4 State Univebsity expebimental station. 



mated. In the two years 1891 and 1892, during which the Station has ex- 

 isted, an aggregate saving of crops amounting in cash value to $300,925.52 is 

 estimated. 



Infected bugs were sent to eight States other than Kansas, and also to 

 Indian and Oklahoma Territories. Reports were received from 216 experi- 

 menters in these States and Territories, of which 153 report successful results, 

 16 unsuccessful, 7 doubtful, and 40 were unable to give the infected bugs a 

 trial. 



The per cent, of successful reports from our field experiments is not so 

 great this year as last, nor is the estimated average saving by each success- 

 ful experiment. Undoubtedly one reason for this is, that the bugs were not 

 prevalent in such large numbers this year. The Sporotrichum infection is 

 propagated by minute spores, which are carried from one bug to another by 

 the wind or by contact of one bug with another. It is evident, therefore, that 

 the more isolated the bugs are from one another, the less the opportunity for 

 the spores to find their victims. It seems, moreover, that the meterological 

 conditions have not on the whole been so favorable for the growth of the 

 fungus as last yeai'. This was evidently the case here at Lawrence. There 

 is no question that the successful propagation of the fungus is in a large 

 measure dependent on atmospheric conditions. While, with our best efl^orts 

 to maintain the proper conditions at the Experimental Station, the fungus be- 

 came only desultory in its growth, in the fields in Reno county, for instance, 

 the fungus was spreading rapidly. Observations of this character have 

 brought us to the opinion that the efficiency of the enterprise would be 

 greatly promoted if several centers for propagating and distributing the 

 fungus were maintained during the time of the chinch-bug ravages, say from 

 May till September. This, we believe, would insure greater certainty in 

 having a supply of the fungus always on hand the day the orders are re- 

 ceived, and two or three days would often be saved in time of transit. When 

 the chinch-bugs are present in large numbers in a field, the saving of a few 

 days' time in the application of the infection might result, in the aggregate, in 

 the rescue of large values. It is probable that the maintenance of four such 

 stations for the time suggested could be accomplished by the expenditure of 

 $1,200 per annum. 



II.— LABORATORY NOTES. 



The white fungus infection, Sporotrichum globuliferum, as in previous 

 years, survived the winter in our laboratory in the bodies of dead bugs 

 which had been laid by from time to time during the previous summer. The 

 first chinch-bugs for infection came to our laboratory April 20, from Texas, 

 and with these we started our infection cases. Only a small number of bugs 

 was sent us at this early date and the disease worked slowly, as we had 

 found to be the case under like circumstances in previous years. However, 



