D 
VULNERABLE POINTS IN THEIR HABITS. 
When we consider the life history sketched above, we find 
that a practical person will be very apt to discover some habits 
that could be utilized to kill large numbers of this pest. Con- 
sidering the fact that these bugs find shelter under all sorts of 
rubbish, leaves. etc., it appears assuredly feasible to attack 
them there with good results. Clean farming, then, is not only 
godly, butan excellent remedy against that insect, and against 
many others. Let every farmer do his share of the work by 
not permitting any rubbish to accumulate upon his farm. In 
our usually dry autumns all rubbish will burn well. Such ma- 
terial should be raked together in rows; this should be done 
before the bugs search for shelter, and as they surely will find 
such rows, they will not be slow to appropriate them for winter 
quarters. Later, rubbish and bugs can be disposed of by fire. 
This work shuuld include the clearing and cleaning of the edges 
of the woods, of fences and fence-corners, of hay-stacks and 
straw-stacks, and of wind-breaks; in fact, no rubbish should 
be permitted to remain upon the farm, for no rubbish means 
no shelter for the bugs. Besides this all the taller grass should 
be burned over; in fact let the fire be anywhere and everywhere 
excepting where it might be dangerous. The burning of dead 
foliage upon fields, meadows and prairies in former times ac- 
counted, toa great extent, for the absence of many injurious 
insects at present only too common. 
We know that chinch-bugs prefer certain plants and dislike 
others; they prefer millets, for instance, and almost invariably 
attack this plant when found in the infested region, while flax 
repels them. It seems that barley is their second choice, then 
wheat, and later in the season corn. Winter rye frequently 
escapes harm, as it usually ripens too early, though a great 
deal depends upon the season, and rye may be destroyed by 
preference. Chinch-bugs do not like oats. This dues not mean, 
however, that oats will invariably escape their ravages. On 
the contrary, if more suitable food should be scarce, chinch- 
bugs consider oats good enough for them, and act accordingly. 
By sowing millets very early, and having it above ground be- 
fore the bugs leave their winter shelters, they will assuredly 
find and appreciate it, and will settle there in very large num- 
bers. Of course the owner of such millet cannot expect to grow 
