THE CHINCH BUG. 
41 
the corn, June 25, was a perfect success in killing the bugs, and the corn was examined 
later and was found to have sustained not the slightest injury.* 
In my experiment I used a spraying apparatus, manufactured by A. H. Nixon, Day- 
ton, Ohio, which consists of a square tank, which has a capacity of 8 gallons, with 
with a force-pump hose and spray-nozzle attached. This machine (called the Lit- 
tle Gem) was placed upon a rough sled made for the purpose, which was drawn be- 
tween the rows by a mule. 
As the spraying apparatus produced too wide a stream to apply the liquid rapidly 
and effectively to the stalks of corn, I removed tho spraying portion of the nozzle and 
used the part which produces a very narrow but strong stream (one-sixteenth of an 
inch in diameter). The liquid would run down the stalks and between the sheath 
of the blade and stalk, killing instantly the hundreds of insects with which it came 
in contact. The two rows were sprayed as far as the stream would reach on each 
side, and then the mule moved on to stop for another application. In this way the 
corn was gone over very rapidly. Where a force-pump can be obtained it is better 
to apply it with this, but the nozzle should be very small, so as to throw a very nar- 
row stream or spray directly against the stalk. If a force-pump can not be obtained, 
a common watering pot, with a narrow nozzle, could be used very effectively. Sev- 
eral of these could be used, the operators going quite rapidly from one stalk or hill 
to another. 
There is no reason why all should not get rid of the chinch bug on corn, for a fail- 
ure to kill the bugs would arise from some fault in the application, and the applica- 
tion can be made cheaper than a dressing of the corn could be made with the hoe. 
This application was made late in June, and Mr. Stroud reported 
several times later in the season that nothing more had been seen of 
the bugs, and Professor Atkinson, visiting the field October 17, found 
no Chinch Bugs in the corn-stalks where the emulsion was used, nor in 
the neighboring Crab-grass. Some were found, however, about 40 rods 
away in some late corn, but they were few in number. 
Professor Osborn’s experiments with kerosene emulsions, made dur- 
ing the summer at our request at Ames, Iowa, are reported by him as 
follows : 
A number of trials were made with kerosene emulsion first with a view to testing 
its value under various conditions, and afterward for the sake of checking the dam- 
age threatened to corn. 
The first trial was made July 15, the emulsion used being the common one, consist- 
ing of kerosene, soap, and water diluted to about 5 per cent, kerosene. Tho bugs 
were killed very quickly by this application, and great numbers of them could be 
reached, but many in particularly secreted places, in folds of leaves and under lumps 
of earth, escaped. Thrown on to the leaves and running down between leaf and 
stalk, it dislodged and killed immense numbers. Thrown against stalks where they 
were congregated it would quickly dislodge the mass, and while it was impossible to 
see whether all driven off in this way were sufficiently wet to kill them, it was cer- 
tain that most of them were. This application was at the rate of about 1 gallon of 
emulsion or 12 gallons of the diluted mixture to 5 rows of corn for 32 rods, or what 
would equal 5 gallons of emulsion, 60 gallons of diluted mixture to tho acre, ora cost 
for material of less than 60 cents per acre. In trials of the emulsion diluted to range 
from 2 per cent, to 7 per cent, of kerosene, less than 4 or 5 per cent, was found to be 
unsatisfactory, and at the lowest figure bugs even when thoroughly drenched and 
kept for a time in the fluid were able to recover. A mixturo (about 2 per cent., pos- 
* Professor Atkinson has since written that subsequent tests convinced him that one 
part of the emulsion to nine of water made the mixture quite strong enough. — L. 
O. H. 
