6 FARMERS BULLETIN 835. 



breed enough flessian flies to infest a whole neighborhood where the 

 grain is otherwise free from the fly. 



(4) Take care that the sowing of wheat in the fall is delayed until 

 the fly-free date. Information regarding this date can be obtained 

 by applying to your county agricultural agent, your State experiment 

 station, or to the nearest entomological field station of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. 



(5) Practice a good rotation of crops wherever possible. 



(6) Secure the cooperation of the entire community in following 

 the methods mentioned. This is absolutely essential in order that 

 satisfactory results may be obtained. 1 



CHINCH BUG. 3 



Next to the Hessian fly the chinch bug doubtless is the most de- 

 structive pest affecting cereal crops. It does greatest damage to corn. 

 The adult or full-grown bug (fig. 3) is black 

 and about one-eighth of an inch in length, and 

 usually bears conspicuous white wings folded 

 over its back. The young ones are bright red 

 and wingless. The old bugs live over the winter 

 hidden among clumps of wild grasses, especially 

 those known as the " broom sedges," which grow 

 abundantly in uncultivated places throughout 

 the greater portion of the main wheat belt of the 

 United States. It is most important, therefore, 

 either to prevent these grasses from accumulat- 

 ing in- waste or uncultivated fields or else to burn 

 them over while dry during the late fall or early 



FIG. 3. The chinch bug . . 7 /. 7 7 -i; i i 



(BUSSUS leucopterus) : vn> the spring, before the bugs nave Left the dry 

 Adult, long -winged g rasses an d become distributed over cultivated 



form. Much enlarged. 



crops. 



It is the usual habit of the chinch bug first to attack fields of 

 wheat, rye, or barley, and its presence often is unnoticed because the 

 injuries inflicted upon these crops are obscure or of no apparent 

 importance. About harvest time the bugs leave the small grains 

 and crawl over the surface of the ground to the nearest fields of corn 

 (fig. 4), where they begin at once to wreak severe injury. It is, 

 therefore, very important that the presence of the bugs be detected 

 before they have reached the corn and if possible before they ha re- 

 started to migrate from the small grains to the cornfields. 



Cornfields may be protected and the migrating bugs trapped about 

 the time of wheat harvest, as follows: Plow a deep furrow along 



1 Further information regarding this pest is contained in Farmers'- Bulletin 640, which 

 may be secured free of charge upon application to the Secretary of Agriculture, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



a BUssus leucopterus Say. 



