Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1908-02-21
GREEN BUGS.
Stale Agricultural College Issues
Bulletin o. The Pest.

thC SoulntID paIt OF Ids Stdlt ldSt
ssp ing, and that the attack on wheat
was only less serious. Many respon.
slble millerS and grain men have ex
pressed 10 US their firm conviction
that the green bug was respor sible
for thousands oil dollars damage to
oats and wheat. that it swept the
OjtS and large proportion Of the
wheat of Oklahoma, no one corvcl-
SAINT with the situation will deny. In
Sh ri. this insect dt mopStrates its
. bIiry almost to sweep certain Of the
Cereal crops of whole states and fore
ed US to recognize it as one of the
large factors to be reckoned with in
the production of wheat and oats. Ye
on the advent OF summer it so COM
4. pletely disappeared that there seemed
to be hardly green bug throughout
the length and breath Of Kansas,
Oklahoma and Texas. Doubtless they
dis Sappeared through the attacks of
their parasitic and predaceous foes
and through flying away from the
hardening grain 10 seek food more to
their liking. During this time of scar
city the government agents were find
ing them in the Dakotas,on the VOL
unteer wheat growing about elevators
and. as later examinations clearly
showed, they were passing the sum
mer in some parts Of Kansas on vol,
. unteer oats and blue grass.
This insect is pale green with a
dark, irregular line running down the
middle of its back. The eyes are very
black and show conspicuously against
the pale green Of the body the feel.
ers, except for small portion at the
base, are also black, while the horns
at the end of the body are only tipped
with black. Many persons have con
fused With this greer bug the dark
green corn leaf louise of the corn and
Kafr.. corn, or the rosy louise on the
roots and stems of wheat, or the larg.
er green louise so generally distribut-
ed over the wheat fields of this State
but distinguished by having the horns
at the rear of the body completely
blackened from tip to base, or green
lice on rose bushes, hop Ilants, and
box elder trees, and as result we
haves heard constantly through the
,press of green bugs springing up here
and there through the State Although
this misconception caused a great
many false alarms, it showed that the
people were watching, and it was
such watchfulness that brought to
light the presence of the real green
bug in some of our wheat fields this
fall. They are now working In at
least three wheat fields in this state
in sufficient numbers to kill the wheat
in spots. The bugs have been found
Scatteringly in other fields of the
same and, in some few cases, of other
counties, almost always in wheat that
lay near volunteer oats or blue grass
Indeed, in some instances they were
found on the blue grass in the alb.
Sence of wheat.
In each Of the fields where the
green bugs were abundant enough to
kill the wheat, their parasitic foes had
G already been at work, and the large
leaves of the volunteer oats and the
small leaves of the young wheat plan:
wee alike dotted with the swollen
and blackened bodies of their victims
From the time the bugs were diScov.
cred the parasites worked more and
more slowly, until with the advent of
December they apparently became
almost, ifnot entirely inactive. The
green bugs on the other hand, went
forward and increased, slowly push.
ing the edge of the infested spot out
into the healthy wheat. A matter of |
still greater significance than this in.
crease is to be found in the fact that
the latter are constantly producing
small numbers of winged females,
which, flying up, are caught by the
wind and carried into other parts OF
the same held,or even in other fields.
III: oaob ayopoinot;on 49, L