The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-05-15
KILL CHINCH BUGS
State EntomoIOgist Declares
Pests Caused Great Loss.
Estimated Damage Is $17,OOO,'
OOO-HOW to Kill Them.

Manhattan Kan, May 15.-Seventeen
million dollars worth of damage to the
wheat oats and corn of Kansas, last
year. was caused by chinch bugs. AT
least 80 per cent of these bugs, accord
ing to G. A. Dean, state entomoIoglst
at the Kansas Agricultural college, re-
manned alive during the winter ana
will continue their destructive WORK
this summer. Unless some steps are
taken by farmers to safeguard their
CROPS. the loss will be greater than II
was last year, Professor Dean says
Several methods may be used sue
cessfuIIy to arrest their migration
These should be put into force be1ore
the early crops have matured- AFTER
the hugs have once entered the Small
grain fields there is no way to prevent
injury. but it is entirely possible 10
keep them from passing into the corh'
kafir. and sorghum ,
The dust barrier and the road-oll
barrier are methods commonly used 10
destrov the bugs The first is. useful
in dry weather and the latter when the
soil is wet. A dust barrier is maze oy
blowing a strip of ground ABOUT ten
feet wide between the infested ana the
noninfested fields and then WORKING inns
into a fine dust. Two deep Parallel fur-
rows are made by dragging with dou-
BILE trough. A single furroW parrleI
NAV he made by listing a deep furro"
and then dragging with a heavy ios'
The bugs fall into these burrows wnen
they pass from one field TO ahotileI
and may be destroyed by gasoline
torch or by dragging a log through the
burrows. The torch is mere effective:
The road-oil barrier is constructed Dy
blowing a sharp back furroW between
the fields and working up r1oSe on on
this by dragging trough over II. OLl
the bottom of the trough pole is
will groove
top of the compact ridge. No. I road
oil is placed in this groove in SufnclehC
quantity to make a line one-haI 10
three-fourths of an inch wide. After
the bugs have fallen into the groove
thew may be destroyed by the gasoline
torch Coal tar can be substituted Tor
road-oil but it is more expensive ana
must be renewed more frequently Ine
road-oil barrier is for use in wet Weatn-
er when the dust barrier is useless. 1t
should be placed between the dust bar
rier and the noninfested fields.
The migration of chinch bugs from
wheat to corn fields usually lasts from
one to two weeks, and during this time
one should be stationed with torcheS
along the barriers at the time when
the migration is the heaviest. One man
can tend to one-half to three-fourths
of a mile of barrier. The bugs usually
begin to cross about 4 o'clock in the
afternoon and reach the maximum be-
tween 5 and o'clock. On cool days
the movement begins earlier. A few
bugs are sure to get across the barrier
and infest the adjacent fields. These
may be destroyed by a soap spray of
eight pounds of laundry soap dissolved
in 90 gallons of water, or by flaming
the infested plants with the gasoline
torch. The methods described have
been effective on the college farm.
During recent years numerous tests
L.
disease which destroys chinch bugs and
other insects in large numbers every
year. The results seem to indicate
that this disease is only effective when
the climatic conditions are right. The
experts at the agricultural college rec
ommend that farmers do not attempt
to introduce this fungus into their
fields