was a period of dry weather. The chinch-bugs were numerou 
of the bugs, I discovered that millions of them had died fr 
IN KANSAS. 
1888.—In 1888 I first became acquainted with the effect 
fungus diseases upon chinch-bugs. April and May of that yes 
and threatened the destruction of the crops. Farmers began 
plow under their oats and wheat. But suddenly the chinc 
bug armies began to disappear, the crops revived, and the far 1- 
ers were able to reap bountifully where utter loss had be 
impending. On investigating the causes of the disappearar 
the ravages of a fungus disease, and, in an article published 
the Sixth Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Ag 
culture, I expressed the opinion that, ‘‘in the warfare of man } 
against his insect foes, a most valuable ally will be found 7 
the bacterial and fungoid diseases which may be artificially 
troduced when nature fails to come to our aid.’’ 
established the fact that this disease could be communicated 0 
live bugs in the laboratory, and, as soon as this result had found — 
its way into the newspapers, I was besieged with application ii 
for infected material by farmers in many of the western states 
I believe I was the first to successfully inoculate with: fung 
disease at rant points. Higue colored newspaper accounts 
led people to believe that I was the discoverer of the disease, or 
even the inventor, for it was believed by many that I had cous 
pounded some drugs that could be used, poison-like, to kill the | 
bugs, or to bring upon them an insanity that drove them to 
their own destruction. ‘ MAPA si") 
Even this notoriety had its use, and I was able to experi ment 
on a large scale by reason of it, and in widely separated 2 ts 
of the country. rc a 
