Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-12-15

great a financial loss within the same
period over the same AREA OF country.
y" other insect. native u the western
hemisphere. has spread its devastating
hor,ieS over = wider AREA ~ country win
more fatal ELECTS 10 the stable grains ..
North America ;h1n has this one. Hut
Tor tho extreme susceptibility ~ the very
Young To destruction by Dir snchs.S rains,
the practice ot raising grain Year after
year On tA- same areas, SS followed IN
the United States, would ~ altogether
Improbable II seems "a - a fact THAI
plentiful rain destroys the chinch-hucS. IL
II comes AZ the proper time, The years Of
greatest abundance 81 the IvS, are ap; 10
ye py'cgdsl by series o; years Of
drought.
Each female chiD-h-slS lays about nve
hundred eggs. and the Sdu., inSr-c, i no;
produced untl sixty days laJe-. The new
~ Matched yCuus are very active, and
the inst - appear may l., observed with
their prCS~uitUrS about the bases Of
wheat. cora. or grass plants, and later
all StaSc> are seen ruiUsiius together.
having little appearance 81 belonging IN
the same ~ts-Vi,S- 81 greatly 10 ,hey vary
in size and cA,Or in their several stages
Of development. ON first emerging from
the chry>alt> the JGIIl, is gensrIly OF a
duh pink color In = short tine these
colOTs change 10 the normal ONES Of the
species. watch S-c black as II the ocsy,
with white wings
From attack by enemies the chino \ bug
seems to - o,eV,ed i'm some degree by
its We oi0r. which Is similar In tina; Of
the .el1ted oetbuS, However. in the Mid
,ile West. the oirtS which axe its natural
foes, such As the quail. are being rU,n-
less wiped cut by Jh@ Shclsun. This fact
may acCovut. IN a mex. Surv, for its SPY, I'D
and multip tc1ttON. but. as will ~ eN-
planned later. only in a small jeSgCe.
Various prejLccOuS insects feed On the
chinchrbus. SuS they 80 not seem 10 lie
ot great Importance. Iui,Ci. tls, spread
nj the pest : accounted for l1rsely ny
the absence ~ Natural enemies wilain the
limits Of the United States.
The most important natural foes ~ the
chtuCh-huS are SWo Specics Of parasitic
fungi Which, under favorable CircUm-
stances. destroy them wholesale literally
eating them NJ. For some Years past
distinguish N Kansas eutcmOlCcist. Pro-
tr>>or Snow, has gEeD engaged IN propa-
eating these humble but destructive
plants for the purpose Of injecting cninch-
bugs with a fatal nsalasiy, He has widely
advertised a proposal 10 yNVhSnse sick
chtnch-bu-s for well ONES, the latter. IS
fast a. they arrive, beirs infected with
the deadly complaint by placing them to-
Sethsr with inSeNtS already dis aSSNl- The
SiCkened bugs Sre S+n1 in tin oSNsS
through the mails to farmers Who scatter
them in the infested itClts- In Shis way
the greedy insect hOrVtcS are inOculaIed
NTH the hOrr.ole complaint, and 80 perish
uN Wholesale.
rherS has been devised recently an i'm
portJut Improvement On this pan. ny
which the sti>c1SS-fUusIS Is VrOpSSs1;ei
artitci9l.N in A mixture u; coTn-mes.l and
beef soup. TIo spores ~ the plant, being
stirred mp in the mixture SiOTv>sssd. quick
~ serminIte, aud the result Is the pro-
tuCtiOu NJ Infection ~ J~ig.cinS material
This substance Is very much more COa-
Vcntent To Aandl, than mOTiAund insects,
aud II may u. scattered over Iselt with
far sreatsr ease and cOnveNisNc~-
The ereTtiVSnSSss ri this plan for COM
municatiu-s has been much questioned.
but Professor Webster and other sc.eu-
lists to-day pset,N generally admit that
il accpupiiSheS wonderful results In a
fisld ~ wheat that has teen treated in
the manner described. the track OF the in
SecJS as tSeY move in any direction Is
literally paved with their dead bodies
each little corpse eavelOpSI tn a white
wndfns-shect Of fungus In places the
ground Is white with them. and. on stir
ring w the soil at the edge III y corn
field. it is found to be fun OF dead chinch-
bugs 4; depth ~ twN or thr-e inches
the ~ nungus-c0VercI bodies contrast
ing strongly with the black color Of the
rich loarn- Nevertheless. II seSms that the
fungus has little effect except where the
insects ars very thick. "a as 10 make con-
tssiOn easy, Furthermore. il requires
moist weather for its maximum efficiency.
There ought to be- central Prol ayA,-
Ing station for the disease fungus. frOn
which farmers could obtain promptly an
abundant supply. SaSS PrSseS>ST Web