48 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 15 



effective, but also valuable data for every part of the state regarding 

 the preparation of the seed bed and the time of planting for maximum 

 yield. There are no conflicting statements emanating from the experi- 

 ment station. The agronomist, the entomologist, the director of the 

 experiment station, the county agent, and the wheat grower, all talk 

 the same language. In addition to this, the Kansas Station has very 

 valuable data on the life history of the Hessian fly, the number of 

 broods, its behavior, its migration, its dispersion by winds, and its 

 susceptibility to moisture and temperature. The point, however, that 

 I wish to make is that if a similar series of experiments had been con- 

 ducted in all the winter wheat states, subject to injury from the Hessian 

 fly, who would dare to estimate the amount of valuable data we would 

 have on this important insect? 



If at the beginning, a regional meeting could have been held between 

 the entomologists and the agronomists of the interested states, and the 

 plan of the experiments explained, ideas exchanged, and later experi- 

 mental results observed, it is probable that similar experiments would 

 have been inaugurated, and to-day we would be reaping the results of 

 unification of efforts, and the great wheat growing industry would 

 feel the force of our work as a solid impact. 



It is estimated by the Federal Bureau of Entomology* that in the 

 5'ear 1907 there was a loss of notless than 50,000,000 bushels of oats 

 and wheat in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, due to the green bug. 

 Seventy percent of the wheat acreage in Texas was abandoned that 

 year because of the ravages of this formidable pest. Other outbreaks, 

 though much smaller, occurred in 1911, 1919, and 1921. During 

 the first outbreak, although there was some splendid cooperation be- 

 tween the Federal Bureau and the Kansas Station, there was but 

 little cooperation between the entomologists of these interested states 

 or between the different departments in a single state. Articles soon 

 appeared in the farm journals and newspapers diametrically opposed 

 to each other. The entomologist of one state with more than a full 

 page article in t.he leading farm journal of that state was bitter in his 

 attack on the state entomologist of another state. Publications even 

 appeared in bulletin form discrediting the work of a fellow worker. 

 While this envy, jealousy and bitterness was on display, the green bug 

 was playing havoc with the wheat and oats, and the fanners were 

 disgusted, not so much with the green bug as with the silliness and 

 foolishness of the entomologists. Since the 1907 outbreak of the 

 green bug, three smaller outbreaks have occurred, each furnishing 

 splendid opportunities for an extensive study, but each time very little 



*Farmers Bui. 1217. U. S. Dept. Agric. 1921. 



