36 PAPEES OX CEREAL AXD EORAGE IXSECTS. 



The weather was somewhat drier, but agricultural conditions for 

 the fall of 1910 were about as those of previous years, except that 

 vegetation was practically all dry before frosts. Chinch bugs were 

 not nearly so numerous as in the fall of 1909, clumps of Andropogon 

 containing only 80 to 260 bugs each, whereas there were thousands 

 the previous winter. During the early fall it was again observed 

 that the corn husks were full of adult bugs, but by cold weather these 

 were nearly all dead; the mild whiter, however, permitted some of 

 these bugs to live through, and some were alive on February 24, 

 1911. 



From the foregoing data, covering four seasons, there can be little 

 doubt that in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and probably southern 

 Illinois these clump-forming grasses form the principal hibernating 

 quarters of the pest. This definite knowledge of then habits puts a 

 most practical and effectual weapon into the hands of the farmer, 

 which he may apply months in advance, in defense of his crops. 



The farmer can readily determine whether the grasses on or about 

 his farm contain chinch bugs by pulling open the tufts of red sedge 

 grass. (See PL Y, fig. 3.) If the bugs are present in these clumps 

 of grasses, it is of the utmost importance that they be burned. The 

 habits of the hibernating generation and the migration of the spring 

 generation offer the best opportunities for forestalling and preventing 

 future ravages. 



PREVENTIVE MEASURES RECOMMENDED. 

 DESTRUCTIOX OF CBTXCH BUGS WHILE IX HIBERXATIOX. 



The burning of grasses and rubbish about the farm to destroy 

 chinch bugs has been often recommended and is doubtless the most 

 effective measure to be taken against future ravages of the pest. 



In the Southwest the chinch bugs are known to congregate in 

 bunches of grass in late October and remain there till the warm 

 days of early spring. It is only a matter of burning off these grasses 

 at the proper time to effectually rid such places of the pest, and the 

 grasses are generally sufficiently dry to burn readily by the 1st of 

 November. The chinch bugs crawl deep down among the grass 

 stems, a few of them even getting beneath the dust and debris, thus 

 seeking protection from the freezes that are to come. It is very 

 important that the grass be dry and yet burn slowly, so that the 

 heat will thoroughly penetrate the dense grass and reach the bugs. 

 It is not necessary for the fire to come into direct contact with the 

 bugs in order to kill them, as they died very quickly in the laboratory 

 when exposed to the heat of a flame from 12 to 20 inches distant, the 

 fatal temperature being in these experiments about 111° F. Fall 

 binning of the grasses among which the bugs are congregated has a 



