the boys answered; "we learned that 

 in school and since then we would not allow one of 

 those bugs around our house if we knew it was there." 



"Well, I guess you are right then, boys," Mr. 

 Sprague answered. 



"Talking about the chinch-bugs, are they large 

 enough for one to see them when they are on the 

 corn?" the boys asked. 



"They certainly are," Mr. Sprague assured them. 



"How do they look?" they asked. 



"With their eyes, I reckon," Mr. Sprague an- 

 swered with a mischievous smile. The boys laughed, 

 but insisted that he describe them. Mr. Sprague 

 then told them that the full-grown ones were black 

 with whitish wings and the young were reddish and 

 wingless. 



