180 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



pollen from tassel to tassel across leagues of land, is an utter impossibility, 

 notwithstanding all that sorghum conventions may say about the matter. Iii 

 this county we shall stick to the sort that did best this year, no matter by 

 what name it may be called. As to sorghum, or Imphee, mixing with corn — 

 the best testimony against such an idea is, that they blossom almost inva- 

 riably some four or six weeks apart, and unless there is some other bond 

 of sympathy between them, they can't mix. Half the cane planted in this 

 county is planted near corn fields, and I never saw it better than this 

 year." 



The Osage Orange — Its Hardiness in Illinois. 



Mr. Rogers also writes in regard to the Osage orange being hardy in 

 that State the following fact: "Within a circuit of ten miles about me, 

 there are at least twenty miles of hedge of this kind, all the wa}- from one 

 to fifteen years old, some trimmed closely, some running wild. They have 

 all stood the thermometer at 28 degrees below, and are thriving yet." 



The Chinch Bog. 



Mr. T. S. Clough writes from Mendota, La Salle county, Illinois : " If 

 talk about chinch bug is not thi'eadbare, I will reply to Mr. McDonald, of 

 Nebraska. According to my observation the chinch bug flourishes in a 

 dry season only, the more rolling and dry the land is, the n»ore damage 

 done by it. Your wheat sown upon your fall plowing was probably sown 

 first and up early, thus affording the bug a longer time to operate than 

 upon the later sowing, or it might be they were ashamed of your cornstalk 

 farming; also, thonghtyou would probably need all you mightgetin that way. 

 Here in Illinois it is a dangerous practice to sow spring wiieat upon corn 

 stubble simply harrowed in, unless it is sown very early upon very dry 

 ground, otherwise the weeds will overrun the wheat. In 1859, the year of the 

 great June frost, chinch bugs did much damage ; the next year very little. 

 We have now had two dry seasons, and much complaint of chinch bugs. 

 It is reasonable to expect a wet season next year, and I shall expect to 

 hear very little of the depredations of this pest. 



" My rule is to farm without any regard to the notion that the chinch 

 bug has a course of three years to run. I do not believe in that doctrine. 

 There is no alternative for Western farmers but to plant and sow as if 

 chinch bugs never existed. When they let us alone, let us make good use 

 of what we obtain, to economize to meet the emergency of a year when 

 they destroy the farmer's labor. Don't give up, but live on and try, try 

 again." 



Mr Norman Mattison writes upon the same subject from Berwick, War- 

 ren county, Illinois : "I sow without regard to the bugs. I do not believe 

 tliey will be thicker next spring, where they destroyed the crop this year 

 than in any other place. If corn and wheat stubble are both infested with 

 bugs, I slmuld prefer to sow the spring wheat upon corn stubble without 

 plowing. I would sow two bushels to the acre as early as possible in the 

 spring. Wheat stubble ground will do without being ploughed, if you 

 burn off the stubble clean and harrow it thoroughly. In every case I roll 

 wheat, oats and corn, after the seed is in the ground. My reason for pre- 



