82 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



means of special apparatus devised for the purpose (see Bulletin 



33, p. 230, for detailed description and fiojures). 



The results of this experiment indicated that salt applied at the 



rate of 1000 pounds per acre (a heavy dressing) interfered with 



the germination of wheat, and neither drove the wireworms 



deeper into the soil, nor caused them to migrate any appreciable 



distance. 



kainit. 



This is a German potash salt which is now much used as a fer- 

 tilizer in this country. We made many and varied experiments 

 with kainit on wireworms. The results obtained indicate that 

 kainit has but little, if any, effect on wireworms in the soil even 

 when applied in very large quantities, as from four to nine tons 

 per acre. 



It should be noted that these results are diametrically opposed 

 to those obtained by Professor J. B. Smith of the !New Jersey Ex- 

 periment Station ( Insect Life^ Yol. 4, Nos. 1 and 2, p. 45 ; Bull. 

 85, N. J. Exp. Sta., p. 5 ; An. Kept. N. J. Exp. Sta. for 1891, p. 

 42). However, none of the statements yet made by Professor 

 Smith are supported by sufficient evidence to lead us to modify the 

 conclusions derived from the results of our experiments. Professor 

 Forbes says of the experiment upon wliich most of Professor 

 Smith's evidence is based : " It is evident from the context that 

 this experiment had been made some years before, apparently not 

 under the inspection of an entomologist." Mr. F. M. "Webster, 

 entomologist of the Ohio Experiment Station, in discussing the 

 methods of lighting the wireworms, says (Bull. 51, Ohio Expt. 

 Sta., p. 137) : " There may be some virtue in the application of 

 kainit, although this has not as yet been thoroughly and clearly 



demonstrated." 



muriate of potash. 



This is a product of German mines, and is our principal potash 

 fertilizer. 



After many experiments extending over a period of more than 

 nine months, we were forced to conclude that it has to be used at 

 the rate of from four to six tons per acre to have any effect orrthe 

 larvffi, and then it is not so effective as the cheaper kainit or the 

 much cheaper common salt. Its use in such large quantities would 



