The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-07-29
CHINCH BUGS
ARE EXPENSIVE
From 1850 to 1906 They
Cost Nine States
$3.50, 900, 600.
EFFORTS TO WIPE OUT
The Use of Destructive Fun
gi-Surrounding a Field
With Coal Tar.
EFFORTS TO WIPE OUT

this one belongs, have caused such enor-
nous pecuniary losses as has the chinch
bug.
But for the extreme susceptibility of
the very young to destruction by
drenching rains and for the less though
not insignificant destructiveness during
rainy seasons of a certain parasitic
fungus on both the adults and young,
the practice of raising grain year after
year on the same areas, as followed
in the United States, would become
altogether Improbable,
The chinch bug is a very widely dis
tributed little beast, found in Europe,
Asia. Africa, North and South Ameri-
ca ana some of the islands of the sea.
1t hibernates in the adult stage, so
that when spring comes it is already
grown up and ready to take up bust
ness at the point where it stopped the
previous autumn.
In the timothy meadows Of north
eastern Ohio the United states govern
ment agent has witnessed cases where
the cllinch bugs had commenced oper-
atoms along one side worked part way
across the field killing the timothy as
they advanced, and continued their
depredations the following year pre-
cisely wher they suspended work the
autumn before.
In wheat fields the females do not
seem to forsake their gregarious hab-
its entirely aus they do not scatter out
evenly over the entire field, but appear
TO locate in colonies, and when the
young hatch and begin to attack the
growing grain their presence is first
disclosed by small whitening patches,
which increase in dimensions as the
young become older and more numer-
0us.
In low lying fields, says the report
Of the Department Of Agriculture, these
whitening patches more commonly APP
pear on the back burrows or on any
slight elevations that occur in the field
But on higher and level ground the
Whitening areas are observed scattered
over the entire field and constantly
widening until the whole field appears
to ripen prematurely and crinkie down.
When the migration is accomplished
by crawling, the females seem to spread
only enough to afford food for the
young until the latter are able to make
their own way from place to place. The
young remain clustered on the plant
about which they were Matched until
this has been drained Of sap, when they
make their way, almost in a body, to
q
attack will be pushed forward day af-
ter day.
In the spring the chinch bug prob
ably fingers about its winter quarters
until favorable day for migration oc-
Guns. Transfer typical Indian summer
day to early May, and perhaps raise
the temperature a few degrees, and
you have day during which chinch
bugs may be seen on the wing, crawl
ing along on fences, or at rest on the
tops Of fence posts as if taking observa-
tions, and In reality, as the writer has
Come to believe, to catch the scent Of
wheat or corn fields.
As to the ravages due to this pest,
this estimated loss it caused to crops
from 1850 to 1887 reached the sum Of
$267 100000. II we could have careful
estimates covering recent years they
would undoubtedly swell the amount to
cor siderably in excess of $3.50, 900, 900 for
the period from 1850 to 1906. If the indi-
rect losses were to be added, the
amount would indeed be enormous.
During the outbreak in Ohio at least
two farmers became discouraged, and.
thinking that the loss of their crops by
the attack of chinch bugs would result
In their financial ruin, in their despond-
eney they sought relief in suicide.
When we take into consideration that
the financial losses as above estimated
have not fallen upon the entire nation,
but almost without exception upon nine
States Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas,
Nebraska, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio
and Minnesota, it will be seen that this
diminutive insect constitutes a formid-
able enemy to the agriculturist of
these States. In fact, small as it is,
this pest has cost the people Of these
nine states sum Of money which, a
few years ago, would have betrayed
the entire expense of the National gov
ernment for whole year. Fire except
ed, there is probably no other factor
that has caused an enormous financial
loss within the same period over the
same area Of country.
This being the case it is not sur
prising that the Department Of Agri-
culture has made the most searching
investigation into means of destroying
the chinch bug. Its natural enemies are
frequent rains during the Matching
seasons in May and August certain
parasitic fungi the quail and to a lin
tied extent other birds and the frog
The destructive fungi have been the
subject of much experimenting. One in
particular, the sporotriehum, is now
"raised" artihcially and distributed to
farmers. The government agents visit
cd places where this fungus was sent
and found that the effect was unmis-
taxable. Going to the place in a field
s GENERALLY a wheat field when the fun
gus had been introduced the track Of
the chineh bugs as they moved in any
direction was in many cases almost
literally paved with the dead bugs
more or less enveloped in their winding
sheets Of white
Along ravines, dead burrows or other
depressions the ground would be near
w white. the dead diminishing in num-
hers, as the higher grounds were reach
ed. though these were by no means
free from corpses. In one instance the
hrrss had left a field of wheat at har-
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