fourth Annual Report. 17 



C. C. Brosius, Hays City. — Yonr card to J. H. Ward handed to me. Mr. Ward 

 gave the matter up, and the commissioners handed it over to me. I put my boxes 

 up and procured the chinch bugs and started in. Here is the working of it: I put 

 52 packages of infected bugs among the farmers. They report 21 that worked fine, 

 and the balance, I think, did not get the care they should have had. 



H. C. Chancellor, Liberal, Mo. — Our substation was in operation about three 

 months, and in that time perhaps 100 received the infection directly and that many 

 more indirectly from this station. Reports came in very slowly, but, so far as re- 

 ported, 70 per cent, were successful. I experienced no trouble in infecting bugs, 

 and the state of the weather made no perceptible change in the working of the in- 

 fection. I noticed a remarkable thing in the field of C. M. York, who resides near 

 this place. Mr. York put out fungus about the time the young bugs began hatch- 

 ing in his wheat, and shortly the old bugs began dying in great numbers. I vieited 

 the field about the 10th of June, and found fungus all over the ground, but could find 

 no young bugs dead, nor was I ever able to find any young bugs dead in the field. 

 Mr. York had another field in which he put no infection, and there the old bugs, as 

 well as the young, remained alive until by nature they expired. Take it all in all, I 

 believe the thing is an established success, and we shall give it another trial, if nec- 

 essary. In a great many of the above reports, I know the parties expected to lose 

 their entire crop, but lost very little. For example: Chas. Boyd came to me and 

 informed me that he expected to lose most of his crop. After putting out infection, 

 he found the bugs still alive, and, as he put it when talking to me, "they were 

 crawling around and acted crazy." They did not seem to be eating corn at all. 

 This was in the early part of July. Mr. Boyd put out no more infection, and paid 

 no attention to his field until in August, when he noticed that the field was still full 

 of bugs, and they were eating corn, but slowly. In conclusion, I desire to say that 

 never before in this country did so many bugs do so little damage. Our crops were 

 comparatively uninjured, and our leading farmers attribute it solely to the use of 

 the infection. 



E. E. Cowman, Osborne. — Station was in operation about two months — July and 

 August; number of persons supplied with infection, about 310. Of these, I send 

 you the names of 220 and their reports, if reported, whether successful or unsuc- 

 cessful. Most of the remaining 90 names were persons I gave the infection to dur- 

 ing the latter part of August, for use later in the season if weather became more 

 favorable. Besides these, a number were given infection while I was visiting boxes 

 in the country, and thus did not secure their names. Reports received, 49; success- 

 ful, 32; unsuccessful, 8; doubtful, 9. Per cent, successful, 65; unsuccessful, 17; 

 doubtful, 18. From the number that sent me their report on the work, I can hardly 

 say that 65 per cent, of all that tried the infection were successful, as I heard of 

 a good many, indirectly, who were not successful, but thought it due to the dry 

 weather, and would not report. From what I could learn from inquiry, etc., I esti- 

 mated that about 40 per cent, were successful, and most of these took out the infec- 

 tion before the hot winds, July 25 to 29. The weather wa9 extremely backward for 

 the propagation of the disease. We had but one rain, about one-half inch, during 

 the entire time, and with but little dew. In the latter part of July, hot winds struck 

 this part of the country, destroying the crops. This greatly reduced the demand 

 for the infection, and a good many who had taken out the infection neglected to 

 take care of it. My boxes worked well all the time the station was in operation, 

 and, after the first few days, had no trouble in keeping plenty of infection ahead. 

 Very few farmers had trouble with their boxes. I visited 16, and of this number 

 three were not working, being entirely too small, and not kept sufficiently damp- 

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