Practical Considerations . 



175 



corn fields alternate more or less with pastures, and 

 there is just enough small grain to breed and nourish the 

 first brood of chinch bugs which pass into the corn at 

 harvest time and which scatter over the country, by breed- 

 ing and harboring in the corn fields. Not to mention the 

 different means to be employed in counteracting the ravages 

 of this insect, a diversified agriculture is undoubtedly one 

 of the most effectual. It must necessarily follow that the 

 more extensively any given crop is cultivated to the exclu- 

 sion of other crops the more will the peculiar insects which 

 depredate upon it become unduly and injuriously abundant. 

 The Chinch bug is confined in its depredations to the 

 grasses and cereals. Alternate your timothy, wheat, barley, 

 corn, etc., upon which it flourishes, with any of the numer- 

 ous crops on which it can not flourish, and you very 

 materially affect its power for harm. A crop of corn or 

 wheat grown on a piece of land entirely free from chinch 

 bugs will not suffer to the same extent as a crop grown on 

 land where the insects have been breeding and harboring. 

 This fact is becoming partially recognized, and already 

 hemp, flax and castor beans are to some extent cultivated 

 in the States mentioned. But there are many other 

 valuable root and forage plants that may yet be introduced 

 and grown as field crops. 



Of root crops that would escape the ravages of the 

 winged locusts, and which would grow in ordinary seasons, 

 and furnish excellent food for stock, may be mentioned 

 turnips, ruta bagas, mangel wurzel, carrots (especially the 

 large Belgian), parsnips and beets. Of tubers that are not 

 so profitable but of which it would be well to plant small 

 quantities in locust districts, for the reason, as my friend 

 A. S. Fuller, of New York, suggests, that they grow with 

 such ease, and are less likely to be injured by the insects, 

 the Chinese Yam, Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tube- 



