River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-01-05


C.N. Guy.l
need not remind the farmers of the
st. Croix Valley that the losses in this
section of the country by the depreda
tions of this seemingly insignificant
insect, have been very large. BY the
census of 1885, the wheat crop of ST.
Croix county was in round numbers
SOS, coo bushels, and in Pierce county
,I22. 500 bushels. In 1856, in St
Croix county, the crop officially re
ported was ssh 900 bushels-a shortage
of 100000 bushels. have not the
official figures of Pierce county fol
that year, bat it is doubtless nearly in
the same proportion. In answer to
inquiries of dealers in cereals at our
home markets, the evidence is that
scarcely five per cent. of the crop OF
1886 has been secured the past year
That this is true the farmers in this
vicinity are painfully conscious.
While our section of the state has
suffered very severely, the other parts
have from the same scourge been
forced to bear equal if not greater
burdens. 1t was the exceeding dry
weather of June and July that was
the chinch bugs opportunity and right
royalty they improved it. The loss by
this insect alone to the farmers of
Wisconsin. in wheat, oats, barley and
corn, can not be less than $3,OOO,0O0
the past year.
In order to defend ourselves against
loss by this depredator, it is pertinent
| to learn something of its history as
well as lis habits. For this | am
largely indebted to Bulletin No. 5,
published by the Department of the
Interior L. S. chronological Com
mission.
The first notice we find of its apear-
anee in this or any country was in
1888, in North Carolina, shortly after
the passage of the British army with
their German auxillaries through that
country, about the time the battle of
Guilford Court House was fought.
The inhabitants of that section
thought for a long time the chinch
bug was identical with the Hess an
fly that was then ravaging the wheat
fields of Long Island and New Jersey.
80 great was the loss sustained that
for couple of years or more in the
worst infested districts no wheat was
sown. This afforded temporary relief.
The wheat sowing area at that time,
| aud for many years, was confined to
the Atlantic coast east of the Ale
ghanies.
About 1909, we learn of their ap-
pearance as far north as the latitude
Of Philadelphia. In 1910, with the
opening up of the Mississippi valley.
they appeared on the Mississippi river
about the time of the Mormon excite.
ment at Nauvoo. Many Of the people
J IF illinois at that time thought they
were introduced by Mormon emigrants
and called them mormon Lice" They
quickly spread through Missouri, Hill
nOis and eastern Iowa, and appeared
in the southern counties of Wisconsin
IN formidable numbers about 1915.
10 defeat them in this state the
remedy taken was the heroic one of
not sowing spring wheat.
Prof. Riley estimated the losses in
CURED by this source alone to the
entire nation was not less than one
hundred million dollars for the single
year Of 1874.
That we may derive what consolation
there is in knowing that others have
suffered worse than we have, quote
an account of their migrations, as
given by an Illinois farmer and pub
Iished in the proceedings of the New
York Farmers Club. June, 1886. He
says: "In passing by field of barley
where the cbinch bugs had been at
work for a week, | found them moving
in solid column across the road to a
corn field on the opposite side, in such
numbers that / felt almost afraid to
ride my horse among them. Some
teams were at work at this spot, and
the bugs covered men, horses and
scrapers till they were obliged to quit
work for the day. The bugs took ten
acres of corn clean to the ground be-
fore its hardening stalks checked their
progress. Another lot of them
came from wheat field ado ming my
farm into a piece of corn, stopping
now and then for bite, but not long
They crossed a meadow thirty rods
into 100 acre lot of sorghum and
swept it like fire, though the cane
was then scarcely in tassel. From
wheat to sorghum was at least sixty
rods Their march was governed by
no diseoverable law, except that they
were internally hungry and went where
there was the most to eat. Helping a
neighbor harvest in one of the few
fortunate fields of early sown grain.
we found them moving across his
premises in such numbers that they
bid fair to drive out the family.
House, crib, stable. well curb. trees
and garden fences were one creeping
mass of striking life. In the house
as well as out of it. like the lice of
Egypt they were everywhere, and in a
single day they were gone" Their
migrations on foot seldom exceed so
rods.
The common name of chinch bug is
from the Spanish, chiache, signifying
bug. 1t is now WEI established that,
in this latitude, there are two brood =
year. Insects may pass the winter as
eggs-which is common, as the grass
hopper; in the larvae or young, which
is very uncommon; as pupe, which is
very common, as do caterpillars, silk
worms and others that pass this state
in ent.'e quiescence; and, lastly, they
may pass the winter as complete in