198 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



its ill-savored inhabitants. Thus, not only will 

 the insect be i^revented from migrating on to 

 the adjacent corn-fields, but its future multipli- 

 cation will be considerably checked. 



A very simple, cheap and easy method of pre- 

 vention was recommended seven years ago by 

 Mr. "Wilson Phelps, of Crete, Ills., which we 

 give for what it is worth. It may very probably 

 be etfectual when the bugs arc not too numerous, 

 and certainly can do no harm. 



AVitli 12 bushels of spring wlieat mix one busliel of 

 winter rye and sow in tlic usual manner. Tlie rye not 

 lieading- out, but spreading out close to the ground, the 

 bngs will content themselves with eating it, until tlie 

 wheat is too far advanced to be injured by them. There 

 will of course be no danger of the winter rye mixing 

 with the springwheat. — I'rai He Farmer, April 111, 1862. 



"When Chinch Bugs are likely to march, as 

 they often do, after the fashion of Army-worms 

 (Leucania uiiipvncta, Ilaw.), from an infected 

 to an uninfected field, Mr. II. J. Everest, of 

 Stougliton, Dane county, "Wis., recommends 

 the following plan, wliich is stated to have been 

 tried by several persons and found to be per- 

 fectly efl'ectual: 



Take common Icnco-boards, six inches or less wide, 

 .and run tlicni around (lie piece, set edgewise, and so 

 Ihat the l)ugs can not get under tliem or between tlie 

 joints, anil then spread either iiiue or ciml tar on tlie 

 upper edge, and they will not cross it. Tlie tar needs 

 renewing till the edge gets saturated, so that it will 

 keep wet and not dry in any niiire, and either kind of 

 tar is efl'ectual . Then dig holes close to the lioards, 

 about like a post-hole, once in four or live rods, and 

 run a strip of tar from the topol the board to the bottom 

 on the outside opposite the hole, and they will leave the 

 board, and in trying to get around the tarred stripe 

 will slide into thehole, whei'e they wiU be obliged to 

 remain till tliey can be burii'd at leisure, and new holes 

 opened for more victims. It is seldom one has to fence 

 more than one side of a Held . but wlierever the fence 

 is, it is a sure stoxi. — Proc. Ktw Yvrl- Farmers' Cluh. 



Finally, when the Chinch Bugs are already in 

 the lield which it is proposed to rescue from their 

 clutches, Mr. Michael Hopps, of Lyonsville, 

 Cook county. III., says tliat he saved a piece 

 of wheat by sowing gas-lime broadcast over it, 

 at the rate of six or seven bushels to the acre; 

 and that the efll'ect was that the bugs immedi- 

 ately loft his field, and his crop was saved, wliile 

 the wheat of his neighbors was nearly ruined 

 by them. He further states that " a neighbor 

 had a field of wheat adjoining his (Mr. IIopps's) 

 cornfield, in wliich the bugs worked badly. 

 Thinking that, as soon as the wheat was cut, 

 they would emigrate to his corn, he dropped a 

 handful of the gas-lime upon each hill of corn, 

 in the same manner as plaster is often dropped 

 upon corn in the East. The consequence was 

 that the bugs did not attack the corn in tlie 

 least." — Prairie Farmer. 



But, if gas lime keeps off Chinch Bugs, which 

 may or may not be the case, it appears that 

 coal-tar most certainly will not do so, as the 

 following experiment of Dr. Shimer's proves: 



May Wth, 1864. — I saturated some saw-dust with coal 

 tar, and mixed some quick -lime among it, so that it 

 might be In a good condition for handling, and sowed 

 it thickly broadcast over a portion of my wheat-field, 

 where the bugs were very numerous . 



Maymh—Wth, 1864.— The bugs reftise to leave the 

 partof the field where I sowed the tarred saw-dust, so 

 there is but little hope of driving them from their oucc 

 chosen grounds, hy the seasonable application of 

 strong-smelling drugs. 



"\7e have selected the above remedies from a 

 vast mass floating around in tlie various Agri- 

 cultural Journals, some of them utterly absurd 

 and irrational and others of very doubtful val- 

 idity, not because we have any personal know- 

 ledge of their efficiency, but because they appear 

 the most in accordance with analogy and the 

 most likely to prove practically successful. As 

 to a ridiculous proposal, put forth in the year 

 18G5, with a great flourish of trumpets, by a 

 gentleman in the North-east corner of Illinois, 

 namely to destroy the Chinch Bug in tlie egg 

 state by pickling all the seed-wheat ; it is sutfi- 

 cicnt to observe that this insect does not lay its 

 eggs upon the kernel of the ripe wheat, but 

 upon the roots of the young green wheat. Con- 

 sequently, to attempt to kill Chinch Bug eggs, 

 by doctoring the seed wheat, would be pretty 

 much like trying to kill the nits in a boy's head, 

 by applying a piece of sticking-plaster to his 

 great toe. 



Recapitnlation. 



We consider the following important points 

 to be firmly established : 



1st. Chinch Bugs hybernate in the perfect or 

 winged state in any old dry rubbish, under dead 

 leaves, in old straw, in corn-shucks and corn- 

 stalks, among weeds in fence-corners, etc., etc. 

 Therefore all such substances should be burned 

 up, as far as pos.sible, in the spring. 



2nd. The earlier small grain can bo sowed in 

 the spring, the more likely it is to escape the 

 Chinch Bug ; for it will then get ripe before the 

 spring brood of bugs has liad time to become 

 fully developed at the expense of the grain. 



3d. The harder the ground is where the grain 

 is sowed, the less chance there is for the Chinch 

 Bug to penetrate to the roots of the graiu and 

 lay its eggs thereon. Hence the importance of 

 fall-ploughing and using the roller upon land 

 that is loose and friable. And hence, if old 

 corn-ground is sufficiently clean, it is a good 

 plan to harrow in a crop of small grain upon it 

 without ploughing it at all. 



4th. A single heavy rain immediately checks 

 up the propagation of the Chinch Bugs. Con- 

 tinued heavy rains diminish their numbers most 

 materially. A long-continued wet season, such 

 as that of 1865, almost sweeps the whole brood 



