The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1907-07-19

Few insects, and certainly no other
species of the natural order to which
this one belongs, have caused such
enormous pecuniary losses as has the
chinch bug. No other insect native to
the western hemisphere has spread
its devastating hordes over a wider
area of the country with more fatal
effects to the staple grains of North
America than has this one. But for
the extreme susceptibility of the very
young to destruction by drenching
rains and to the less though not in
significant destructiveness during
rainy seasons of the parasitic fungus,
on both the adults and the young, the
practice Of raising grain year after
year on the same areas, as followed
in the United States, would become
altogether improbable. Some of this
insects own habits, emphasizing as
they do the effects of meteorological
conditions, are the most potent influ-
ences that serve to hold it within
bounds, by giving it's tendency to ex-
cessive increase a decidedly spaSmod-
ic character. The shaded portion Of
the map shows the extent of territory
affected by chinch bugs.
For the farmer engaged in attempts
to check the ravages of the insect in
his fields the question of origin, or
how it came to reach him, will at
the time have little interest for him.
T cuff fhof Sc ~,
overwhelming numbers, and what he
will most desire will be to learn how
to rid his premises of it's most I'M
welcome presence in the most sum-
mary manner possible.
If, however, the farmer happens to
be thoughtful and observing man,
he will sometimes wonder how it is
that, except in Virginia and the Caro-
linas, person need not be very aged
in order to remember a time when
the chinch bug was an unknown fac
tor in his profession, with possible
value far too small to merit considera-
ton. If he happens to reside in
northeastern Ohio, or in some por-
tons of New York, and has spent
some time in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas
or Minnesota, he will probably marvel
at the striking difference in appear
ance between many of the chinch
bugs of his own locality, and those
found in any of the aforementioned
states, and will probably be able to
satisfy himself of their identity only
by the similarity of their vile odor.
Again, he will probably be equally at
loss to understand why it is that
his own timothy meadows are over
run by these pestiferous insects and
destroyed, while in other localities,
perhaps less than 100 miles away,
similar meadows are left untouched,
the injury there being confined to
the wheat and corn fields.
1t is not the excessive numbers,
but the persistency with which they
will congregate en- masse on limited
areas, that renders the attack of
chinch bugs SO fruitful Of injury.
With an ample supply Of food the
young develop and leisurely diffuse
themselves over the adjacent fields,
and there are neither swarming
flights nor migration. In 1884, in
northern Indiana. a small field of
wheat was severely attacked by
chinch bugs. At harvest there was
every prospect of migration from
the field of wheat to an adjacent one
of corn, and the bugs were present
in sufficient numbers to have worked
serious injury to the latter; but the
wheat had grown up thinly on the
ground, and there had sprung up
among the grain great deal Of mead
ow foxtail grass, and panic grass, and
to these grasses the bugs transferred
their attention, finishing their devel-
opment thereon, and later, so far as
could be determined, they scattered
by fight out over the adjacent fields,
working no further injury. Pedes-
ivan migration may continue for a