Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 73, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 March 1915 — QUAIL AS A CHINCH BUG INSURANCE POLICY [ARTICLE]

QUAIL AS A CHINCH BUG INSURANCE POLICY

Until There are More Definite Means of Fighting Grain Pest the Birds Are Needed In combatting the desfuctive chinch bug many practical measures have been tried, and some in a way have temporarily aided in holding in check the propagation of this lfttle bug that costs the farmers of the United States at least $100,000,000 annually. The chinch bug, after he is full grown in the fall, seeks a place of refuge for the winter. This hiding place is usually in grass heaps, under leaves and in stalks along the grain fields. The first brood usually attacks the wheat or rye and at the harvest time leaves these fields for the com fields. The bugs that produce the second brood are found in the early grain fields, and as they multiply very rapidly attempts are made to destroy as many as possible before they leave these fields for the com or the meadows. - • ■ ■ ■ In the present day fight the methods employed are makeshifts for the reason that a whole community or county must act in unison or the results are scarcely noticeable. Oqe plan suggested is to bum in the early spring all the heaps of grass where the bug is supposed to be wintering. Another method that is often used is to place a line of thick oil around the edge of the field in which the bugs are working. Just inside, this line holes are to be dug so that the bugs will fall into these holes as they crawl back and forth along the line, after which they may be killed. Some farmers make a furrow around the field and then drag a brush or a log in the furrow until the dirt has become finely pulverized. By regular dragging-'a number of bugs can be killed at each round made. Quite often a spray is made and placed upon the stalks of corn as the bugs enter the field. Under present conditions it is necessary to combat with crude measures the appearance of the chinch bug, otherwise the losses would be much more extensive than they are now. It is not suggested that less attention be paid to fighting the chinch bug.with the means at hand, but that greater protection be given to the natural destroyers of this insect pest. If the law of the survival of the fittest applies in all cases it is reasonaable to believe that the ultimate cheok to the propagation of the chinch bug will come about by the birds that eat them at all stages of their life history. Among the birds that eat millions of these pests may be mentioned the quail, the meadow lark and the English sparrow. If the chinch bug is to be practically eradicated we must depend upon the efforts of the quail, as his home is in the brooding grounds of the chinch bug. Nowadays things that are done have a certain degree of the idea of permanency about them, hence the first step in the permanent destruction of the chinch bug is a more complete destruction of the quail that assists also in lowering the losses caused by the cotton weevil, the grasshopper and the potato bug. The recent announcement of the discovery of a chinch bug parasite doubtless wtll mean an effective foe against the destructive bug. The parasite is not ready for the big battle, so this spring it will be well to protect, the quail nests.