The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1881-07-21
for the Farmer.
THE cHrNcH BUG.

raya.as committed 10y Hessian flies, weevIls, |
Rocky Mountain locusts, joint and army worms
link into insignifcance when compared 10 inc |
destruction wrought by these insects that, when
fnli ,,rovn are about tlree-twentieths OF an |
mel, in length. To the intense dry cold OF the
winters on the plains the insects are indifferent
The high degree of temperature accompanying
III. long droughts the western plains are suiJeut
IN is exceedingly favorable to the life and pro-
fife reproduction of this pest. The only weather
that Affects them unfavoraby is what IS CON-
,uouIy known as "wet spell-n Heavy and ire
nucrt rains in the early spring, or in june when
the ,irst brood of Young are Matching. kill the
Old bugs that have lived through the winter, or
drown the Young.
The agricultural reports of the Western States
clearly show the damage inflicted by chneh bugs.
When they were settled and the land was free
from enemies of the wheat plant, all virgin
soils in the western portion of orr country were,
the new land was generally sowD Ia spring whest
after crop of sod corn had been harvested
This was the most convenient and economical
method of agriculture The new settler, by fol
lowing this rotation of crops, could harvest his
corn at his leisure, and prepare the field Tor
wheat the next spring. before the prairie was IN
III condition to break for corn ground. Alter the
farm was under the plough the harvest of spring
wheat did not interfere with the cultivation of
corr a the latter crop was generally laid by
before the wheat was fit for the sickle bar.
study of the agricultural reports of Western
States, once famous for the quantity and good
shows that in many States, notably illinois, Mis-
| souri, Wisconsin, and Kansas, the cultivation OF
spring wheat has been practically abandoned
Various reasons have been assigned for this mark
ed change in agriculture, once popular III those
States. .Cunningly devised tables, supplement-
cd by fraudulent arguments and false statements,
showing the greater yield of fall-sown wheat and
| the higher price obtained for the gram, have
| been published. The real reason for the aban-
| dannlent carefully concealed from the Eastern
| pubIic, some of whom might have wanted to
| purchase farming lands is she fact that chineh
| bugs are exceedingly destructive of spring wheat
| plants, and are popularity believed Ia breed IN
| the ground occupied py them The farmers nave
| abandoned spring wheat in the endeavcr to nd
| their lands of chinch bugs. Fall wheat, n crop
| that interferes with cultivation, is now the
| main sowing in the Southwest, because it ripcns
| earlier than spring-sown grain, and the harvest
! Is generally simultaneous with the matching OF
the first brood of chinch bugs and escapes inju-
| ~ The great drawback to this method IL, that
| the young insects leave the fall wheat stubbie
and attack the growing corn some two weeks
| earlier than they did when spring wheat was
| grown. The gain resulting from the superior
productiyevess of the fall wheat plants is fully
counteTbalaneed by the injury inflicted ON the
| corn.
Men of intelligence who have pursued agri-
culture on the far western plains where the av-
| crage rainfall is not more than twenty inches
| have for years predicted that the dry climate
and warm lands of the Arid Belt being cmincntly
suited for breeding chneh bugs, they would ult-
imatcly increase Ia such an extent that profitable
| agriculture would not be possible. With an hon
| csty to he commended they have repeatedly
| warned the public, in attempting to follow agrl-
| culture against entering the Arid Belt. Their
| predictions seem to he on the point Of fnflmcnt.
The dread expressed 10y farmers tilling lands
| coutincnous to the Arid Belt about clinch bugs,
fills the far Western press. Ii il asserted that
thousands of acres of fall-sOwn wheat have been
injured, and other thousands of acres arc threat
ened with serious injury. The Western harvest
| is later than usual, On account Of the backward
| spring, and this accounts for the greater damage
| wrought by the chinch bugs. 1t is not general
| ly known, but il is q truth, that west of the
ninety eighth. meridian almost all the corn
| planted on upands, and much of that on the
valley lands, was killed by the chinch bugs last
year. Publicly tine loss of the corn was assigned
To- the drought, but all mon living there knew
| that the chinch bugs were the active destructive
agents. Many wcll-informcd men claim that the
corn crops of lS7S and iS79-alm0st a total fall
| ure west of the ninety-cighth mcridian-werc
destroyed by chinch bugs, instead of being bias
ted by the droughts, as stated by the Western
press.
The chnch bugs are new corners in the Arid
| Belt, and finding the conditions suited to their
life they will probably solve the question OF
profitable agriculture west of the Tooth meridian
| in the negative A land where but nineteen inch
es of rain of rain falls in year, cannot by any
| known agency free itself of these insects. Hi
|
ricultural community, and having an unusual
rain fall OF about tilirty-six inches hns suffered
severe loss of crops, in years past, from ehinch
bugs. Two dry years in succession fill the far
nicrs of that State with alarm. In the Arid Belt,
where almost every year is dry, the probability
is that the insects will render the production OF
all crops Improbable. The evident anxiety OF
the Immigrant railroad companies to impress on
| the public that rice-corn and sorghum plants art
drought and chineh bug proof, is suspicious Rice
| nfr
| ghum. The grain is greatly inferior to corn n.
food for man or beast. That either of these
plants is proof against the attacks of the chincl
bugs is yet to be proved. That the bugs will
breed in the ground occupied by sorghum is moi
doubted by any man possessing the least knowl
edge of the habits of these insects. If they breed
in the fields, they will be forced to subsist on thu
plants growing there. The sorghum fields from
early June till late fall, will probably be alive
| with this destructive and foul-smelling insect
| In view of this probability, it would he advisa
| BILE for parties intending to engage in the manu-
facture of sugar and syrup out of sorghum Il
| carefully which the effect the COMPRISING 81
millions of chinch bugs between iron rollers vii
have on the flavor of their product. From per
sonal knowledge, gained by chewing sorghum
cane on a dark night, can testify that the in
sects taste precisely as bed-bugs smell
As yet no method of Kidding the Western farm
ing lands of these bugs has been discovered, and
as in the case of the Rocky Mountain locusts, al
| plans recommended have been childishly absarl
. The careful burning of stubble. weeds, an,
corr stalks in the spring has no apparent enec
on their numbers. The full-grown lilies appeal
| on the first warm days i'll spring. They wall
: | actively over the ground. They mate and In,
eggs In early June the first brood, small, activ
reddish insects, can be found on wheat stalks be
low the lower joint and concealed by the Quite
| leaves. They infcst the young corn plants, con
| gregating about the crown of the roots The,
also like TO lie among sand burs and other coars
grasses. The Young insects soon arrive at ina
turity, and breed. They feed, old and young, Oh
, growing plants, sucking the substance that ma
ture intended to form ears out of tic stalks. SoO
/, the lower limbs of the plant attacked die. Thi
. diving of the lungs of the plant rises rapidly, ant
leaf after leaf withers and falls; finally the stall
becomes dry, and, if the plant attacked he whea
or oats, the straw is apt to crnklt and the iirs
heavy wind rain storm levels it with til
earth.
Generally when the insects plentiful, til
tables of harvesting machines and the floors q
| header boxes used to catch the straw as il fall
from the elevator of heading machines, are coy
= | cred thickly with the Young bugs From hal
4 vest until late September the insects stcadil
h and rapidly, if there he no rainy weather, in
r crease in number. In the same field, insects i
every stage of development may be found. Cor
:, stalks become dry, and, with the fields actual
= black with the insects, the damage is attribute
! ! to the drought.
: The chinch bugs closely follow the line of set
a Element westward. In the rapid settlement {
| some OF tIe WESTERN the pu>ntN
westward faster than the chinch bugs could fol
| low. Men have sold farms in the lower Missoul
Valley, where the chinch bugs had struggled fo
/ | years killed and diseased by an annual rain IA
A Of thirty-siX inches and going West, have oper
4 | cd farms close TO the Arid Belt, and for year
!, did not see a chinch bug. Gradually the insect
. followed after, overlook them, and pressed o
:. | for the westernmost fields. They do not injnI
! the prairie grasses. They destroy the cultivate
:, crops and agriculturists intending to enter IL
q Arid Belt, should understand that the climate
: that pastoral region is the most favorable of an
|. known for the prolific increase of the grain-i'
stroying insects
The famous spring-wheat region OF the Nortl
n west will probably he devastated by chinch bug
o in the near future. The lateness Of the Nortl
IS western harvest, the exclusive sowing Of sprin
Il wheat. and the dryness of the climate, all fave
/, the inference that the productivcness of that n
|, gion will lie greatly reduced in the future. I'll
d land will not beexhausted, but the number.
): destructive grain-devouring insects will be grca
II ly increased As yet, the fields of Northern Nil
nesota and Dakota comparatively free fro
chinch bugs In the dry basin lying betwee
the Cascade Mountains and the upper Nilsson
T River. the introduction of these insects will
d quickly followed by unrenuneratiye agricultur