Foubth Annual Repobt. 19 



Along the latter part of June of the same year I was again in that part of the state , 

 and made some inquiries, and found that there had been a number of successful 

 trials made in the vicinity, one man having saved his oats, another his corn, and 

 so on. In cornfields and adjacent to wheat fields where the infection had been used, 

 after the wheat had been harvested, the bugs began to migrate to the cornfields and 

 did not get further than two or three rows in when they began to collect in balls and 

 die on the ground. Many were covered with the white fungus. So that unsuccess- 

 ful personally in the fields I was watching and experimenting, the majority seem 

 to have been successful in their experiments. 



N. S. Hayse, Great Bend.— I have been trying as hard as I could since I closed 

 the bug station, in August, to get a full statement of what was done from my sta- 

 tion. I let 158 applicants have the infection, and I have only about 41 reports to 

 send to you, such as they are. I will send you what I have, and perhaps I can do 

 better another time. So far as the farmers followed the instructions, they were suc- 

 cessful; those that thought they knew best of course failed. The weather was so 

 dry and hot that we closed the business the 15th of August. 



E. C. Rickey, Abilene.— The work was begun on the afternoon of May 23d, at 

 which time the preparation and satisfactory arrangements of the principal county 

 station, that at Abilene, were made. The spacious basement of the courthouse was 

 at once converted into a genuine chinch-bug station. Here the conditions neces- 

 sary to the successful and special propagation of the white fungus, Sporotrichum 

 ylobuliferum, were extremely favorable, the only apparent disadvantage being a 

 liability of several kinds of mold spores to alight in the wooden boxes, and there 

 profusely propagate. The boxes used were the same as those made use of by the 

 University Station. Frequent visits of the Abilene agent to the state station were 

 productive in keeping the substation in strictest harmony with the working of the 

 principal one. In Abilene, I found the diseased bugs to have been as efficient in 

 destructive effects as those sent out from Lawrence into the same territory were re- 

 ported to have been. White fungus was very prolific in the wooden cases, but much 

 more so on the hard-beaten and moistened earthen floor of the basement rooms, 

 where numerous stalks of corn were thrown to afford harboring places for the bugs 

 which had escaped from the infection boxes. These spots especially attracted the 

 attention of the numerous visitors to the station, and also were of considerable 

 advantage, in that by means of them the actual field experimenters could be easily 

 shown what to expect or look for in their work. Many, indeed, insisted upon re- 

 ceiving these bugs which had died in great numbers beneath the masses of green 

 materia], there invariably seeking the cool and darkened protection from the sun- 

 light which but slightly streamed in through the basement windows. In a north 

 room I found hundreds of dead, white-mold-enshrouded bugs clinging to the stone 

 walls. 



By means of having a station in easy access of the farmer experimenters, I have 

 found that a much greater intelligence in regard to the work is not only possible 

 but also very apparent, much to the gratification of both farmer and station man. 

 Intelligence and care in the use of these parasitic diseases are the preeminent requi- 

 sites. They induce better results, inspire confidence upon the part of the user, and 

 by all means are a source of pleasure to him who assumes the responsibility con- 

 nected with the control of a county station. Not only did they who were in actual 

 need come to see and have their wants supplied, but also many who were actuated 

 by mere curiosity came. And of the latter class, not a few received supplies to be 

 used in case of an invasion of bugs upon their crops, or to send to friends whose fields 

 might be invaded. In no case were any refused. Of the incredulous, a goodly num- 



