The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1914-04-04

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 it's 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
feFed an enormous loss from this in
sect and it is with the idea OF helping
the farmers reduce this loss that this
bzlletin is published at this time.
The chinch bug is the most serious
pest with which the farmers OF Kan
sAs have to contend. 1t does not con-
attack most Of the cereal crops grown
ea the average farm. The history or
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 IN
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 viii be taken up at this time
ov-7 I'd
next year. At present the adult bugs
are alternating In the clump forming
grasses, such as bunch grass and blue
stem. Abont 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 uRtil
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
1
! 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 colo
weather sets in, and they may bE
found there at any time during the
winter. 1t has been found that ninety
five per cent of the bugs winter II
bunch grass and blue stem growing
in meadows, pastures and waste area!
and that by burning these grasses il
the fall the bugs are practically al
destroyed.
Considerable wo.k 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 worl
shows that the fungus disease i:
everywhere present and that the arti
fetal distribution OF It is Of no avail
1t has been found that there art
two times in the year when the chincl
bug can be successfully eombated
The first comes during the summer
when the bugs migrate from wheat Il
corn, and the second comes just aftel
the bugs have become firmly settled
in their winter quarters The prob
lem OF summer destruction involves
the necessity Of getting the bugs Il
pass from the small grain while ye
immature and the construction AM
maintenance of efficient dry-weathe
or wet-weather barriers. Full direc
tions are given for the constructor
and operation of the different type
Of barriers. The winter destruction
by far the cheapest and most salts
factory method, and If properly cal