The Benson signal., 1918-05-04

inch in length, and usually bears con-
spicuous white wings folded over its
back. The young ones are bright red
and wingless. The old bugs live over
the winter hidden among clumps Of
wild grasses, especially those known
as the "broom sedges," which grow
abundantly in uncultivated places
throughout the greater portion Of the
main wheat belt of the United States.
1t is the usual habit of the cinch bug
first to attack fields Of wheat, rye, or
barley, and it's presence often is un-
noticed because the injuries inflicted
upon these crops are obscure or of no
apparent Importance. About harvest
time the bugs leave the small grains
and crawl over the surface of the
ground to the nearest fields of corn,
where they begin at once to wreak Sc
we're injury.
Corn fields may be protected and
the migrating bugs trapped about the
time of wheat harvest by plowing a
deep furrow along the edge of the
field, running the land side Of the plow
toward the field to be protected. In
dry weather the side of the furrow can
be made so smooth and the sides so
steep that the bugs will find it easier
to crawl along the bottom than to
climb up the sides. Circular holes
from 30 to 40 feet apart made with
post-hole digger, then may be dug in
the bottom Of the trench. Into these
holes the bugs will fall in large num-
bers, and here they may be killed cas-
lily by sprinkling kerosene oil over
tar or crude petroleum, which the bugs
will not cross, may be maintained in
the furrow bottom.
Hessian Fly Is Old Foe.
Another notorious insect whose func-
ton it is, in the order of nature, to
take bread out Of our mouths is the
Hessian fly, so called because Hessian
soldiers, hired from their sovereign by
King George III, were believed to have
brought it over from Europe during
the revolutionary war. This pest gives
it's attention almost wholly to wheat,
upon which it levies an average an
nual tax of approximately 10 per cent.
Experts figure that sixty million bush
els was the shortage in the 1917 wheat
crop Of the country which may be
charged up to this insect. And it's
members, increasing year by year, have
deferred many farmers from sowing
wheat, Notwithstanding the rapidly
rising market prices.
The Hessian fly is minute mos
! quit0like fly which lays it's eggs upon
the leaves Of wheat. These eggs hatch
into little maggOts which crawl down
into the leaf sheaths. There they live
upon the plants sap which they obtain
by gnawing into the soft portions Of
/ the stem. Usually two, but sometimes
three or more, generations of the in
sect occur during a year.
After the Hessian fly has once thor
oughly infested the crop Of wheat there
is no known means of saving it, and
the only known means Of preventing
damage from the fly Is to keep it out
Of the wheat.
The remedies for the Hessian fly
are, therefore, entirely preventive
One is to plow down the wheat stub
BILE Immediately after harvest in or
der to destroy the maggOts which re-
main in it. This is for the protection
of future crops. Another is to pay
great attention to the preparation of
the seedbed for the wheat by blowing
early and working and packing the soil
thoroughly in order to eliminate Jumps
and clods, thus producing a finely pull
verized, compact, and moisture-con-