Annual Report of the 
Ml 
through the winter, and lay their eggs in the spring, and the egg 
is deposited from the first to the fifteenth of June, and about the 
middle of June you will see a few small bugs; and they were so 
numerous by the 4th of July last year that the wheat turned white 
in spots, from their ravages. I think it is said that bugs plowed 
in with corn-stalks would be likely to remain in the ground; 
but that is not so. They will winter around your fence-corners, 
under your fences, under leaves; but not in the ground. You 
can easily find them. Turn over a flat stone, if it is dry, or turn 
over a rail, and you will find them; but they will not live in wet 
places. And if you can find bugs in the spring it is risky to sow 
wheat; but if a good heavy rain comes at the right time, it will 
plaster them tight into the ground, and hold them there. 
Last year for the first time chinch-bug3 hatched in 2 crops of 
mine, and they hatched in Fox-tail grass, and I think, many of 
them have gone into nice winter quarters, and therefore I shall not 
sow miuh wheat next year. But they won’t eat flax, so I shall 
raise some flax next year; but they will generally settle on barley, 
wheat and rye. 
Mr. Porter. I remember several years ago we had chinch-bugs 
the same as we had this year. I met the manager of the La Crosse 
Railroad in Milwaukee, and says he, “Porter, how are the crops?” 
“They are gone up,” I said. “With what?” he enquired. Says I, 
“chinch-bugs.” “Well,” says he, “you farmers are the most trou¬ 
bled people in the world.” “Yes,” I said, “and if you don’t find 
out the chinch-bugs are in your railroad next year, I will be mistak¬ 
en.” 
And then F met him in the spring again, and says he, “I guess 
we have got the chinch-bugs any way. We don’t have any wheat 
to carry.” 
In the hot days of June last, I was satisfied that the chinch-bugs 
were going to take every acre of my wheat. I went into Milwau¬ 
kee, and I think I brought out 3 barrels of salt, and I took one bar¬ 
rel and sowed it upon 3 acres of that wheat in a 30 acre field. One 
part of the field was nearly destroyed, and the other part that I 
sowed the salt on 7 days later was not hurt at all. And I have 
just been to the agent in Milwaukee and ordered 30 barrels of salt 
for this year. 
Mr. Wood. I did not state that the eggs of the chinch-bugs 
