THE CHINCH BUG. 
37 
I have found no occasion to cliange ray opinion as to the value and potency of 
irrigation as a remedy for Chinch-bug injuries, a remedy, too, that is within the reach 
of most farmers, for there are few who might not, with the aid of proper windmills, 
obtain the water requisite for irrigating their fields at the needed time, while many 
have natural irrigating facilities. I have repeatedly laid stress in my writings on 
the importance of irrigation in combating several of our worst insect enemies, and 
aside from its benefits in this direction, every recurrence of a droughty year, such as 
the present, in large portions of the United States, convinces me of its importance as 
a meaus of guarding against failure of crops from excessive drought. I am glad to 
know that many farmers, and especially small fruit-growers in the vicinity of New 
York, are preparing in one way or another for irrigation whenever it becomes nec- 
essary, and I was pleased to hear Dr. Hexamer, at the late meeting of the American 
Poraological Society, urge a general system of irrigation as the most profitable invest- 
ment the cultivator can make in a climate subject to such periods of drought as 
ours is known to be. 
Burning . — In addition to winter burning the remedy can be used to 
good effect in other cases. For instance where the attack of the bugs 
appears to be confined to a definite portion of the field, that portion 
should be overlaid with straw and burned, if not too large. Another 
pertinent suggestion is made by Dr. Thomas in Bulletin 5, TJ. S. E. (7., 
and this has the indorsement of practical use by certain Illinois farmers. 
If it is found at the time wheat is harvested that the bugs have not taken their de- 
parture, as is the case in the winter-wheat section, this fact maybe taken advantage 
of to destroy a very large portion of them. If the wheat is at once thrashed and the 
straw scattered over the stubble and burned, it will destroy all or most of those that 
are there. I know of one section of southern Illinois where this has been practiced for 
a number of years by the German farmers with good results. 
This remedy is very practical and doubtless can be used to good effect 
under such circumstances. 
The following experiments in burning were made the past season at 
Ames, Iowa, by Professor Osborn, and the account is taken from his 
manuscript report: 
On J uly 16 the stubble adjoining a corn field was observed to contain large numbers 
of bugs traveling toward corn. In the afternoon this migration was going on quite 
actively, and as the stubble was now quite dry it was fired with a view of destroying bugs 
remaining in it. Where tolerably thick, and when there was a fair breeze, it burned 
readily, but it was necessary to take some pains in carrying the flame along past thiu 
spots to keep it from dying out. A considerable portion of the field, however, was 
successfully burned over, and the dead bodies of many bugs not completely consumed, 
which could easily be found on examining the burnt area, testified to the destruction 
of hosts of the pests. The bugs thus killed were mostly young larvae, the majority of 
the adults and larger larvae and the pupae having already moved out. The number 
destroyed, however, must, 1 think, have well repaid the little trouble necessary to 
burn the stubble. 
Early in August the bug3 had so multipled in a field of Hungarian grass that no 
further growth seemed probable, and most of the field was mown and the hay secured. 
A narrow strip, however, was left next the corn, the plan being to burn this as soon 
as bugs began passiug to the corn. When the bugs started, however (August 13), 
the grass was not dry enough to burn except in spots. In such places as would burn, 
however, hosts of bugs were consumed. This strip was at once mown, and after dry- 
ing a few hours another attempt made to burn it, as also on the following day; but 
portions were still too green to burn rapidly, and, unfortunately for the experiment, 
