Fig. 164. Cabbage Worms and Butterflies
Treatment. Unfortunately we cannot prevent all of the damage done by chinch bugs, but we can diminish it somewhat by good clean agriculture. Destroy the winter homes of the insect by burning dry grass, leaves, and rubbish in fields and fence rows. Although the insect has wings, it seldom or never uses them, usually traveling on foot; therefore a deep furrow around the field to be protected will hinder or stop the progress of an invasion. The bugs fall into the bottom of the furrow, and may there be killed by dragging a log up and down the furrow. Write to the Division of Entomology, Washington, for bulletins on the chinch bug. Other methods of prevention are to be found in these bulletins.
Fig. 165. A Plant Louse Colony
The Plant Louse. The plant louse is very small, but it multiplies with very great rapidity. During the summer the young are born alive, and it is only toward fall that eggs are laid. The individuals that hatch from eggs are generally wingless females, and their young, born alive, are both winged and wingless. The winged forms fly to other plants and start new colonies. Plant lice mature in from eight to fourteen days.
The plant louse gives off a sweetish fluid of which some ants are very fond. You may often see the ants stroking these lice to induce them to give off a freer flow of the "honey dew." This is really a method of milking. However friendly and useful these "cows" may be to the ant, they are enemies to man in destroying so many of his plants.
Fig. 166. A Cheap Spraying Outfit