The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1895-04-11
friends and not enemies. They APP
pear footsore and dusty, and surely
are hungry and thirsty. The individ-

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pear footsore and dusty, and surely
are hungry and thirsty. The individ-
uals move rather quickly, and readily
overcome common obstacles that may
impede their march. But if they en-
counter dusty paths and roads. or
newly rlowed; dusty fields, they have
a desperate task before them. In such
dusty places, heated by the direct
rays of the sun, and not compressed
by rain or dew, their progress lis nee
.essarily but slow AS they move their
front feet forward, grasping particle
of dust, this latter gives way and is
pulled towards the insects whenever
they attempt to press forward. Thus
a dusty road becomes an obstacle al
most impossible to cross. Yet the
hunger and thirst permits no cessa-
ton of work, and many insects will at
last succeed in overcoming all obsta-
cles. A heavy dew, or slight rain is
of course of great assistance to the
moving army, and dusty road no
longer is impossible. The sun, which
chinch-bugs enjoy so much at other
times, becomes at this period source
of great danger, and many of the
younger and less efficiently protected
bugs die in consequence. All these
facts ought to point out to the farmer
many method by means of which he
can conquer his enemies. In the end,
all obstacles are surmounted by those
bugs that did not perish from hunger
or heat, and the surviving members
succeed in reaching the land of plenty
a waving field of corn, with vivid
green and succulent food. Nor are
the bugs slow in utilizing these new
stores, and they are so hungry that
they settle upon the first plant they
reach. Soon the famished army COW
ers the outer rows of plants of corn
field, and we can now for the first time
realize how numerous they were in the
fields abandoned by them, since the
scattered insects are now concentrated
upon few and large plants. These
plants of corn soon turn black by the
very presence of the insects. At first
only the base of the stalk is thus
crowded, as the tired bugs attacked
that part of the plant reached first;
but soon afterwards the whole plant,
to the very extremities of the leaves,
is covered with them. Their united
action forces all the sap of the plant
to the outside, and as there is at first
usually more sap than the bugs can
we'll imbibe, the spaces between the
sheaths of the leaves become filled
with fluid. which in very short time
ferments and sours. If the bugs
would simply be satisfied with imbib-
ing sap, they would greatly 'injure the
plant; but they cause still greater
damage by injecting some poison
which browns or blackens the leaf
surrounding the part injured by the
beak. Thus even comparatively few
insects, not numerous enough to kill a
plant, will cause it to wilt or die by
the action of this poison. A similar
action can be observed in domesti-
Gated species of bugs not seldom
found in beds. These insects, instead
of thriving upon vegetable sap, prefer
that of animals, and to fill. their hun
cry stomachs as quickly as possible
they insert their beaks into the human
skin, inject an irritating poison to
cause local Inflammation, and thus
force rapid flow of blood to the in
jured part. Perhaps for similar rea-
son is poison injected into plants by
chinch bugs attacking the same.