120 
The Bulletin 
plants thus protected. In some cases the material used as a repellent 
was actually mounded around the base of separate cornstalks, yet the 
beetles crawled over the mounds of the supposed repellent to feed upon 
the protected stalk. In all cases where a repellent action has been 
ascribed to any fertilizer, the writer is of the opinion that the results 
observed are not due to the repellent action of the fertilizer, but to the 
fact that such plants are growing rapidly, owing to an excess of food 
material; hence they escape the attacks of this insect. 
DRAINAGE 
It is a matter of common observation that the corn' bill bug is worse 
in low wet lands than it is in uplands. Naturally this has led to the 
statement that the most important factor in the control of the corn bill 
bug is proper drainage of the land; and while this is an important 
remedy, its importance might easily be over-emphasized. The Pender 
Test Farm is exceptionally well tile drained, yet the bill bug has not 
become a negligible factor on this farm. And while we must not leave 
the impression that proper drainage is not an important factor in the 
control of this insect, yet we must caution the farmer against assuming 
that drainage is all important. It would not be possible for the corn 
bill bug to be worse than we have observed it on some well drained 
fields. (Fig. 2.) 
RIDGING 
Observations made in fields in various parts of the bill bug sections 
of this State show that stalks of corn which are on a slight elevation 
above their neighbors nearly always escape the attacks of the corn bill 
bugs for a longer period. Sometimes stalks which are on very slight 
elevations will not be attacked, while all the rest of the corn in the field 
has been very severely injured. The amount of immunity to attack 
seems to be out of all proportion to the height of the ridge. This was 
especially noticeable in a field on the Pender Test Farm, where many 
stumps had been recently pulled. In pulling the stumps a ridge of 
earth was left around a hole which was usually quite shallow after the 
plow had passed over it. Corn on this ridge either was immune from 
attack or was attacked only after all the other stalks in the vicinity had 
been seriously injured or killed. This led to the belief that if corn was 
planted on a ridge it would to a certain extent escape from the attacks 
of the insect. 
This method was tried, and three rows through one of the plats 
(Fig. 68) were planted on a ridge which averaged about eight inches 
high. Corn was planted on these ridges and in rows between the ridges 
on June 20th. Careful examination made a month later showed that 
45 per cent of the corn on the ridges had been injured, whereas 98 per 
cent of the corn in the rows between the ridges had been injured. An- 
