I feel surprisingly well today after yesterday suffering the worst angina attack I have had in more than a year. I still feel okay even though I got up early and before the weather got hot poisoned the front lawn for chinch bugs. It was locking the barn door after the horse was stolen; the bugs have feasted on the St. Augustine, leaving the crab grass to flourish. The hotter and drier it gets the better the chinch bugs fare.
With all the scientific brains we have, why can't we breed chinch bugs that eat crab grass and leave the St. Augustine alone? What we need is a man like the late Dr. Julian C. Miller, who came to LSU in 1929 to head the horticulture department where he trained hundreds of horticulturists but was best known for his research. My dad could never get over his amazement at Dr. Miller teaching sweet potatoes to blossom and produce seeds. This allowed him to cross breed and develop better potatoes. Dr. Miller and LSU improved many crops, among them strawberries. We will soon are be able to teach corn and wheat to produce their own nitrogen like legumes do, so let's get busy on getting chinch bugs to change their food preference. This should be easier than teaching a sweet potato to blossom.
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