Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-02-28
cH1NcH BUGS MUST GO.
How to Rid the State Of the Pest
Valuable Pamphlet.

The chi1lch bug IS the subject OF an
interesting pamphlet about to be Is
sued by the state OF Illinois The
pamphlet is part OF the report Of Pro
feSsor S. A. Forbes. state entomologist,
covering the work of his department
for 1884. This advance section of
the full report is for the benefit of the
farmer. 1t treats exclusively Of the
chinch bug and how to kill him by d.
rect bodily attack and by the novel
method of giving MIN fatal and con-
tagious disease and allowing him to
die a slow and painful death,
There has been another wave" of
chiIlch bugs in Illinois the past sea
son. and in The southern part of the
state they destroyed much corn. Every
few years there is an uprising of the
chinch bug, in numbers sufficient to
destroy the crops, and he win then dis
appear for a few seasons. His disap
pearance Is due not so much to the at
tack of humanity as to a contagious
disease sort of insect leprosy-
which all but exterminates him. The
study Of this contagious disease has
been part of Professor Forbes work,
and he is now able to grow the fungus
which will inoculate the bug with the
disease.
The chinch bug first began business
In North Carolina about the time of the
revolutionary war He moved north
and reached southern Illinois in 1924.
T., ha., r.JJi 11t-n
dent ever since. In size he is one
twelfth of an inch hong, and slim
bodied in proportion to his length He
has six legs and two pairs of wings.
He is armed very like a mosquito
with hard, jointed, combination drill
and suction pump, which he drives into
"a blade of wheat or a stalk Of corn
and pumps out the juice. His back is
covered with glands which give out an
odor like that of a first ward political
meeting.
The chinch bug is related to the bed
bug although they are not brothers
The chinch bug is the same relation to
the bedbug that Senator O'Brien is to
Senator Mahoney-tihey belong to the
same order, but not to the same family.
The chinch bug lays his eggs or her
eggs in the latter part of April. AT
this time the growing wheat offers the
best Matching and feeding ground The
adult bug dies soon after depositing
the eggs. The young feed on the
wheat, but before they have matured
and grown wings the grain is haaves-
ted and they must seek new pasture.
They migrate to the nearest corn field.
Here they mature. lay eggs and die.
Tie eggs hatch in the fail and the Sec
ond generation of the season is grown
in the corn field These bugs survive
the winter and begin business the fol-
lowing spring in the wheat fields.
Being unable to fly when the wheat
is harvested, the Bugs necessarily ira
vel afo0t. and it is at this point that
Professor Forbes proposes to trap and
kill them. He recommends the max
ing of a broad shallow ditch on all
sides of the field by blowing eight or
more burrows. The plowed ground
should be narrowed and dragged and
pulverized until it is reduced to dust
The sides of the ditch should be slopcd
and dressed with the hoe. The bugs
in leaving the field. wifi fall into this
ditch. and in travelling through the
dust their legs will become 50 clogged
that they will bn unable TO mount the
opposite bank Professor Forbes says
this is an Old method and is success
ful when the soil in the ditch is made
dus,y. A fine line of coal tar laid
helps the trap. Wolfe the tar is soft
it kills the bugs when they touch it,
and when 1t is hard lis odor is so
offensive to the bugs that they will
not cross it,
An Improvement ON the trap is q
hole sunk at intervals in the ditch
with the spade or posthole augeIl
Chinch bugs follow one another like
sheep, and when one falls into the
hole the others behind think he has
found Il good way ont and they follow.
Professor Forbes says that in his ex-
peifments last summer he SAW the
bugs travel into a hole alt the rate OF
about quart every ten minutes, ana
he also says that a quart Of chinch
bugs numbers about 100000.
The disease which the professor is
able 10 give the ehinch bug IS the
white muscardine," a disease which
originated with the silk worm. The
fuHgrs which produces the disease ISL
known by the same name. The pro-
feSsor cultivated this fungus by sow
Ing the seed, or spore, on a field of
of batter made Of corn meal and beef
corn The fungus was spread by means
broth With this fungus he insulated
a bug and turned it loose among its
brethren. with the result that it ear
ried the disease and death to a large
proportion of the colony upon which
the experiment WIS made. He has
photograph Of i ciIinch bug magnitied
many times showing Il 50 completely
II II