REMEDIAL AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES. 141 



Crop rotation could scarcely fail of giving beneficial results. The 

 destruction of all volunteer grain springing up in fields from which 

 grain has been removed at thrashing gives promise of the greatest 

 relief . Indeed, if careful attention were given to all fields in autumn, 

 and all of this volunteer growth were destroyed before any grain 

 whatever was sown, it is doubtful if such serious ravages as have 

 occurred in the past could be repeated. This can all be accomplished 

 by close pasturing and careful late plowing, followed as soon as 

 possible by seeding. 



At Hooker, Okla., the junior author found affected spots both on 

 land that had been devoted to oats the previous year and on land that 

 had previously grown cowpeas. This, as well as some other observa- 

 tions made by other parties, indicates that some of the grasses will 

 have the same effect in inviting attack as volunteer grain growing 

 up in the fields in the fall. 



It is therefore most urgently recommended, and especially for the 

 South, that all of this volunteer growth of whatever nature be com- 

 pletely killed out in the fields before seeding the following crop. Not 

 only will this mode of procedure benefit especially the southern 

 grain grower, but in the light of our present knowledge of the pest, 

 it will serve as a protection to the spring oats crop over a large area of 

 country where it is doubtful if serious ravages would occur at all 

 were there not myriads of the pest continually developing to the 

 South and drifting northward in spring with the advance of the season. 



Following along the same line, attention should be directed to the 

 probability that late seeding may prove a preventive of attack, for 

 the reason that the pest will obviously gain less of a foothold in a 

 late-sown field than it will where there has been an early growth of 

 young grain plants. In other words, there is a likelihood that the 

 pest may break out in spots, as has been several times previously 

 noted, and to this extent late seeding is an advantage. However, 

 this would be a serious disadvantage if the fields should afterward be 

 overrun by hordes of migratory winged viviparous females in spring, 

 for in this case the earlier sown and therefore the older and less succu- 

 lent growth would suffer least from their attack. This is shown by 

 the fact that late-sown and winter-pastured fields in Oklahoma 

 suffered most in 1907. It must also be noted that at Winston-Salem, 

 N. C, in April 1, 1907, wheat that had been sown about or a little 

 prior to November 15, on ground free from young growth of volunteer 

 grain, or the grasses, was practically uninfested even though located 

 in the immediate vicinity of other badly infested fields sown earlier 

 on ground more or less foul with young growth. All of this indicates 

 pretty clearly that if all volunteer growth were eliminated in the fall, 

 and the grain sown late, the pest would not become destructive. Of 

 course the amount of benefit secured will depend upon the uniformity 

 with which this method is carried into effect in any locality. 



