Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 140, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 June 1918 — German Allies in American Fields [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

German Allies in American Fields

Hessian Fly, Cinch Bug and Army Worm Ready For Offensive

7 By ROBERT H. MOULTON. OMB HAT the United States is already invaded, not by Germans, it is true, but by their effectlve tfUles > - and 11 - at a great host these are intrenched in r I N the grain fields is an assertion hard to believe at first, but it is nevertheless strictly true, for the cinch bug is pro-German in our present war, the Hessian fly is still Hessian, and the army worm is an ally of the German army. Our duty of helping to feed our fighting ■friends being paramount, that of protecting and defending the food supplies we produce is as essential as their production. As a matter of fact. Incurring the expense of producing crops and then letting them fall a prey to our Insect enemies is worse than not producing them at all, and the official entomologists of the different states are being mobilized for special service in crop protection. These men are but a handful, however —not enough for an efficient patrol—and so they are calling upon the people for such assistance as they can easily ’ give by keeping watch for the common enemy and reporting the first traces of his appearance in numbers sufficient to threaten serious injury. What these field insects are capable of in the way of crop destruction is fairly well known, and what the farmer may do for the protection of his crops can best be intrusted to the hands of various state entomologists, whose business it is by bomb, gas and other means to kill these allies of the foe.

Consider two fields of corn, both lying next to heavily infested fields of wheat. One is protected by a circle of oil about its borders. The other is unprotected. The unprotected corn is entered by the Insects without hindrance as the ripening of the wheat deprives them of food, and a large part of the corn is destroyed, as shown by the part of the field laid bare next to the wheat. In the other field not a hill of corn is hurt. The road oil poured upon the ground in a line between it and the infested wheat catches the bugs which seek to pass. Million* Lost in Small Area. By a somewhat general use of such methods and similar materials in twenty-five southwestern counties of a middle Western state where, during a cinch bug uprising last summer, more than 1,500 miles of barrier were laid down between corn and Infested wheat, $1,000,000 worth of corn was saved from destruction at a total cost to the owners of less than $50,000 and of some SIO,OOO to the state. On the other hand, wheat, oats and corn worth at least $13,000,000 more were lost during the same period for lack of sufficiently general and thoroughgoing action.

Owing to a consequent scarcity of feed many farmers were unable to keep up their stock, and in four infested counties, selected as a sample district for study in comparison with another group of counties not Infested, the number of dairy, cows fell off In four years 7.4 per cent; beef cattle, 21.5 per cept; hogs, 15 per cent; and' horses, 27 per cent. The total sum of this reduction in numbers of the live stock of the four sample counties, due solely to the presence 6f the cinch bug, was $1,053,318. Trade, banking, education, professional Incomes and every kind of business and civic interest naturally suffered from this staggering blow to the agriculture of the region. Greatest Damage to Com. The cinch bug does greatest damage to corn. The adult or full-grown bug Is black and about one-eighth of an

inch in length, and usually bears con-1 spicuous ( white wings folded over Its j back. The young ones are bright red I and wingless. The old "bugs live over I 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. It is the usual habit of the cinch bug first to attack fields of wheat, rye, or barley, and its presence often is unnoticed becausb the injuries inflicted upon these crops are obscure or of no apparent importance. About harvest time the bugs leaye the small grains and crawl over the surface of the ground to- the nearest fields of corn, where they begin at once to wreak severe 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 a post-hole digger, theu may be dug in the bottom of the trench. Into these holes the bugs will fall in large numbers, and here they may be killed easily by sprinkling kerosene oil over them. In wet weather a line of liquid 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 function it is, in the order of nature, to take bread out of our jnouths is the Hessian fly, so called because Hessian soldiers, hired from their sovereign by King George 111, were believed to have brought it over from Europe during the revolutionary war. This pest gives its attention almost wholly to wheat, upon which it levies an average annual tax of approximately 10 per cent. Experts figure that sixty million bushels,was the shortage In the 1917 wheat crop of the country which may be charged up to this insect. And itsmeters, Increasing year by year, have deterred many farmers from sowing wheat, notwithstanding the rapidly rising market prices. The_Hessian fly is a minute mosquitolike fly which lays its eggs upon the leaves of wheat. These eggs hatch into little maggots which crawl down into the leaf sheaths. There they live upon the plant’s sap which they obtain by gnawing into the soft portions of the stem. Usually two, but sometimes three or more, generations of the insect occur during a year.

After the Hessian fly has once thoroughly 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 stubble Immediately after harvest In order to destroy the maggots which remain 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 plowing early and working and packing the soil thoroughly In order to eliminate lumps and clods, thus producing a finely pulverized, compact, and moisture-con-serving bed for, the seed. Care should

also be takenthat the sowing of wheat in the fall is delayed until the fly-free date, information regarding which date can be obtained by applying to local county agricultural agents or state experimental stations. Finally, a good rotation of crops should be practiced wherever possible, and the co-opera-tion of the entire community secured in following these preventive measures. Daily Action Is Necessary. The army worm, known as a pest of tlie farmer from early colonial times, and the locusts or grasshoppers often multiply under favorable conditions to numbers sufficient to devour great areas of both grain and forage crops. Both may be killed easily if attacked in time by sowing broadcast among them a poisoned food which they prefer to the grain and grass plants on which they naturally feed. But this method requires, as a rule,-early notice of the impending calamity, prompt organization of the communities concerned for self-defense and general arrangements for the quick supply of all the necessary materials in wholesale quantities —all measures for which careful preparation must be made in advance.

In case the worms are not discovered until they have begun to travel in a mass, usually they can be destroyed by furrowing or ditching completely around the infested area. The worms will fall into the ditches and can he killed easily by crushing them with a log—hitched to a horse or mule —dragged back and forth through the ditch or furrow. Another method Is to dig shallow postholes in the- bottom of the ditch at Intervals at about 20 feet, into which the worms, crawling along the ditch bottoms, will fall. TWy can then be destroyed by crushing or other means. Fighting the Cutworm. The cutworm injury, which usually consists in the cutting off the plants at or a little below the surface of the ground, almost invariably occurs in the spring, beginning as soon as the first plants sprout and continuing until late June or early July, by, which time the worms are full groWd. The worm# feed at night and rest\durlDg the day beneath debris or In the soil from onehalf to one inch below the surface, and since in most cases they resemble the soil closely in color the cause of the injury often is not apparent. Poisoned baits are effective when cutworms are found to be abundant on corn land,’but proper rotation of crops is the best preventive measure. Pasturing hogs upon land supposed to harbor cutworms is a beneficial practice, as these animals root up and devour Insects of many kinds, including cutworms, in large numbers. Farm poultry, allowed to follow the plow, 1» also of great value. A billion dollars a year on the average is sacrificed to insects in the United States, according to careful computations and estimates made by the experts of the national department of agriculture. It is a prize worth lighting for, especially in these times of threatened scarcity of food. But individual guerrilla fighting to which this interest has been left in the past will no longer suffice —has never sufficed, in fact. Carefully planned campaigns by,organized communities, participated in by everyone so situated as to be available, directed by experts and financed so far as necessary hy the state, are the only means to success.

Ravages of Cinch Bug shown. Plant at left not attacked; plant at right attacked.

Digging ditch to trap marching army worms. Pests crushed by dragging log back and forth through ditch.