446 
June 28 
TIIE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
A FIGHT ACAINST CHINCH BUGS. 
Chinch bugs are reported in several parts of New York 
State. This is a new enemy for many eastern farmers, 
who do not know how to fight it. The following informa¬ 
tion is sent by western men: 
From the Iowa State Entomologist. 
When chinch bugs “suddenly appear in large num¬ 
bers” it is usually impracticable to destroy them upon 
the crops first attacked by them. This first appear¬ 
ance is common in the small grains, on the roots of 
which they hatch. When they are found sufficiently 
early in the season hatching in limited areas of the 
fields of small grain, these usually being along the 
tops of the ridges, it will often pay to destroy them 
in these patches by plowing them under deeply, and 
thus prevent their spreading to other parts of the 
field. It is now, of course, too late for this method 
the present season. As the small grain reaches ma¬ 
turity the bugs migrate to other crops, ordinarily in 
the West to corn; to prevent this one of the barrier 
methods may be used. The same methods may be 
applied to prevent their spread from affected parts 
of the field to those yet free from the insects. The 
simplest and best of the barrier methods, if the 
ground be very dry, is a furrow with sloping dusty 
sides. If the ground be damp, however, a smooth 
surface must be obtained by dragging or rolling, and 
a thin line of tar poured along the length of the field. 
This can be done most easily by using a waterpot 
with the rose off. Holes should be dug at frequent 
intervals close to the outside of these barriers, into 
which the bugs will fall as they crawl along. They 
can then be killed by a douse of kerosene or by bury¬ 
ing deeply. Where the bugs are very bad it pays to 
make two such barriers with a space of several feet 
between them. The bugs that succeed in passing the 
first one can then be killed by drawing a roller, a 
stoneboat or a float along occasionally between the 
two barriers. If one of the above methods is used to 
isolate bugs infesting a limited portion of a cornfield, 
those that have been separated by the barrier should 
be killed by spraying with kerosene emulsion. This 
is made by dissolving one-half pound of hard soap in 
one gallon of water and then pouring the boiling hot 
solution into two gallons of kerosene. The mixture 
should be thoroughly churned, best with a force 
pump, until it forms a creamy-white mass. For use, 
one gallon of this emulsion should be diluted with 
nine gallons of water. The method of inoculating 
chinch bugs with an infectious disease has been ex¬ 
tensively experimented upon in the Mississippi Val¬ 
ley. In the majority of cases in the past this has not 
proved a successful method of combating the bugs. 
When the weather conditions are exactly right con¬ 
siderable success has sometimes been reached, but in 
many of these cases the disease would probably have 
originated without inoculation. The danger is that 
too much dependence will be placed upon the disease, 
to the neglect of more laborious but, at the same time 
more certain methods. h. e. summers. 
Iowa State Entomologist. 
Methods Practiced in Missouri. 
It is not quite correct to say that there is any prac¬ 
tical remedy for chinch bugs under all circumstances. 
Of course a kerosene emulsion or a 10-per-cent solu¬ 
tion of kerosene will kill them, but the cost when the 
bugs are scattered over a wide area is prohibitive. In 
case they are migrating in large numbers as from 
wheat stubble to a cornfield, and are collected on a 
few of the corn rows, this plan is entirely feasible. 
Another plan is to prevent them from passing from 
the wheat stubble into corn by taking advantage of 
the fact that they migrate almost invariably on foot, 
that even the adult bug in the migrating army does 
not take to wing readily, and that they have great 
difficulty In passing over a loose and unprotected soil 
or a dusty road. The heat rapidly kills great numbers 
under such circumstances. A good plan is to plow a 
belt around the cornfield, or at least along the sides 
exposed to the migrating army, harrow, roll and drag 
the belt thoroughly so as to form a deep dust mulch, 
and at intervals of a few feet throw dead furrows In 
which a log should be dragged very frequently, so as 
to keep the dust loose and to destroy the insects that 
accumulate in these furrows. The bugs will have 
great difficulty in crawling out of a furrow with steep 
and dusty walls. At times, however, the bugs will 
take to wing and scatter in large numbers over great 
areas, and under these circumstances the farmer is 
practically helpless. An infectious disease which is 
capable under favorable weather conditions of hold¬ 
ing this pest in check, has been distributed for a num¬ 
ber of years by several of the experiment stations of 
the Mississippi Valley, including the Missouri Sta¬ 
tion. We find, however, that in dry weather—the 
time when the bugs do their greatest damage—this 
disease fails to operate, and is worthless. In moist 
weather it is very effective, but spreads rapidly from 
the germs already in the soil and, after 10 years’ ex¬ 
perience, we have practically abandoned the dissemi¬ 
nation of these germs. This disease undoubtedly does 
much good, but, like the other remedies, cannot be 
relied upon under all circumstances. More can ue 
done toward preventing a scourge of chinch bugs 
than in stopping it after it occurs. If the farmers 
will destroy the rubbish under which the bugs hiber¬ 
nate in Winter, burn their stubbles when they are 
known to contain large quantities of chinch bugs, and 
use trap crops, the result will be more satisfactory 
than attempting to kill the insects during the grow¬ 
ing season. h. j. waters. 
Missouri Exp. Station. 
A PLAN FOR A DAIRY BARN. 
The drawing, Fig. 174, will show some points con¬ 
cerning dairy barn construction that bring out several 
ideas of value. First, compactness within reasonable 
limits; cows and horses near each other, providing for 
easy and cheap handling of manures; a warm room 
for horses where they can be cared for quickly by the 
milkers. If the builder desired he could continue the 
partition A A through to the wall to point B, and have 
a horse stable shut off from the cows. I would not do 
it, nor would I build the partition A A more than 
three feet high, thus permitting a free circulation of 
air. Horse stalls are five feet wide. The box stalls 
adjacent to horse stalls are reached through the pass¬ 
age, and may be entirely cut off from the stable 
proper, or they may be joined by a wire partition 
above the mangers. A carriage barn is afforded upon 
the same floor, or may be used for tools. Hay and 
straw for horses will come down through chutes from 
above to each animal, C C represents grain chutes for 
horses and cows. A granary can be very handily lo¬ 
cated above these boxes or chutes, as one room in 
either place or two separate rooms, one for horse feed 
and the other for cows. The drive above will accom¬ 
modate unloading. 
One straight drive affords easy means of hauling 
manure. I can see only a waste of time and fertilizer 
in putting in a track for carrying manure, unless it 
is a barn already built, into which a team cannot 
easily enter. A car and track means dumping ma¬ 
nure near the buildings. We have some barns not 
yet otherwise arranged, but I am against the practice 
and shall continue to condemn it 
It will be observed that I have placed the box stalls 
or hospitals for cows at the opposite end from the 
horses and horse box stalls, for two purposes; to se¬ 
cure plenty of sunlight, and to equalize the space, so 
that animals would not be close together in one end 
or portion, and open spaces where animals do not 
stand in another portion. This will always neces¬ 
sarily take place to some extent. Every effort should 
be put forth to avoid it. We must fight against con¬ 
densation of moisture, and that always takes place 
where animals do not stand, simply because a lower 
temperature follows. This barn, with the dimensions 
given, will hold about 50 animals, supplying an aver¬ 
age of 600 cubic feet air per head, with an 8% to 
nine-foot ceiling. The reader may query why a silo 
should be located in one corner. It is convenient, is 
it not? These round siloes can add to the architec¬ 
tural appearance of a building if desired, and here is 
an opportunity to do it, put on a finished conical roof 
and you have something that will attract the passer¬ 
by. The stable has every advantage of sunlight with 
an eastern, southern and western exposure. Use not 
less than 12 lights, 9x13 glass, every 15 feet all 
around. No room in your house will be lighter, and 
none should be. The upper story can be arranged to 
suit the location. If high ground is to the west, a 
drive in at D-l and out at D-2, with a hay carrier 
running over; hay and unthrashed grain stored in cor¬ 
ner marked Grain. If more convenient to drive from 
D-2 to D-3 the barn will not lose any of its efficiency; 
the hay and grain can be handled with ropes and 
pulleys. The upper floor made of DA-inch stuff 
double will be strong enough, so that a team can drive 
over any part of this second story, which will make 
for convenience. The King system of ventilation with 
two out-take flues, VEN, 1*4x3 feet each, and a ce¬ 
ment floor, will make a very convenient and com¬ 
plete dairy barn. _ n. e. cook. 
COLD STORAGE WITH ICE. 
Old and New Methods. 
The artificial systems have taken the place of ice to 
such an extent that many consider ice cooling imprac¬ 
ticable for large operations. Defects in the early sys¬ 
tems of ice refrigeration were lack of ventilation and 
excessive moisture. Fig. 175 shows the Fisher system, 
one of the older methods of ice cooling. The ice cham¬ 
ber was above the storage room, with an insulated 
waterproof floor between. There were openings for 
the circulation of air from the ice chamber to the 
storage room, and flues from the storage room to the 
top of the ice chamber. It is easy to see that ventila¬ 
tion must have been deficient, and the air from the 
ice being admitted directly to the storage room, 
brought in too much moisture, a condition fatal to 
the keeping of many products. A dry cold is needed, 
and this cannot be secured where the air from the ice 
is admitted directly to the storage room. 
Fig. 176 reproduced from Ice Cold Storage, by Madi¬ 
son Cooper, Minneapolis, Minn., shows the working of 
a patented system of cooling with ice. which is said 
to give results fully equal to the artificial systems. 
The foundation principle of this plan is the circulation 
of brine between coils of pipes in a freezing tank, and 
coils connected directly with the storage room. The 
primary coils shown in the upper part of Fig. 176 are 
in a tank of crushed ice and salt. The two sets of 
coils are kept filled with a solution of chloride of cal¬ 
cium, which is used in preference to common brine be¬ 
cause it causes less rust in the pipes and does not 
freeze readily. The circulating brine is entirely in¬ 
dependent of the brine that flows from the tank as a 
result of the mixture of ice and salt, as it is never re¬ 
moved from the pipes except on account of leakage or 
repairs. In the first experiments a pump was used to 
keep the brine in motion, but it was found that this 
circulation could be kept up by gravity alone. As the 
brine in the primary coils becomes cool, thus increas¬ 
ing in weight, it flows from the outlet into the sec¬ 
ondary colls, forcing the brine from these into the 
primary coils through the pipe at the left. This move¬ 
ment is slow, depending upon the difference in tem¬ 
perature between the two sets of coils, but one can 
readily see that so long as the primary coils are kept 
cool there Is no danger of those below becoming warm. 
Thus the cold is transmitted to the storage room with¬ 
out direct contact with the ice or the air from the ice 
chamber; and, if the storage room is properly con¬ 
structed, as great a degree of dryness may be had as 
with the artificial systems of cooling. 
At the right of Fig. 176 is shown a convenient plan 
for handling the ice. The chute in the ice house is 
made in movable sections, so that it may be shortened 
as the supply lowers. The ice is fed into the chute in 
chunks that the crusher will handle. After being 
crushed into pieces about, the size of a hen’s egg it is 
elevated to the tank, into which it drops through a 
flexible spout. 
Unless prevented the pipes cooling a storage room 
will become coated with frost. This insulates them to 
a degree, and hence a smaller pipe surface is needed to 
do a certain amount of cooling when the pipes are 
clean than when they are permitted to become coated 
with frost. Chloride of calcium is used to prevent the 
formation of frost on the pipes, and to dry and purify 
the air of cold storage rooms. This substance is placed 
in troughs over the pipes. It has a great affinity for 
moisture, which it absorbs from the air. The result¬ 
ing brine drips over the pipe coils, keeping them coat¬ 
ed with a thin film, which largely prevents the for¬ 
mation of frost, and keeps the cooling surfaces of the 
pipes at their greatest efficiency. The chloride of cal¬ 
cium gutters are shown on top of the secondary coils 
in Fig. 176. 
The secondary coils may be directly in the storage 
room, but a better method is to place them in a room 
by themselves and use a forced air circulation system. 
A fan draws the air from the coil room and distributes 
it to all parts of the storage room. The air is returned 
to the coil room by being drawn off at the top of the 
storage room through a perforated false ceiling. This 
makes a constant circulation of air regardless of tem¬ 
perature conditions outside. A thorough circulation of 
air in storage rooms in connection with the use of 
chloride of calcium or some other process for remov¬ 
ing moisture will keep the room reasonably free from 
impurities in the air. Most of the impurities are held 
in suspension by the moisture. If, therefore, the mois¬ 
ture can he condensed and removed the impurities 
will go with it There are impurities in the form of 
gases, however, for which moisture has little attrac¬ 
tion, and they must be removed by the introduction 
of fresh air from outside. These gases come from 
cheese, lemons, oranges or other products that under¬ 
go slight changes in storage. At the upper right hand 
corner of Fig. 176 is seen the air-washing tank. The 
outside air admitted here is run through a rain of 
water to rid it of impurities. From the washer it 
goes to the cooling tank, as shown by the arrows; 
then to the drying tank, where chloride of calcium 
removes the moisture, and from there to the ventilat¬ 
ing fan, which forces it into the coil room and causes 
a constant motion throughout the whole air passagp. 
The illustration is not in correct proportion, as the 
space occupied by the cooling machinery is purposely 
exaggerated to show its workings. 
