38 PAPEES OX CEREAL AXD FOE AGE IXSECTS. 



attention to the tar line. Preparations for the barrier should be begun 

 in all cases where the bugs are found abundant in ripening grain. 

 Frequently the soil is quite compact along the margins of wheat 

 fields and if it is, a smooth path can be readily fixed at the edge of the 

 field next to the corn. If the soil is not compact it is well to throw two 

 furrows together, making a ridge, and with a heavy block make the 

 top of it very smooth and compact. Along this smooth path, post 

 holes 12 to IS inches deep should be dug about every 20 or 30 feet. 

 Get a supply of coal tar, or if it is more convenient, pine tar or crude 

 oil, ready to use as soon as the bugs begin to travel. An old coffee 

 pot with the spout, pinched so as to allow a small stream to flow is 

 convenient for putting the line of tar on the patch. By holding the 

 vessel near the ground a narrow line no wider than a pencil can be 

 made, and this is all that is necessary. The tar fine should strike 

 the post holes near the middle extending directly around the edge of 

 the hole on the side next to the corn, leaving the edge of the hole 

 next to the wheat free. When the chinch bugs reach the tar fine 

 they will not cross it but will turn aside and run or crowd each other 

 into one of the post holes. As soon as the holes are partially filled 

 with bugs a small amount of kerosene poured in them will kill them. 

 Care must be taken in putting the line around the post hole so that 

 the assembling mass of bugs does not crowd over it. When first ap- 

 plied the material will soak into the ground, but a hardened crust 

 will readily form which will hold it until it slowly dries out. The line 

 must be closely watched and renewed as often as the bugs begin to 

 break over it. Wherever the soil is sandy and veiy loose a slight wind- 

 storm will cover the tar, making passageways for the bugs, and under 

 such conditions the line must be renewed quite often. A man or boy 

 can care for from 80 to 100 rods of the barrier, but he must stay with 

 it from early till late. Ordinarily the bugs will have finished then mi- 

 gration from wheat in 10 days. This method is apparently costly and 

 troublesome, but the actual expenditure of labor and money is insig- 

 nificant as compared with the loss of the corn crop which may thus 

 be prevented. 



REMEDIAL MEASURES. 

 DESTROYIXG BUGS WHICH EXTER CORXFIELDS. 



After the bugs enter the cornfields they will at first collect in 

 masses on the plants of the first two or three rows and should be 

 killed before they proceed farther. This can be done in two ways, 

 by applying a gasoline torch and by spraying them with specially 

 prepared solutions. 



The flamino; torch is not altogether satisfactorv on account of the 

 liabilhw of damaging the plants. Great care must therefore be 



