98 THE WHITE-FUNGUS DISEASE IN KANSAS. 
where congestion is greatest. A second desideratum was the scatter- 
ing of the centers of field work in such a manner that results would 
be general for the entire infested area of Kansas rather than local in 
character. Varied conditions would then be encountered; for ex- 
ample, one section would have less rainfall; another lighter soil; 
one with Sporotrichum abundant in the soil, another with it scarce. 
As to extremes of latitude, one county in the northern portion of the 
State and three along the southern border were chosen. With these 
things in mind, the following sections of the State, with the towns 
near which activities were carried on, were selected : 
South-central section: Wellington, Sumner County. 
Middle-central section: Newton, Harvey County. 
North-central section: Lebanon, Smith County. 
Southeastern section: Cherryvale and Independence, Montgomery County ; 
Fredonia, Wilson County; Parsons, Labette County ; Thayer, Neosho County. 
Middle-eastern section: Colony and Garnett, Anderson County; Lebo, Coffey 
County. 
Field notes covering observations made at intervals were, of course, 
carefully taken. Records of precipitation were furnished by a local 
or near-by observer in the Weather Bureau service. In a few in- 
stances rain gauges were provided and records kept for the immediate 
vicinity of the experimental farms. 
The method of procedure in each locality was essentially the same. 
Until wheat harvest, artificial infection was confined principally to 
the wheat fields, though in a few instances oats and young corn, when 
badly infested, were also treated. Fields in which chinch bugs were 
particularly numerous were deemed best suited for artificial infection. 
Several such fields were generally selected, the owners’ consent ob- 
tained, and either 50-foot plots laid out or inoculation made of some 
definite corner, side, or marked spot. 
The experimental fields were examined before any infection was set 
out, to ascertain, if possible, the presence of the fungus naturally in 
the soil. Direct observation of fungus-covered bugs was one kind of 
evidence used. If these were lacking, as was the case earlier in the 
spring, when dry conditions prevailed over the entire State, sterile 
bottles filled with bugs and earth were used, with the expectation that 
the fungus would break out spontaneously on the bugs when in moist 
conditions under confinement. In almost every instance the experi- 
mental field was thus shown to contain Sporotrichum before any 
spores were sown artificially. The only reason for continuing with 
the artificial inoculation experiments was to determine whether the 
extra amount of infectious material added would induce an epidemic, 
when under normal conditions only a slight outbreak would occur. 
Check fields, uninoculated and at distances varying from a quarter 
of a mile to several miles, were carefully observed, as they consti- 
tuted the key to the situation. 
