New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-04-11
CHINCH BUGS
Some Very Valuable Hints on Their |

Themselves From These Pests.
BEAVER Dam, Wis, March 2S.-To the Ed
tor The time for spring sowing is almost
here, and means to secure good crops will
be well to consider The chinch bug The
last year did immense damage throughout
the Northwest, amounting to many millions
of dollars. How to prevent them will be.
or ought to be, of great importance to the
farmers of the great territory everrun last
year, and to the whole country as well. for
they will not be confined TO the country now
occupied by them. When ,hey have wings
they drift with the wind, and may be miles
away from their place the day before My
experience in dealing with these pests may
be of interest to your people. Fourteen
years since the chnch bugs came to us in
myriads, and everything seemed destined to
destruction My practice had been. and is
still, to plank or smooth all my Land at the
time of seeding and also to SOW clover seed
on the land, and, to make the clover seed
catch well, to SOW plaster at the same
time or before. and also salt mixed
with the plaster; this mixture upon
the opening land of our country. but
upon prairie land only salt. as that seemed
the thing needed to make the grain fill we'll
"
quantities that the air was full of them and
the grain was turning yellow and dying al
most My grain seemed all right as COM
pared with my neighbours, and the inquiry
was made what makes this differences The
and as a consequence the farmers bought
fifteen cars of salt in my vicinity and s0wed
it on their land, but almost too late to be Of
Mu1 hoo do
and at harvest time on piece of winter
wheat there was harvester trial There
were a large number of farmers present
fully $50 men. The wheat was wonderful
growth and well filed. The piece contained
81 II acres; seven acres in one corner of the
field was winter wheat. The machines had
great trouble in cutting the grain, it was SO
large was requested to keep an accurate
account of the amount of wheat on that
field, which did, and my memorandum
shows me that the yield was 1874 bushels
per acre, and that, too, when the grain was
nearly all spoiled in the vicinity. The re-
suit was, the grangers then in active opera
tlon, wanted me to tell how raised that
wheat. prepared an address, or paper
telling them the plan of operation, and read
it before six meetings in our state. Since
of the habits and characteristics of these
bugs, and believe they can be prevented, or
very largely SO, by proper management st
the time of sowing.
First-Then they are bug, and not beetle
beetle dig in the ground A bug can
not dig, but must crawl, or work down into
and between the Jumps or interstices made
by the Jumps until they get down into and
among the young and tender roots, where
they can live, and at the proper time the
female lays her eggs
Second-The mating. season comes only
until they have wings, when within a few
days the female Will lay her eggs. as near the
kernel as possible. among the tender roots
Any person can find them with strong
magnlfying glass, and always very near the
kernel where the sprout comes out The
bunch, or nest, will be about as large as the
head OF q pin, but if closely examined will
contain great number of eggs After the
female lays her eggs the old bugs die. They
give no further paternal care to their young
than simply to lay the eggs. Thus the in
stlnct OF the bugs is to place the eggs so
when they have life they can most easily get
their living.
Third--The third characteristic is that
they are suckers and not chewers That is,
they draw their food through bill like
fly or mosquito. They thrust their bill
through the tender bark of roots aud suck
or greatly weaken its growth. There will be
no old bugs IN ten days after the eggs are
lam, and young bugs develop and destroy
the grain before reaping, although the old
pugs may 1nJure it somewhat before they
nave young or come to their mating time
Fourth-The fourth characteristic is that
there are two broods in a year. The young
Dugs develop, and when the grain is ripe
they can find no further food in the grain.
and The corn offers the most inviting food,
and they will be found crawling in the corn
field.
Here again if the land is seeded with
clover they will not crawl, neither will thew
live where there is thick mat of clover.
They will not eat clover or any of the
leguminous plants of the clover family, such
as beans or peas-consequentiy the impor-
lance of having the land seeded to clover
Ii the seeding is poor of clover and tame
grass grows among the clover they win eat
the tame grass, and to many may give the
impression that they live in the clover and
feed upon it; such is not the case Usually
in about ten days after the grain is harvested
the bugs that have grown in the grain will
develop and have wings, and will now breed
again and lay eggs in corn if they can find it,
II not in tame grass, Hungarian, or any of
these congeners, and they become the bugs
that 60 into winter quarters and live
through the winter in a dormant state until
the warm weather of spring. What then are
the remedies? I said that they were a
bug and could not dig. Cover the
grain at as uniform depth as
possble-and then with stick or plank.
smooth the land, and mash the Jumps Do
not make your stick more than seven or
eight feet long, and then with good team
draw that stick over your newly cultivated
field Get right on the stick and ride. Do
not wait until the Jumps become hard, but
within one hour after the cultivator has
gone over the land go with the stuck. AS I
said, SOW clover seed at the time of sowing
the grain, and salt as we'll which will he
found to still be great preventative to in
jury by the bugs The salt acts as solvent
to dissolve the Jumps and to still further fill
up the cracks, made by the Jumps or seams
l have never been able to determine if the
alt is poisonous or not have taken them
and put them in lime and they would
swim out, and twelve hours after
seem happy and well The bug has a
r,