The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-03

|, the young grain near the surface Of tn
 ground. Indeed in many instances. no satisfied with this, the female pene
 trates the soil and deposits the eggs ol
 the roots of the plant Nature appear
 anxious to launch these grain pests ol
 theirblighting careers with as little de
 lay as possible. The eggs hatch il
 about two weeks. The young buzz
 make their debut in garb of pinkisl
 hue, and equipped With a fully devel
 oped and unsuitable appetite, coupled
 with digestive apparatus which is tht envy of chronic dyspeptics, Upon thu
 first mott the bug becomes the vel
 known red color, by which it is bes
 known to the farmers of the west.
 "The young bug is not endowed witt
 a ravonish appetite, but it is active an(
 industrious, and begins early in life tc
 make the most of it's opportunities il
 the gastronomic line It trst vigorous.
 ly attacks the roots of the plant, suck
 ing the juices, then proceeds to drain
 the sap from the stalk. Because of
 their numbers, rather than because of
 the amount of damage done by each in Idividual, the bugs are enabled within a
 
 young grain. It requires about fifty
 days for the young of this first brood
 to mature, when they make the second
 flight, spreading out to outlying fields removed from the breeding place. Here the females of the first brood deposit their eggs, and soon the second brood is at work upon plants
 About the only time in the life of the chinch bug when it can be dealt with successfully is while this march from one field to another is in progress. | If prompt measures are taken, then large numbers of them may be de- stroyed, or they may be headed off and prevented from making their intended onslaught upon the new field. It is pos- ! sible and practicable to make use of one or two eXpedients at this time. One is to make ditch in front of the bugs and parallel with the front of the ad- vancing column, throwing up ridge of l loose soil. The sides of the ditch should be kept thoroughly pulverized by some such means as dragging a log lengthwise through it, thus forming a deep, dry dust which flinders the pro- gress of the bugs. They wallow in the dust and are unable to chamber up the sides of the ditch The work of drag ging the ditch must be done repeatedly, keeping the bugs rolled in the dry dust. In addition some such repellant as the top of the ridge. The bugs will not cross this, but as it evaporates rapidly, it must be renewed frequently. A se- ries of post holes along the ridge will also be found useful. The bugs will fall into these holes and will not be able to get out.
 The chinch bug obtains its food by inserting it's beak into the plant and sucking the jutras It is impossible to poison it by applying poison to the ex- terior of the plants upon which it feeds. for 1t passes its beak through the po- son and continues to feed as usual It is necessary, therefor, to use some kind of contact poison. It las been demon strated that Paris green is of no use in this work The most effective poison so far discovered ts kerosene The bug breathes through pores along its eides. The effect of the Kerosene is to pene- trate these pores and cause strangula- ton. The trouble with applying kero- sene is that it is fatal to plants when used in sufficient quantities to be effec- tive in destroying the bugs It may be diluted with soap suds and used in this way with goodS effects sometimes
 "Speaking of experiments with kero- sene, FrofessorsE A Popenoe, who oc- cupies the chair Of entomology at the Kansas State Agricultural college in this city, said to-day: When the army of chinch bugs is moving upon a field of young corn, for instance. it is of the greatest importance that the insects be killed even if it is necessary to sacri- flee a few dows of corn. This the far mers do not appear to realize, When the front rank of the column reaches the first row of corn it halts and be- l gins operations, while the succeeding ra nks crowd upon it. The result is that the entire body of bugs gathers upon the first few rows of corn It is then | that, by applying the keorsene, they | nay be destroyed and the field saved.
 '' T have never been able to make d | solution of kerosene that would kill the bugs and not killIthe corn. The bug is -OO ilciiuy. HSIciplct lilc ltiliiE lu uD S to kill the bugs, even if some of the | 'orn is ruined. It is economy in the ong run
 Among other experiments made at he State Agricultural college by Pro- essor Popenoe in his search for rem ,dy for chinch bugs was that of plow- ng under q bug infected field of rye. t was argued by some that if the bugs we're plowed under they would not be ble to reach the surface and attack he succeeding crop. In describing this experiment. Professor Popenoe said: We selected field of rye that was infested and plowed it un- er thoroughly to depth of from six 0 eight inches. The plowed ground vas then thoroughly borrowed and TOSS narrowed until it was believed hat the insects were thoroughly buried he ground then was sown to Kaffir orn Imagine our surprise to find that he bugs reached the surface of the round as soon as did the corn, and ere there ready to bounce upon and estroy it. Other experiments showed hat many of the bugs could be de- troyed by being plowed under, provi- 1 ed the ground was damp and heavy. his condition of the soil does not exist sually when the bugs are active. On ne whole the blowing under process is ct a perfect remedy for the pests