47 
* 
During 1860, so far as I have been able to ascertain, our State was 
comparatively free from this pest. In 1861 it is reported in consider- 
ible numbers in some of the northwestern counties by Dr. Shimer, 
;hough no complaints of its depredations are recorded in the Prairie 
Farmer ; but the spring of 1862 being dry it made its appearance in 
considerable numbers in some sections, cutting short the wheat crop 
ind doing some injury to the corn. In 1863 our state appears to have 
)een exempt from its ravages. In 1864 Iowa crops suffered largely from 
ts attacks, and adjoining portions of Illinois experienced some injury 
rom it also. The damage in 1865 to wheat was considerable in some 
actions, but the season being wet the insects were destroyed. 
It was this season, if I recollect rightly, that Dr. Shimer read a very 
nteresting account of this species before the Northern Illinois Horti¬ 
cultural Society. I am sorr}^ to say I have, so far, failed to secure a 
copy of this paper—from which I would gladly quote, as the Doctor has 
ong been one of our best practical Western entomologists, and has 
hever received that credit from entomologists to which his observa¬ 
tions and writings justly entitle him. 
As I learn from a quotation in the American Entomologist , Vol. 1, 
oage 172, he states that “on May 16th, 186-5, a bright, sunny, sum- 
ner-like day, the atmosphere was swarming with Chinch-bugs on the 
ving at Mt, Carroll, in northern Illinois. They were so numerous, 
ilighting on the pavements in the village, that scarcely a step could 
)e taken without crushing them under foot. In a few days they had 
ill d 1 *sappeared. ” 
The following account given by an Illinois farmer, as published in 
he proceedings of the N. Y. Farmer’s Club, June, 1866, and quoted in 
‘Report Ent. Soc., Prov. Ontario, 1871” probably applies to this year 
>r 1864. “In passing by a field of barley where the Chinch-bugs had 
)een at work for a week, I found them moving in solid column across 
he road to a corn-field on the opposite side, in such numbers that I 
elt almost afraid to ride my horse among them. Some teams were at 
vork mending the road at this spot, and the bugs covered men, horses 
ind scrapers till they were forced to quit work for the day. The bugs 
ook ten acres of that corn clean to the ground, before its hardening 
talks checked their progress. Another lot of them came from a wheat 
ield adjoining my farm into a piece of corn, stopping now and then 
or a bite, but not long. Then they crossed a meadow 30 rods into a 
.6 acre lot of sorghum and swept it like a fire, though the cane was 
hen scarce in tassel. From wheat to sorghum was at least 60 rods. 
Their march was governed by no discoverable law, except that they 
vereinfernally hungry and went where there was most to eat. Help- 
ng a neighbor harvest in one of the few fortunate fields, early sown, 
ve found them moving across his premises in such numbers that 
hey bid fair to drive out the family. House, crib, stable, well-curb, 
rees, garden-fences,—one creeping mass of stinking life. In the 
louse as well as outside, like the lice of Egypt, they were everywhere; 
nit in a single day they were gone.” 
During 1866 and 1867 our State appears to have been entirely free 
rom the depredations of these insects. In 1868 and 1869 they ap- 
>eared in limited numbers in southern Illinois but their development 
vas cut short by the wet weather. 
