238 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Thirty oi* more individuals often are to be found in one stalk during 

 the latter part of the summer. 



Vig'orous action has been taken looking toward the control of 

 this pest, and a cooperative investigation was initiated by State and 

 Federal entomologists in order to determine the most eifective means 

 of dealing with it. At present the area known to be infested amounts 

 to something more than 300 square miles. The Massachusetts State 

 Agricultural College, State Board of Agriculture, and Foresters' As- 

 sociation, together with the members of the gipsy-moth investiga- 

 tional staff, are cooperating w^ith the Branch of Cereal and Forage 

 Insect Investigations of the bureau in keeping the insect under 

 surveillance. Fortunately the insect passes the winter in the stalks 

 of its host plants, and winter destruction is therefore possible, al- 

 though extermination throughout its present range, on account of its 

 numerous food plants, would be a matter of great difficulty and 

 expense. 



Alfalfa w^eevil. — During the summer of 1917 the alfalfa weevil 

 was discovered to have extended its range southeastwardly into the 

 State of Colorado. The infested area, amounting to about 3 square 

 miles, was located near Paonia, Delta County. Cooperative investi- 

 gational and control work was at once organized by the State and 

 Federal entomologists, and this outbreak is now receiving the most 

 approved treatment. In Utah, southeastern Idaho, and southwestern 

 Wyoming, where the insect .has been present for some years and 

 where control measures have been practiced for a considerable period 

 of time, satisfactory conditions prevail. The natural enemies of the 

 weevil, introduced from Europe in large numbers, have greatly in- 

 creased in abundance and apparently are giving material aid in 

 controlling the pest. 



Chinch bug. — No general outbreak of the chinch bug has oc- 

 curred during the year, although considerable damage throughout 

 northern Texas occurred during the season of 1917. Surveys con- 

 ducted throughout the winter in eastern and northern Texas indi- 

 cated great danger of a continuation of the injury on a larger scale 

 during the early summer of 1918, and an educational campaign was 

 conducted in order to induce the farmers of Texas to begin to com- 

 bat the insect early in the season. This movement was supported 

 admirably and doubtless resulted in much good. The outbreak was 

 further subdued by very heavy rains which occurred during the 

 spring of the current year. 



Grasshoppers. — The summer of 1917 was remarkable for the 

 severe and widespread injury by grasshoppers to forage crops 

 throughout the Western and Northwestern States. The injury men- 

 tioned in last year's report was continued until the close of the grow- 

 ing season of 1917, and, owing to the unfavorable outlook. State and 

 bureau forces were organized in North and South Dakota, Montana, 

 Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska for the pur- 

 pose of fighting the coming outbreaks of 1918. This cooperative 

 movement undoubtedly has resulted in greatly reducing the losses 

 which otherwise would have resulted. At present the indications 

 point to a much less severe loss than occurred during the summer of 

 1917. 



