CHAPTER II 



FARM PRACTICES TO LESSEN INSECT AND RODENT 



INJURIES 



MODERN methods in farming have much to do with the con- 

 trol of farm pests. Fall plowing and the use of tooth and disk 

 harrows are helpful in destroying or exposing to their enemies such 

 insects as pass the winter in the ground. In parts of the country 

 where it is practical, summer fallowing, by keeping down all weeds, 

 starves out insects which normally would feed upon them. 



Cleaning Up in Autumn. Corn shocks afford hibernating 



quarters (Fig. 4) for chinch bugs and field mice; and cabbage and 



___. - . -,,-~ 



FIG. 4. Shocks of corn left in the field over winter afford shelters for chinch bugs and field 



mice. 



cauliflower stalks melancholy objects in the field harbor the 

 pupae of cabbage maggots over winter; old melon and cucumber 

 vines may afford retreats for insects infesting cucurbits, and volun- 

 teer plants and weeds, both along fence rows (Fig. 5) and in other 

 places, add to the number of Hessian flies, chinch bugs, joint worms, 

 field mice and other pests. Clean farming, therefore, which means 

 the cleaning up and destruction by burning of this rubbish, should 

 be the rule. A neglected orchard is a breeding place for scale and 

 borers; broken branches, dead or dying, invite the presence of 

 hosts of minute beetles which bore in bark and wood (see Fig. 6). 



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