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Show 'Alfalfa, Clover Bring Late Crops To Be Used Where Chinch Bugs Have Riddled the Corn and Barley. By J. C. Hackloman. Crop Extcniilon Specialist. College of Agriculture, University of Illinois. WNU Service. Extensive areas In central and north central Illinois where chinch bugs have ruined the corn or barley crops can best be planted to alfalfa or red clover. Planting these legumes le-gumes not only would put a crop on land that otherwise would be idle and costly, but also would be In line with the national agricultural agricul-tural adjustment program, which is designed to reduce the acreage of grain crops. Illinois farmers already al-ready have adjusted their cropping systems to the point where they are growing a million acres more of legumes than they were In 1910-1914, 1910-1914, but the acreage can be vastly extended by seeding alfalfa and red clover on land , where the corn or barley has been ' riddled by the chinch bugs, provided the soil Is adapted. It is Important that soil conditions condi-tions In the field be known before either alfalfa or red clover is seeded. seed-ed. The land must be sweet and must have a sufficient amount of phosphorus. Simple tests are available avail-able for determining this. The seed bed already has been prepared and by occasional additional cultivations cultiva-tions can be kept in excellent condition con-dition for seeding. Red clover and alfalfa can be seeded in mid-summer. This will help to solve the problem of crop acreages and will make It materially easier for farmers farm-ers to put a crop adjustment program pro-gram Into effect for 1934. Choosing something ' to replace corn that has been ruined by chinch bugs is doubly difllcult because be-cause the crop must be one that is immune to the bugs and that can. at the same time, be planted at late date. Sudan grass and millets, which could be seeded at this season sea-son of the year, are out of the question because they are highly favored foods of chinch bugs. About the only cash grain crop available at this date is buckwheat. This will yield from ten to as many as twenty-five bushels to the acre, depending upon soil fertility and seasonal conditions. The best va rieties are Japanese and Silver Hull. |