Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-01-25
Tbe Cb,,cb bug.


The following article from a late issue OF
the New England Farmer is copied at the
suggestion Of well known and observent
Wilmington farmer, who is satisfied that be
had two acres of grass destroyed by the
chinch bug last season, and who feels sure
that be has seen this pest at other points in
this vicinity. He thinks coming years will
sec an increase Of the bugs, and is anxious
that the farmers should be on their guard
against them
"The chinch bug has arrived upon the
borders of New England, and unless the hab-
its Of the insect are well and generally under
stood, aud active measures adopted to pre-
vent its spread it will doubtless within very
few years become another Of the many de.
structive insect pests the eastern farmer will
have to contend against Its present eastern
foothold is in St. Lawrence county, n Y,
the third county west Of Vermont. 1t has
not been noticed by the 81. Lawrence county
farmers until the present autumn, but from
what is known Of the habits Of the insect, as
also from the fact that farmers seldom recog-
nize or pay much attention to new insects till
they become both numerous and destructive,
il is more than probable that it has been in
the region at least two or three years. The
chinch bug is a native insect, and previous to
the settlement of the country undoubtedly
lived upon the native grasses, but 1t has
learned to choose wheat and barley in prefer
ence when these grains can be found, but 1t
feeds upon Indian corn and the other smaller
grains and also upon timothy and other
grasses, when wheat or barley are not within
convenient reach. 1t is just 100 years ago
that the bug was first noticed as q depredator
upon wheat, making its first appearance in
the interior of North Carolina in l113, and
was supposed at the time to be identical with
the Hessian fly. Two years later the wheat
of North Carolina was so overrun with the
bug as to threaten a total destruction Of the
grain, and in some sections grain growing
had to be abandoned for some years.
Three years ago the United States Senate
passed resolve authorizing the printing for
distribution among wheat growers several
thousand copies Of a pamphlet on the chinch
bug, 10y Prof. Cyrus Thomas, entomologist to
the department of agriculture, a copy Of
which has been received from the author,
and TO whom we are indebted for the follow.
ing facts relating to the devastations caused
by this unsavory specimen Of insect life. In
Illinois alone, according to Mr. Walsh, this
insect destroyed crops in the year $50 to the
value of : coo, 600, or an average Of 81 20 to
every man, woman aud child then living in
the state. In 1854 it appears to have be
west and Mississippi valley, where in a single
summer it destroyed three fourths Of the
! wheat and one half Of the corn crop through
/ ont extensive districts, with an estimated loss
/ of more than 500 600, 600 in the currency
/ then prevailing In 1871 the loss caused III
| the state of Illinois was estimated by DR.. /
| Baron at not less than so. 800 coo, and, il
adjoining states, enough more TO make t.
| tai Of 500 Geo from this one species Of
/ insect. In 1874 the damage over the same
area must have again reached the enormous
/ sum of 500, OOO,O 900. The loss in Missouri
that year was SIS, 600, 600 and in Illinois $50
| 600, 600 or an average Of Sll 80 to each in.
| habitaut. It's devastations vary from year to
! year but it is believed that for many years
/ past the annual damage done to the grain
| crop of the United States has been not less
| than SO, 600. 600, a tax that the industry of
the nation can i'll afford to bear but a tax
that may be increased and made specially
| burdensome in sections where the insect has
not before been known, unless vigorous meas.
ures are taken to learn its habits, and prevent
its obtaining foothold.
at is a small insect, not more than three
| twentieths of an inch in length, true bug,
like the sinking squash bug, bed bug and
the spice bugs, as children call them, when
| found on huckleberries, and takes all its food
though long beak or proboscis, with which
it pierces the stems of plants and sucks their
juices. When not in use this proboscis is
folded under the breast. The fore part of its
body is blacklist, the rear portion white with
q black spot on each wing cover. The bodies
of the Larvae are quite reddish and it is in
this stage that the greatest damage is done.
The eggs are laid in early spring by mature
insects that have lived through the winter in
secluded places, rs among leaves, stones,
straw, or under old rails or boards. The
eggs are attached to the lower part of the
stems of plants, and sometimes on exposed
roots, where the ground is cracked by frost.
Dry weather is favorable to the development
of the young, heavy showers and long contin-
ued storms often destroying large portion
of the eggs before Matching. The eggs are
not all laid at one time, nor in one place, but
the females distribute them a few in place
through a period of some twenty days. Dr.
SINNERS observations indicate that the usual
number of eggs laid by single female is
about 500, and that from the egg to the ma
ture insect requires about so days. In sea
sons of maximum abundance the insects are
sometimes so numerous that the fields are
alive with them, and they become so trouble.
some as to interfere with ordinary farm oper-
atoms, the winged insects sometimes getting
so thick about plough teams as to greatly an
noy horses by flying into their nostrils Men
]
the annoyance of the living and the stencil
of the crushed insects. Hundreds of millions
of them may be upon a single acre of wheat
or corn at one time, and with so many little
pumps draining the sap from the plants it re.
quires but few days to ruin a crop. When
the wheat or barley stems get little hard
and dry as ripeness approaches, the laryg
sometimes migrate in search of food, usually
attacking q corn field if one is within hun.
= l. -.
air when IN pursuit of new fields TO devas-
tate.
The lady bug aud the lace winged fly Dc.
siroy some of the insects, but the chinch bug
appears to have no natural enemy to keep il
in check, so that man will have to fight him
alone A preventive measure would be the
burning I'M autumn and cleaning upof all kinds
Of rubbish around field that had been har
boring the multitude during the summer, and
fall pllugh!ng. to bury the insects deeply in
the ground; in summer, during migration,
tar water poured in q continuous stream from
teaksttle, making fence around field
over when the insects will not pass Fur
rows may be ploughed with perpendicular
banks on enc side to impede progress, and 10
which tho insects may be destroyed by draw.
ing over them a log or by burying deeply in
the earth.
But what we at the east ought to do is Ia
prevent II possible, the establishment of the
pest here among US. Prof. j. A. Lntner
state entomologist of New York, has issued
through the experiment station, direction.
for stamping out the invaders before they
get beyond all control. In St. Lawrence
county, where they have been found, their
operations have apparently been thus far con
fined mostly to grass fields, destroying the
soil in patches, and il is recommended tC
cover these dead spots and their edges for
several feet with straw, and then burn it,
Plough the burned area, or better still, the
whole field, in broad deep burrows, turning
the soil completely and fatty over, then bar
row the ground lightly, and roll with heavy
) roller. This will bury beyond resurrection
Where ploughing is unadyisable, gas lime. al
THE rate of POO bushels per acre, is recon-
mended to be spread broadcast upon the dead
places and their edges, any time before the
ground freezes, or early in the spring. Ii
winter it may be safely spread over the entire
field to prevent an attack. previous &C
, quaintance with the character, habits anG
! history OF the insect before it makes its ap
pearsnce among US, must afford much aid II
enabling Us to meet and successfully comba
an enemy that has already caused widespread