Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1880-05-08
Death to the Chinch.bug.

much interesting information concern
ing the practical tests of remedies for
this pest. In this the writer states that
irrigation is undoubtedly the most eff
fectiye method of destroying chinch-
bugs, indeed is the only effective means
that can be resorted to in the spring
after the bugs have overrun the fields
unless the crop is sacrificed. Unfor-
tunately in a very large part of the
country this remedy is not possible, and
the farmer must resort to preventive
measures within his reach. Burning
over the infested fields in winter Prof.
Thomas looks upon as the best practi-
cal means susceptible of general adop-
ton for fighting the past. In pursuing
this measure for their destruction the
operator must bear in mind that chinch-
bugs frequently leave the corn-stalks
and seek other quarters in which to hi
bernate; they seek shelter wherever it
can be found in and around the field.
So far, therefore, as it is possible to do,
| fire should be carried to these surround
ing hiding places. In timbered sections
the leaves should be burned and fence
corners cleared out and burned. In
spite of every precaution some will
escape, but the greater portion will be
destroyed. All the farmers in an in
tested district must act in concert. If
the season has been wet one, examin-
alton in the fall will be necessary, but if
it has been dry, diligent search should
be made for these pests before cold
weather, and in and around every field
where found each hiding-place should
be subjected to a fiery ordeal.
When the enemy is in sufficient num-
bers to do serious injury or excite APP
prehension of danger the next season,
Prof. Thomas suggests the propriety OF
adopting the Southern plan of topping
the corn. This will cause the grain TO
harden more rapidly and the stalk to
dry sooner, so that the crop can be
gathered at an early day and the stalks
be cut and raked into windrows and
burned before the bugs have left them
in search of hiding-places. Prof. Riley
recommends that shocks be made at in
tervals to attract the bugs and burned as
soon as goodly army have congregated
therein. This plan may be practiced to
advantage in wheat fields when at the
time of harvest the bugs have not taken
their departure. If the wheat is at once
threshed and the straw scattered over
the stubble and burned, all or most Of
the bugs that are there will be de-
stroyed.
The practice of blowing land for
spring grain the preceding autumn, or,
if plowed in the spring, rolling it re-
peatedly with a heavy roller after seed
ing. is thought by Prof. Riley to possess
advantages for fields pervaded by
chinch-bug. The female bug has to
work her way underground in the spring
of the year in order to get at the roots
upon which she lays her eggs, and the
looser the soil at this season the greater
the facilities which are offered for the
operation.
Among numerous devices resorted to
for the protection of the corn crop is
that of stopping the process of the sum-
mer brood by blowing narrow strip
around the field, keeping it well pulver-
lied by narrowing and rolling, then
blowing one or two burrows in this
dusty strip. This should be done every
day or two, care being taken that this
strip is kept thoroughly pulverized, as
the bugs can not travel well through
dust. Ditching is sometimes resorted to;
in this case the sides of the ditch next TO
the field should be perpendicular, and
rendered dusty by dragging.
Clean farming when adopted as
rule tends largely towards preventing
the increase not only of chinch-bugs but
of all other injurious insects that trouble
the farmer. One of the best methods of
preventing their increase is, according
TO the evidence of all who have investi-
gated the matter-P Professor Thomas
included-diversifed farming. The au-
thority in question says that massing