Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1914-04-02


. department Of entomology OF
the Kansas State Agricultural
College has been engaged In carrying
on extensive experiments on the
chinch bug. Many new points have
been discovered In its life history and
several new measures for controlling
It have been developed. This infor'
nation has just been published In a
bulletin issued by the Kansas Expert
ment station, which is now available
for free distribution. In the past few
years the farmers OF Kansas have SUI
fered an enormous loss from this In
sect and It is with the idea Of helping
the farmers reduce this loss that this
bulletin is published at this time.
The chinch bug is the most serious
pest with which the farmers OF Kan
sas have to contend. It does not con-
fine its injury to one crop, but will
attack most OF the cereal crops grown
on the average farm. The history OF
the chinch bug as a pest in Kansas
begins when the first settlers broke the
prairie and planted sod corn. Since
then the history has been one Of ups
and downs due to favorable and I'M
favorable conditions Of climate.
Whenever the season has been dry
and wheat and corn have been grown
together, the chinch bug has been a
pest.
There are two broods OF chinch
bugs annually in Kansas and In or
der to give a connected idea the life
history will be taken up at this time
and traced forward until this period
next year. At present the adult bugs
are alternating in the clump forming
grasses, such as bunch grass and blue
stem. About the the first OF April
these adults leave the grass and mi
crate to the nearest grain field where
they deposit their eggs either around
the roots OF the plants or between the
leaf sheaths. These eggs hatch about
the middle OF May and the young bugs
feed in the small grain fields until
harvest when they migrate to the corn
fields. Here they reach maturity and
begin depositing eggs about the mid
die OF July and thus the second
brood OF young bugs appear in the
corn fields about the last OF July
These bugs feed in the corn field and
the second brood begins to reach ma
turity about the last OF August, al
though the majority do not reach ma
turity until the middle Of September
These adults migrate to, the grass
lands when the food gives out or cold
weather sets in, and they may be
found there at any time during the
winter. It has been found that ninety
five per cent OF the bugs winter IN
bunch grass and blue stem growing
in meadows, pastures and waste areas
and that by burning these grasses in
the fall the bugs are practically al
destroyed.
Considerable work has been done
on the chinch bug fungus disease
both in the Kansas Experiment Sta
ton and in other states. The gen
eral summary from all Of this work
shows that the fungus disease is
everywhere present and that the arti'
fetal distribution Of it is Of no avail
1t has been found that there are
two times in the year when the chinch
bug can be successfully combated.
The first comes during the summer,
when the bugs migrate from wheat to
corn, and the second comes just after
the bugs have become firmly settled
in their winter quarters. The prob
lem Of summer destruction involves
the necessity of getting the bugs to
pass from the small grain while yet
immature and the construction and
maintenance Of efficient dry.weather
or wet-weather barriers. Full direc'
lions are given for the construction
and operation Of the different types
of barriers. The winter destruction is
by far the cheapest and most salts