142 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 9^ 



COUNTY COOPERATION TO REDUCE HESSIAN FLY INJURY 



By H. A. GossARD, Wooster, Ohio 



Our first effort in Ohio to completely organize the farmers, in a 

 definite territory, to act as a unit in choosing the date for seeding 

 wheat, was made the past fall. Since our success in- inducing almost 

 every farmer in a whole county to cooperate with us was unexpected^ 

 especially so, since our effort was concentrated on one township only, 

 it may be worth while to describe the method followed. 



The first steps toward organizing were taken by a few farmers of 

 . Ehzabeth Township, Miami County, where the crop had been partially- 

 destroyed by the fly for several consecutive seasons. These requested 

 the aid of their County Agent, M. C. Thomas, who was superintendent 

 of the Miami County Experiment Farm, and he, in turn, requested 

 my help in the movement. To enlist interest a meeting was arranged 

 for at one of the villages of the township. Three or four of the most 

 successful farmers of the township were put on the program to give 

 fifteen-minute talks on various agricultural topics which they were 

 specially qualified to discuss. This insured a crowd drawn from all 

 parts of the township. I was invited to discuss the Hessian fly for a 

 half hour, after which an organization was made, one man being ap- 

 pointed in each school district to induce his neighbors to sign a pledge 

 to await the advice of the Station Entomologist and the County Agent 

 before seeding. I think the pledging feature was not altogether suc- 

 cessfully worked, nor do I consider it either a necessary or even a 

 desirable part of such a campaign. Most farmers are willing to wait 

 for any reasonable length of time for a signal to sow, but nearly all 

 will balk at binding themselves to await the decision of a man who is 

 personaUy somewhat of a stranger to them, and who might, to their 

 minds, turn out to be an impracticable visionary. These school- 

 district committeemen wfere of great use, however, in sohdifying senti- 

 ment, distributing literature, etc. 



My next step was to write to Professors Dean and Haseman, both of 

 whom I knew to have had some experience with this cooperative plan 

 of seeding, and obtain from them a statement of results. I also re- 

 quested the names of county agents who had had experience with the 

 work, and of farmers who had grown wheat under the plan. Three of 

 the Kansas county agents wrote me, at Professor Dean's request, 

 giving me their working plans and results. Eight or ten Kansas far- 

 mers also responded to my appeal for a statement of their experience. 

 These letters from the farmers proved very useful, since a farmer will 



