476 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
The Chinch Bug. 
BY PROF. C. V. RILEY 
Few, if any, insects attracted more general 
attention during the past summer, or did 
more serious injury in the large grain-grow¬ 
ing sections of the Mississippi Valley than 
did the Chinch Bug (Blissusleucopterus, Say). 
Indeed, no species more seriously affects the 
grain-grower east of the great “Father of 
Waters,” while it is 
doubtful whether even 
the Rocky Mountain 
Locust, taking one year 
with another, is so seri- 
/aWflWl-s* ous a P es *" hi the great 
i /) iWi! V " trans-MississippiStates. 
-f 1/ Mm \\ A It is, also, one of those 
species most difficult to 
overcome at the time 
its injuries are most ap¬ 
parent, whereas judici- 
-p,. , ous preventive meas- 
Flg. 1.— CHINCH BUG. 5 . . , , 
Hair line underneath show- ures durmg Winter and 
mg natural size. spring will greatly 
lessen possible injury the ensuing summer. 
A Native Species. 
The Chinch Bug is an indigenous American 
insect, and thrives most in southerly lati¬ 
tudes. It delights in a warm, dry climate. 
During revolutionary times it flourished in 
the Carolinas and in Virginia, rather than in 
New England, and to-day is more disastrous 
in Southern Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, 
and the Southwest, than in Minnesota and 
the Northwest, though it extends farther 
north in the Mississippi Valley than on the 
Atlantic Coast, owing, no doubt, to the 
greater dryness and the isothermal peculiari¬ 
ties of that portion of the Continent. 
Destructive Powers. 
As the Chinch Bug prevails most during 
years of drouth, it is somewhat difficult, in 
estimating injury caused by the insect, to 
eliminate that which is due to drouth alone. 
Careful computations by myself in Missouri, 
and by Dr. Le Baron and Prof. Thomas in 
Illinois, show that the loss to those two States, 
in 1874, amounted to about fifty million dol¬ 
lars, and these figures are a sufficient indica¬ 
tion of the insect’s destructive powers. 
Food Plants. 
The food of the Chinch Bug consists of the 
grasses and cereals, wild and cultivated, and 
accounts of its injuring other plants are mis¬ 
leading, allied species being confounded with 
it. Belonging to the Half-wing Bugs (Hete- 
roptera), its mouth is haustellate, and food is 
obtained, in consequence, by suction, so that 
the plants attacked are sapped of their life, 
and not eaten up. 
Characters, Habits, and Natural History. 
The Chinch Bug is less than a fourth of an 
inch long, and its appearance at different 
stages is shown in the accompanying illus¬ 
trations, the hair-lines indicating the natural 
sizes. The eggs (figure 2, a, b,) are amber 
colored, the young bugs vary from pale yel¬ 
low with a touch of orange to bright red, 
while the pupa (figure 2, g,) is mostly brown, 
and the mature bug black, with white upper 
wings, having two characteristic black spots 
upon them. A dimorphic short-winged form 
(figure 3) occurs in Canada, and in the more 
Northern States. The species hibernates in 
the perfect or mature form in a state of tor¬ 
por in whatever sheltered situations can be 
found. The hibernating individuals occur 
especially under dead leaves, in bunches of 
old dead grass or weeds, and in corn stalks 
and corn shucks. With the warmth of 
spring they issue from their winter quarters, 
and during mild, balmy days, freely use their 
wings and fly in all directions, being at¬ 
tracted to grain fields and especially to young 
wheat. The female chooses the lightest and 
dryest soil, and for the deposition of her eggs 
usually works into the ground, and there 
lays them upon the roots of the plant. Occa¬ 
sionally they are laid just above ground. 
“These eggs are deposited in little clusters, 
and the young lice hatching from them are 
at first bright red and remain for a consider¬ 
able time underground, sucking the sap from 
the roots. A wheat plant pulled from an in¬ 
fested field in the spring of the year, will 
generally reveal hundreds of these eggs at¬ 
tached to the roots, and at a somewhat later 
period, the young larvae will be found clus¬ 
tering on the same, and looking like so many 
moving red atoms. The female occupies 
from two to three weeks in depositing her 
eggs; the egg requires about two weeks to 
hatch, and the bug becomes full-grown and 
acquires its wings in five or six weeks from 
hatching. Individuals may be found of all 
sizes and ages throughout the summer 
flock, and given more than ordinary care by 
themselves. A sheep that is in good condi¬ 
tion, will give a good thrifty lamb, and be 
able to keep it strong from the start—an im¬ 
portant point with those that are forced for 
the butcher. A few very early lambs, with 
proper attention, will bring large returns,, 
often as much as five times the number that 
come at the ordinary time in spring, and re¬ 
ceive no special care while they are young.. 
Fig. 2.— IMMATURE STAGES OF CHINCH BUG. 
a, b, pgfis; c, newly-hatched larva; rf, its tarsus; c, larva after 
first molt; /, same after second molt; g, pupa—the natural sizes 
indicated at sides; ft. enlarged leg or perfect bug; ). tarsus of 
same still more enlarged; i, proboscis or beak, enlarged. 
months, yet the great body of the first brood 
mature soon after the ripening of spring 
wheat.” After an infested wheat field has 
ripened, or is cut, the bugs, of all ages and 
conditions, but mostly in the pupa and per¬ 
fect states, frequently migrate to other fields, 
and especially to com. At such times the 
mature bugs show little disposition to use 
their wings, though many of them do so. A 
second brood is produced, and it is the ma¬ 
ture bugs from this second brood which 
hibernate. 
Meteorological Conditions as Affecting Cltincli 
Bugs. 
There is nothing which experience has 
more firmly established in connection with 
this pest, than that 
heavy rains and wet 
seasons are destructive 
of it. I have witnessed 
the almost magical ef¬ 
fect of a heavy and pro¬ 
longed rain in a corn¬ 
field that was suffering 
badly. Warm, moist, 
or open winters are 
equally prejudicial to 
it. Such are the salient 
facts regarding the 
habits and natural 
history of the Chinch 
Bug that the farmer should bear in mind. 
Fig. 3.—SHORT-WINGED 
CHINCH BUG. 
Ewes with Early I-ambs. 
Ewes 
whose lambs are intended for early market, 
should be separated from the rest of the 
Barbed Wire for Fencing. 
BY PROFESSOR 8. A. KNAPP, DEAN OF SCHOOL OF 
AGRICULTURE, AMES, IOWA. 
Among the fundamental questions in farm 
economy, fences are the most important, be¬ 
cause of their extent, protection, first cost, 
and rapid decay. Within fifteen years, and 
more prominently within ten years, a new 
material—barbed wire, has demanded public- 
favor, with very many arguments pro and 
con. In the Northwestern States it has rap¬ 
idly become established hi the confidence of 
the farmers, and mainly supplanted all other 
fencing. Let us consider, from the stand¬ 
point of the prairie, some of the reasons for 
this sudden popularity. The following are 
some of the requisites for a perfect fence :— 
1st. It must form a reliable barrier to the 
passage of stock, and must be furnished at a 
moderate cost. 2nd. It must be simple, dura¬ 
ble in all places and climates, easily trans¬ 
ported, and immediately available for a fence. 
3d. It should occupy the least space practi¬ 
cable, thereby wasting little land, affording 
no harbor for weeds, and not seriously defac¬ 
ing the landscape. 
Barbed wire comes nearer meeting all these 
conditions, in the larger portion of the United 
States, than any other material. Compared 
with hedge, board, or rail fences, it can claim 
superiority in nearly every point for a valu¬ 
able fence on the farm. The main objection 
urged to its use is that of cruelty. It is 
claimed that horses, in particular, are liable 
to run against it and be seriously injured, if 
not maimed for life. If this objection is- 
valid, and cannot be removed, then the use 
of barbed wire will be limited. Careful ob¬ 
servers, however, have noted that the injury 
to animals has arisen from the stock being 
unaccustomed to wire fence, or from its 
faulty construction. Horses and cattle have 
had little respect for the ordinary board and 
rail fences of the country, and only the well 
disposed have been restrained by them. The 
first thing is to teach animals to entertain a 
becoming respect for a fence, and one that 
looks like a skeleton. While they are learn¬ 
ing this lesson, quite likely some of them 
may get hurt; but once learned they always 
regard a line of posts as very significant. 
Injury to stock has more frequently arisen 
from faulty construction than from any other 
cause. A majority of prairie fences are made 
of three wires, which is a mistake, because 
the distance of the wires apart offers a con¬ 
stant temptation to the animal. 
Experience has demonstrated the practical 
value of the following suggestions for con¬ 
structing barbed-wire fence : Set substantial 
posts one rod apart; the post at the starting 
point should be braced by cutting a notch in 
it two and a half feet from the ground, and 
running a strong pole from the notch to the 
foot of the second post, where it is fitted to 
rest firmly, and is supported about three- 
