Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1907 — A Farmer’s Green Bug Study. [ARTICLE]

A Farmer’s Green Bug Study.

Willis Harley was in from up about Aix yesterday and paid this office a visit He thinks that the frost of Tuesday night did no injury to the corn to speak of. Mr.

Hurley made a most careful study of the green bog during their visit to the small grain in June and scouts the idea that they did no harm. He had six acres of wheat that were covered by the bugs and after they had departed following a hard rain the blackened and blighted heads of wheat drooped down and bore no grain at all. He also observed the green bug from the'egg stage to maturity, and confirms the report made by the agricultural experiment stations about their remarkable propagation. With a strong microscope be examined the egg which was much smaller than a pin head and within fifteen minutes it developed legs and in a half hour wings and within two hours itwas able to fly away, apparently fully developed. As it flew it spun a fine web which it would deposit on the oats or wheat and this web would form into little knots that formed the eggs and the work of eggs to green bug and green fly and back to egg again required less than two and one-half hours. The bugs are busy sap suckers and in Mr. Hurley’s opinion had much to do with the poorly filled out oats crop.