65 
that a gallon of tar would extend about ten rods, so that a two-gallon 
kettle twice filled would furnish a strip of tarred ground the whole 
length of a forty-rod cornfield. The tar had to be renewed every 
other day, and oftener in case of rain. The insects would crowd up to 
the line in such numbers that in many places they would pile up 
from half an inch to an inch deep, and could be scraped up by the 
double handful. ' But so long as the tar was kept fresh not a bug 
would crossit. They were not prevented from crossing by the adhesive 
nature of the tar but bv its repulsiveness. The bugs would not touch 
it They were destroyed by conducting them into perpendicular 
holes, or by shoveling them in and burying them. The usual price 
of coal tar at the gasworks is about two dollars a barrel. This is the 
most effective means yet resorted to for intercepting the progress ot 
these insects when in the act of moving from one field to another; 
but the trouble and expense of using it, especially at a distance liom 
the places where the tar is manufactured, will probably prevent its 
ever being very generally practiced. The great deficiency of all suoh 
methods as a remedy for the chinch-bug is that, at best, they onl} pro¬ 
tect that crop which is usually the least damaged by them. 
“ The method of destroying the insects by burning corn-stalks and other rub¬ 
bish in which they are supposed to hibernate. 
“We have just adverted to the fact that when the small grains fail 
the Chinch-bugs migrate into the corn, and that at this time they 
travel on foot and confine themselves mostly to the outer rows, -but 
shortly after this the young bugs acquire wings and then spread 
themselves over the fields in large flocks. It is a question of consid¬ 
erable importance, and one to which but little attention has been paid, 
whether these insects materially damage the corn crop after this gen¬ 
eral scattering of themselves, in the latter part of summer. From 
the circumstances of the case, this question does not admit of a very 
easv solution. The fact that these insects require comparatively lit¬ 
tle nutriment after they have attained their winged and mature state, 
taken in connection with the vast extent and luxuriance of the west¬ 
ern corn-fields, and with the additional consideration that the crop, 
being at this time considerably advanced, the loss would be only com¬ 
parative and therefore not easily discriminated; all this tends to in¬ 
volve the subject in much uncertainty. 
“Mr Geo W. Patten, of Delavan, Tazewell county, at whose house 
I visited in the height'of the Chinch-bug season, actively co-operated 
with me in the determination of this and other matters appertaining 
to these destructive insects. Mr. Patten took the pains to visit many 
of the farmers in his own and the neighboring counties,. all ot which 
were badly infested, for the purpose of making inquiries upon tins 
point. He found it to be the general opinion that the bugs had dam¬ 
aged the crop very sensibly. As the whole State has suffered severely 
the past season for the want of rain, there was the additional difficu - 
ty in this case of distinguishing between the effects of the drouth 
and that caused by the bugs. The insects themselves, however, lur- 
—5 
