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 OFFICE OF TH E 
 
 ILLINOIS STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 
 URBANA, ILLINOIS 
 
 The Chinch-bug in Illinois in 1914 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SUMMER CAMPAIGN 
 
 The present is the fifth year of the continuance of a destructive 
 outbreak of the chinch-bug in southwestern and western Illinois, result- 
 ing in a very heavy loss to the agriculture of the state ; and the prospect 
 at the present writing is that the following twenty-two counties will be 
 more or less heavily infested this year : — 
 
 Bond, Brown, Cass, Christian, Clinton, Greene, Jersey, Macon, 
 Macoupin, Madison, Marion, Menard, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, 
 Pike, Randolph, Sangamon, Scott, Shelby, St. Clair, and Washington. 
 
 The bugs are now in their winter quarters, where a very small 
 percentage of them have perished during the winter. From their 
 present places of shelter they will begin to scatter over the country on 
 the wing during this month of April, settling where their food plants 
 invite them — mainly in fields of wheat in neighborhoods where this crop 
 is grown ; and there they will suck the sap from the crop plants and 
 grasslike weeds in the field, and will presently begin to lay their eggs. 
 
 This movement of dispersal will continue well into May, and it 
 may carry the bugs into many counties additional to those now infested. 
 Some of the latest to emerge and fly abroad will lay their eggs in oats, 
 and others possibly in young corn ; but where wheat is generally grown, 
 the greater part of this hibernating generation will first infest that 
 crop. 
 
 There is no way in which crops exposed can be protected against 
 this spring invasion, or in which the old bugs infesting the small grains, 
 or the young bugs hatching from the egg, can be destroyed before 
 harvest time. The first opportunity for a successful attack on the 
 chinch-bug will come when the grain is cut, the old bugs being then 
 practically all dead, and the young not having yet got their wings. As 
 their food supplies disappear in the infested fields with the ripening 
 and harvesting of the grain, the bugs are compelled to move out on 
 foot in search of new food plants, the best of which available to them 
 at this time is corn. It is the task of the farmer to prevent their escape 
 from these harvested fields, and especially to protect his corn from 
 invasion at harvest time by the new generation which has taken its 
 start in wheat. 
 
 If this is not done, the wheat-field bugs will first lay waste the 
 corn nearest the wheat to a distance across the field varying with their 
 number and the weather of the season, and then, as they get their wings, 
 they will fly everywhere, infesting corn fields generally and producing 
 there a much more numerous second generation, to the widespread 
 
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 injury of the crop. It is true that very wet weather coming at this 
 hatching time may arrest this process and so reduce their number 
 that no serious injury will follow; but the farmers of the state can 
 hardly afford to bet their corn crops that things will take so fortunate 
 a turn this year; especially as they can, if they will,, secure a large 
 part or all of this result by their own activities and at an expense 
 which is trifling compared with the values at stake. 
 
 The Illinois Method 
 
 What may be called the Illinois method of attack upon the chinch- 
 bug consists of a combination of barriers of a repellent substance laid 
 along the borders of a field to stop the movement of the bugs, with 
 trap-holes beside it, together with an insecticide spray applied to in- 
 fested corn under certain special conditions. 
 
 This barrier method was first used in McLean county, 111 ., in 
 1871, a row of fence-boards being set up beside the infested field with 
 coal-tar applied to their upper edge; but later in the same season the 
 tar was simply poured upon the ground, holes being dug beside it to 
 trap the bugs. A hundred and fifty barrels of coal-tar were used for 
 this purpose in that year near Bloomington. This method was greatly 
 improved in 1911 and 1912 by the substitution of the petroleum products 
 known as road-oils No. 6 and No. 7; and in 1912 and 1913 it was 
 made still more practicable by the discovery that crude creosote and 
 crude carbolic acid might be used instead of the road-oils. 
 
 The chinch-bug was first killed on corn by means of insecticide 
 sprays in McLean county in 1882, an emulsion of kerosene and milk 
 and kerosene and soap-suds being successfully used for this purpose. 
 This method was also improved in 1910 by substituting for the kerosene 
 a tobacco solution known as “Black Leaf 40/’ the efficiency of which 
 was increased by the addition of soap. In 1912 it was found that if 
 a soap solution of the proper strength were used, the tobacco might 
 be entirely omitted ; and many fields of young corn were saved that 
 year by treatment with this spray. 
 
 The usefulness of these operations depends very largely upon a 
 general participation in them, since the individual farmer may destroy 
 all the chinch-bugs bred in his own fields and yet suffer heavy loss, 
 later in the season, from chinch-bugs flying in from other farms, where 
 the work has been neglected. An important part of this method is, 
 consequently, the organization of communities for a general cooperative 
 attack upon the insects at the proper time, and in the best available 
 manner. Our first successful attempts to this end were made in 1911, 
 and much excellent cooperative work has been done in the later years. 
 
 The Method in Detail 
 
 In a situation like the present the first important undertaking 
 must be to arouse, inform, advise, and organize for cooperation the 
 farming population of infested districts. The field agents of the 
 
'O’l* 41, 
 
 3 
 
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 Entomologist’s, office are keeping close watch of field conditions 
 throughout and around the area infested last year; and by circulars, 
 posters, newspaper notices, public meetings, and personal interviews, 
 the communities concerned will be kept advised, as far as possible, of 
 what they have to expect and prepare for as the season advances. 
 
 A preliminary circular was issued February 28, and the present 
 one will be followed by a third as soon as the hibernating chinch-bugs 
 have settled in the fields where the new generation is to appear. 
 
 Mode of Organization . — The organization of infested districts can 
 best proceed by counties ; and the agencies whose cooperation is essen- 
 tial in the beginning are the business men’s organization at the county- 
 seat, the county officers of the farmers’ institute, and the local papers of 
 the county. As soon as the fact is evident that widespread injury to 
 wheat and corn is impending in any county, a conference should be 
 promptly called of the editors, farmers’ institute officers, and officers 
 of the commercial club or other business organization, and measures 
 should be taken for mass-meetings to be held at the larger towns, and 
 addressed by a representative of the Entomologist’s office who will 
 discuss the local situation and the measures necessary to be taken. At 
 this meeting township lieutenants should be appointed, to call and 
 provide for school-house meetings, especially in districts where the 
 danger is greatest. At these district meetings practical talks should be 
 made, circulars distributed, questions answered, and everything made 
 ready for the actual harvest-time operation against the chinch-bug. 
 
 At the county-seat meeting conclusions should be reached as to 
 the means of supply of the necessary materials to farmers at the lowest 
 possible cost. Wholesale rates, plus transportation, can usually be 
 arranged for through an agent or committee of the business men’s 
 association. An estimate of the amount of the materials required 
 should be sent by each man to the county agent as early as possible, in 
 order that sufficient supplies may be certainly on hand when they are 
 first needed.* 
 
 The success of the whole movement will depend very largely upon 
 the spirit with which it is taken hold of by the county leaders in town 
 and country business, and especially upon the active influence of one 
 farmer upon another throughout each neighborhood. 
 
 The Field Operation . — As wheat-harvest draws near each owner 
 of an infested field should make his preparations to prevent the escape 
 of the bugs from it, especially on the side where fields of corn or oats 
 adjoin it. 
 
 *At Greenville during the summer of 1912 the county commercial club handled the road- 
 oil at cost, and aided generally in the campaign. At Litchfield in 1913 the retail merchants’ 
 association handled the road-oil at cost, and its officers aided the work in every possible way. 
 At Carlinville the oil was handled at cost by a member of the commercial club, and the mer- 
 chants of that city raised over $200 as a bounty fund for the payment of $2 a bushel for 
 chinch-bugs delivered to their agent before the 10th day of July. Twenty-seven bushels of 
 chinch-bugs were actually brought in, and several times as many might have been delivered 
 if those destroying them had taken the trouble. Seven and a quarter bushels were caught, in 
 fact, around one field in a week, and as the road-oil lines and post-hole traps had been in 
 effective operation for the two weeks preceding, twenty bushels is a fair estimate of the 
 quantity of chinch-bugs caught about this one field. When we take account of the fact 
 that a single bushel at harvest time contains over eight million bugs, and that each female 
 of this generation would commonly lay from 100 to 300 eggs, we may form some idea of 
 the effect of such destruction upon the numbers of the second generation. 
 
4 
 
 The materials to be poured upon the ground for making the barrier 
 lines are No. 7 road-oil as made by the Standard Oil Company 
 at its refinery in Whiting, Ind., or crude creosote (containing 8 
 to 10 per cent, of tar acids), or crude carbolic acid, to be ob- 
 tained from almost any large wholesale dealer in paints or drugs. 
 The No. 7 road-oil of the Whiting refinery is a nearly perfect material 
 for this purpose, and it has been longer and more thoroughly tried out 
 than the other substances. It has, however, the disadvantage that it is 
 not on the general market, and must be made in advance for this 
 particular use. Advance arrangements must consequently be made for 
 the amount likely to be needed for the season ; and it is difficult to dis- 
 pose of any surplus remaining. The creosote and carbolic acid, on 
 the other hand, are common market products, much used for other 
 purposes, and can be had in any quantity by giving previous notice to 
 insure a sufficient supply within reach at the time. 
 
 The cost of the road-oil necessary to maintain a mile of the barrier 
 for an average season will be $9 this year, and that of the creosote 
 will be $13. If we take into account the labor of the farmer and his # 
 team in the preparation of the ground for the road-oil or the creosote, 
 respectively, we must add $23 per mile for the road-oil and $15 for 
 the creosote or carbolic acid. The total cost, on this basis, will be $32 
 a mile for the road-oil treatment, and $28 a mile for that with creosote. 
 
 The most difficult part of the field operation is the preparation of 
 a path along the border of the infested field upon which to pour the 
 materials for the barrier line. For the creosote it is only necessary 
 that a bare and fairly level surface, reasonably firm, should be made 
 ready ; but for the road-oil a hard smooth surface is much more essen- 
 tial. The latter must be kept so sticky that the bugs can not cross it, 
 and consequently must not be permitted to sink into the ground. The 
 creosote acts by its offensive odor, such that the bugs will not cross it 
 even though they might do so if they would, and these odors are given 
 off from the saturated soil after the fluid has soaked into the ground. 
 
 No single method of preparing the line will answer in all places 
 and under all conditions, and much must be left to the experience and 
 judgment of the farmer himself. The following discussion of this 
 part of the subject is taken from a manuscript report of Mr. W. P. 
 Flint, my field assistant for central Illinois, who will be in general 
 charge of the state campaign against the chinch-bug this year. 
 
 “The chinch-bug barriers,” he says, “are prepared by making a 
 smooth path around the wheat field just before harvest, and pouring 
 upon this a narrow line of some substance which the bugs can not or 
 will not cross. On the side of this line next the wheat, post-holes are 
 dug about 20 feet apart and from eighteen inches to two feet in depth. 
 
 “Under ordinary weather conditions, such a barrier may be very 
 easily made; but with weather as dry as that of 1913, it was difficult 
 to make a smooth path around the field. If this can be made beside a 
 lane or public road, where the ground is compact and firm, and where 
 there is very little vegetation to be removed, it is a comparatively 
 simple matter; but where the path is made in the edge of a wheat 
 
5 
 
 Road-oil line around a field of wheat nearly destroyed by chinch-bugs. Note the 
 perfect condition of the corn field beside the wheat. 
 
6 
 
 field or in the cultivated soil of a field of corn, it is more difficult to 
 make a path smooth and firm enough to hold the road-oil for any 
 length of time at high midsummer temperatures. If road-oil is to be 
 used, the path should have a slight depression in the center, to keep 
 the oil from spreading. 
 
 “Some of the best paths in stubble ground have been made during 
 the past two years with a drag of heavy plank about six feet long, 
 cut to a V-shape at the front end, with strips of iron, sharpened to a 
 cutting edge below, attached on both sides of the “V”, and with a 
 small share in the center. A strip of iron an inch square, attached 
 to the center of the under side of the plank, makes a slight groove in 
 the path. 
 
 “On cultivated ground, the best paths have been made by drawing 
 a heavy drag back and forth until the ground is smooth and firm, a 
 groove being afterwards made by running an empty wagon over the 
 ground so that one wheel comes in the center of the path. Good paths 
 have also been made by dragging the drive-wheel of a binder or mower 
 over the ground ; or, if a road-grader is available, this may be used to 
 advantage. 
 
 “Some have plowed a shallow furrow, cleaning it out with a spade 
 or hoe; and others have thrown up two back-furrows, smoothing the 
 ridge by rolling, and making a line along its center. For a road-oil 
 line, such a ridge should be made at least a fortnight in advance, to 
 allow the ground to settle. This is a good practice with any kind of a 
 path, as the chinch-bugs sometimes leave the field before the wheat is 
 ■cut, and delay until they begin to move may cause the loss of corn for 
 a number of rows next the infested wheat. 
 
 “If creosote is to be used, the surface on which it is to be poured 
 need not be so carefully prepared, a fairly smooth path from six to 
 eight inches wide being all that is necessary. In fact, several used this 
 ■substance successfully last year, where no path at all had been made, 
 iby pouring it on the bare ground of the cultivated corn-field or on the 
 grass of a pasture ; and this may be done in an emergency where the 
 hugs leave the wheat unexpectedly before harvest. The amount of 
 creosote necessary and the labor required for the maintenance of a 
 line, may be considerably reduced by using as a carrier coarse salt, or 
 stable manure as free as possible from straw. For this purpose the 
 manure should be spread along the center of the prepared path in a way 
 to make a ridge about four inches wide and two inches high. The 
 creosote or carbolic acid poured upon this ridge is absorbed by it, and 
 held for a much longer time than if spread upon the bare ground. If 
 salt is used, a similar but narrower line may be laid by hand, a barrel 
 of salt being sufficient for about a mile of the line. This last material 
 has no advantage over the manure, where both may be had, and it 
 has the defect that it may be dissolved by a heavy rain. 
 
 “The post-hole traps should be so placed that the tar line, when 
 laid, will touch each one, and the mouth of the hole should flare a little, 
 giving a slightly sloping surface. This should be kept well dusted, so 
 Jthat the bugs can not maintain a foothold and will fall back into the 
 
7 
 
 An unprotected corn field, 1912. The chinch-bugs entered it from the field of wheat, 
 a little of which is shown in the foreground. 
 
8 
 
 hole if they attempt to climb out. This is especially likely to happen if a 
 shower of rain occurs. As a preparation for this, several farmers last 
 year laid in a supply of sacks of fine dust when the weather was dry, 
 using this to keep the trap-holes in the best condition. 
 
 “For killing the bugs as they collect in the holes the simplest 
 method is to pour a little kerosene into each from time to time; and 
 if the bugs accumulate in large numbers, water may be poured in first, 
 and the kerosent on that. 
 
 “It remains to describe the method of laying the line on the 
 prepared path. If road-oil is used, a stream half an inch thick or less 
 may be poured from a pot with a tubular spout; or, more conve- 
 niently perhaps, a hole may be made in the bottom of a large tin pail 
 and near one side, into which a whittled stick or similar plug may be 
 fitted, long enough to reach above the top of the pail. When this 
 is filled with road-oil, the plug is withdrawn and the oil streams out of 
 the hole as one walks slowly along, carrying the pail steadily to make 
 an even line. A stream which will spread on the ground to the width 
 of one’s finger is quite sufficient for the first treatment, and the hole 
 in the bottom of the pail should be made large enough to make a line 
 of this width when the road-oil is somewhat thick with the cold. The 
 size of the stream when the oil is more fluid, as the day warms up, 
 may, of course, be readily regulated by means of the plug. 
 
 “Creosote or carbolic acid may be best applied in a similar way. 
 A hole the size of a 6-penny or 4-penny nail should be made in the side 
 of a tin pail near the bottom, and from this the fluid will spout out 
 freely enough to enable one to lay the line about as fast as he would 
 naturally walk.” 
 
 Whatever materials are used, the line must be freshened from time 
 to time by pouring more oil or creosote upon it. The road-oil line must 
 be renewed as soon as the surface becomes dry — once in two or three 
 days, more or less, here or there, according to the soil and the tempera- 
 ture. The hotter the weather the more fluid the oil becomes and the 
 sooner it soaks into the ground. Under fairly favorable conditions, 
 No. 7 oil may continue to turn the bugs, after the line is well established, 
 for a week or ten days without renewal. The creosote and carbolic 
 acid, on the other hand, are effective only so long as the odor is suffi- 
 ciently strong to repel the bugs, and it is commonly necessary to renew 
 these substances every day. The person in charge should at least walk 
 along the lines once a day when the bugs are in active movement, and 
 strengthen the barrier as he finds it necessary. 
 
 Various modifications of the above modes of operation, and many 
 experiments with other more or less available materials, have been made 
 by us in the course of the last few years, the particulars of which will 
 not be given here, as they may be obtained from the field agents, by 
 those interested, when the time comes for active work. 
 
 The Dusty Furrow . — “The oldest barrier is probably the dusty 
 furrow or dusty strip, made between the wheat and the corn by plow- 
 ing a shallow dead-furrow, or, better, two or three such furrows, side 
 by side, and dragging a log back and forth repeatedly in them. Some 
 
9 
 
 Fig. 3. A protected corn field, 1912. Road-oil and post-hole traps between the corn and the 
 wheat, by which millions of the bugs were caught. 
 
10 
 
 of the best barriers have been made during the past two years by 
 plowing two or three furrows about a foot and a half apart, then 
 fastening together two or three logs, eight or ten inches in diameter 
 and four to six feet long, side by side, with strips of board nailed across 
 the tops, making the distance between the logs the same as that be- 
 tween the furrows. By means of this drag one can keep up two or 
 three furrows with the same labor that would be needed for one. To 
 raise the cross-boards so that they will not drag on the ridges between 
 the furrows, it will generally be found necessary to nail strips of board 
 or plank on the top of the logs, to which the cross-strips may be 
 fastened. On some soils, during dry weather, very effective work has 
 been done by this method, but on other soils it is useless, as a layer of 
 sufficiently fine dust can not be made. Furthermore, the slightest 
 shower at any time will make the surface firm enough to permit the 
 bugs to cross ; and this method can never be depended on for controll- 
 ing a chinch-bug movement. This kind of a barrier is much less ex- 
 pensive than the others, but in our climate it is mainly useful in 
 emergencies and when weather conditions are temporarily favorable.” 
 
 Many chinch-bugs caught in the dusty furrow, particularly the 
 young, are killed by exposure to the heat and dust, and by the dragging 
 process necessary to keep the furrows in good condition. Many of 
 the older bugs are likely to be crowded out of the furrow, however, by 
 this means, and so allowed to escape. Indeed, they will gradually pull 
 down the dust on the side of the furrow by their incessant efforts to 
 climb up, and will thus make a way out. It is desirable, consequently, 
 that they should be killed in the bottom of the furrow at least once a 
 day. This can best be done by the use of a gasoline blast torch of a kind 
 now made by the Turner Brass Works, at Sycamore, 111 ., and called by 
 them the “locust torch.” A much better but more costly machine 
 for this purpose is the so-called “cactus burner” of the southwest. 
 Our own experiments with gasoline torches against the chinch-bug 
 were made in 1902, and they have not been lately repeated on a 
 large enough scale to permit me to recommend this apparatus on 
 my own experience. Professor Headlee has lately gone much 
 farther with the locust torch in Kansas, and says that it has “proven 
 itself admirably adapted to our needs, for not only are we able 
 to destroy the bugs by simply passing the flame along the furrow 
 where they have collected, but without inconvenience the furrow 
 can be repaired as often as is necessary by dragging a log or trough 
 through it.” This torch, he says, “is the most efficient because it 
 furnishes a strong blue flame six or eight inches long and two and 
 a half to three inches through, which fills the dusty furrow where 
 the bugs are struggling with a strong blast of blue flame and is not 
 blown out by the wind. The purchaser should insist on getting a torch 
 having these specifications.” 
 
 Insecticide Sprays . — There are two conditions under which it has 
 proved highly profitable to spray corn infested by chinch-bugs. One 
 of these cases is where young corn is attacked in spring by the old 
 bugs as they come out from their winter quarters and by the young as 
 
II 
 
 these hatch from the egg. The other is where, through neglect or 
 accident, bugs are permitted to escape from a wheat field to a corn 
 field adjacent, and accumulate there in great numbers on the outer rows 
 previous to scattering over the field. A very effective insecticide is 
 made by putting a strong tobacco extract known as “Black Leaf 40” 
 and any good laundry soap into water at the rate of *4 ounce of the 
 tobacco extract and 1 ounce of the soap to a gallon of water. A mere 
 solution of 3 ounces of certain kinds of laundry soap to the gallon of 
 water is, in fact, nearly as effective with the tobacco omitted. These 
 fluids must be applied to the corn thoroughly enough to wet every 
 bug, but carefully enough to prevent filling the “curl” or cone-shaped 
 cavity among the leaves at the top of the plant. 
 
 It has been found that certain kinds of soap are much more ef- 
 fective than others, the best, in our experience, being the common 
 brands known as “Rub-no-more,” “Mottled German,” “American Fam- 
 ily,” and “Peosta,” to be preferred about in the order named. For the 
 best results, soft water should be used, but this is not essential. 
 
 The best sprayer for chinch-bug work, within our knowledge, is 
 a small compressed-air sprayer carried by a strap over the shoulder, 
 and holding about three gallons and a half of liquid. It is charged with 
 air by a few strokes of the plunger, and the spray is forced out by the 
 pressure. Such sprayers, costing from $4 to $6, according to the 
 material of which they are made, can be bought from any large hard- 
 ware or mail-order house. The nozzle which has given the best result 
 is an adjustable one of the “Kant-Klog” type, so adjusted as to give a 
 straight stream instead of a broken spray. 
 
 Additional copies of this circular may be had in any number by 
 application to the undersigned. Those receiving it are earnestly re- 
 quested to aid in its distribution in their respective neighborhoods, and 
 also to communicate their observations and the results of their ex- 
 perience either to this office or to W. P. Flint, 1231 W. Edwards St., 
 Springfield, 111. 
 
 Stephen A. Forbes, 
 
 State Entomologist. 
 
 Urbana, 111., 
 
 April 16, 1914.