Lower coast gazette., 1909-04-17
SPRING GRAIN APHlS.
escts About the "Green Bug" by r.
NJ. Webster, Agricultural De-
partment.

While we car give the life history OF
the insect fairly we'll in certain locah-
ties. it would be too much 10 Apply
this to the whole area of it's dlstrlDu'
lion with the great variety OF climaIlc
influences and effects of elevation.
Generally speaking the insect our
ing the warm months is vlVlparous'
that is to say, the females give oir'h
TO their young and no males are pres.
ent, In the fall there are to De 1ouno
both males and egg-laying females' Ill
the north the insect, at least 10 d ce''
| tain extent, passes the winter IN the
egg stage; but during the mild winters
there still remain in the field VlVlpar-
ous mothers who simply cease repro-
ductiou as the temperature lowers
only beginning again when the wea'h-
or gets warm. Of course this charac'
fteristic is intensified as we 90 soutll'
ward and we should not be at all sur
nrised ia find both males and egg-la!'
Ing females in spring; and, indeed. II
would not be surprising if we find that
tho dry season is more or less brldSed
over in this stage.
The pest increases very raploi!,
young becoming fully developed anu
and reproducing In six to eight days
A single female may become the pro-
genitor of 50 to 60 young, and long be
for she has ceased to reproduce sne
will have become a great-great-grano
t mother. So far as we are able to learn
the number Of eggs produced by an IN
; diyidual, e~gg-laying female is yer!
| limited, probably less than nall {
; dozen. It is therefore in every wa!
probable that it is to the vlvlparou'
females living over in the fields ina
disastrous outbreaks in the southWes
are due. Thus these outbreaks becom
, more a matter of weather condition
than anything else.
{ The insect is normally controlled D
it's natural enemies. A little WASH
. like insect known as Lysiphlebus TT
tici is the principal enemy to keep
within bounds and prevent its occu
ring in destructive abundance. In,
(, valuable little parasite passes its e.
6 tire development within the abdom
Il Of the grain aphis, and the time r
s ouired is about ten days, but varl'
; much with the temperature. They a
:. entirely dormant with the temperate
" below Sc degrees, and thus it is tn
mild winters followed by a cold bac
ward spring are extremely faVorap
Of for outbreaks of this %so-called gre
a bug, because the latter will contln
Ill to breed with extreme rapidly, VIII
it's PARASITES are kept dormant, and
is only when the weather gets su
he GENTLY warm and remains so for
as days or two weeks that this natu'
as enemy gets the upper hand and fina
ne oyercomes the grain aphis, which,
ng fortunately, does not occur until al
ay the pest has bred in immense sWar
u.s. in the grain fields and killed the GRO
d. leaving the fields as brown as thou
ar they had been scorched by fire.
1T AS to remedies, it seems to be
nd case in the south that the insect Il
the makes it's appearance in spots in I
sown grain, the earlier the grain
aid sown the more likely it is to be
tested. We have found that, taken
time, these spots may be treated
blowing under, spreading straw u
No them and burning, or by spraying '
~ kerosene emulsion. II the spots
tor very small this method is more p
,oc. tical than may at first appear. A
the insects have once become t
inc oughly difused and abundant In
field there does not appear to be
Urn. way Of preventing their destruc
he work. We have tried rolling
Mar brushing fields with no beneficial
for suits. OF course the spraying o.
h entire field is out of the question.