THE CHINCH BUG. 
35 
able to such egg laying. The same thing may be done with even better 
success after sowing Spring Wheat. 
Solving an unattractive Crop with Wheat. — Good results have been ob- 
tained, as shown by Professor Riley, by sowing 1 or 2 quarts of Flax 
to the acre in the spring among Fall Wheat. It is put in in early spring 
with a light harrowing and rolling. Its growth does not materially in- 
jure the crop. Flax and Barley have also been sown mixed upon the 
same ground, the seed being separated in cleaning. Similarly, corn- 
fields which promised a poor stand have been harrowed and sown to 
Buckwheat. We have already mentioned in our section on food plants 
the successful experiment detailed by Professor Forbes in sowing Timo- 
thy in the fall with Winter Wheat or Rye, and the same author states that 
in southern Illinois the sowing of Clover in spring on Winter Wheat is 
largely practiced “with unquestionably good effect, provided that the 
clover grows freely enough to shade the ground by the time the young 
Chinch Bug gets fairly under way.” In that latitude, however, he states 
that the clover often makes too slow a start to effect this purpose. Pro- 
fessor Riley also states that it is recommended to sow 1 bushel of Win- 
ter Rye with each 12 bushels of Spring Wheat, either for the same reason 
or from the idea that the bugs will prefer the younger to the older grain. 
Direct Winter Remedies. 
Stress should be laid upon the great necessity for concerted work in 
winter time. 
Burning. — Professor Riley says : 
I can not lay too much stress on the importance of winter work in burning corn- 
stalks, old boards, and all kinds of grass, weeds, rubbish, and litter around grain fields, 
and even the leaves in the adjoining woods, in and under all of which the little pest 
hibernates. 
In almost every locality the insects will be found to have some par- 
ticularly favored hibernating place, where they can be attacked and 
burned out. The locality studied by Professor Atkinson in North Caro- 
lina and mentioned in a previous paragraph is a particularly good in- 
stance. There a little careful search in the fall showed the bugs pre- 
paring to hibernate in great numbers in the Crab-grass, and nothing 
could be easier in the winter than to burn down every spear of this 
grass in the vicinity of the grain fields. In the newer parts of the W est, 
where unbroken prairie land adjoins fields of grain, it is advisable to 
burn over the former early every spring. Indeed this course is an ab- 
solute necessity under such conditions. 
Fall Plowing and Harrowing. — After burning, if the soil can be plowed 
and. harrowed, the chances for successful hibernation of the bugs which 
escape burning will be reduced to a minimum. In the same way, with- 
out burning, late fall plowing and harrowing will do much good. 
Gas Lime. — Where gas lime can be easily and cheaply obtained an 
application of two hundred bushels to the acre will prove valuable as a 
fertilizer and will destroy such hibernating insects as it may reach. 
