59 
BACTERIOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS WITH INSECT 
~ — ^ DISEASES. * — 
INTRODUCTORY. 
The first portion of the work upon the availability of certain dise 
germs of insects as remedies against the Boll Worm was begun by 
another, whose report you already have. The writer assumed charge 
of this work at the close of the season, when it was impossible to ac- 
complish anything further until the following year. Fresh material for 
further studies could not be obtained, and the cultures at hand, as a 
resnlt of the outgoing season's labors, were entirely unsafe ami unsatis- 
factory for scientific purposes. The following season the conditions were 
disappointing, in that the insect upon which theexperiment> were to be 
made was not plentiful and the weather conditions were such as to ob- 
struct progress at every step. The laboratory was not complete enough 
for the most extended and exlhaustive researches, and the time at 
command was considerably divided in attending to other portions of 
the investigation. 
No noteworthy discoveries were made and no reliable ones could be 
rightfully expected in so short a time. So far as the strictly bacterio- 
logical work is concerned, it has just reached a satisfactory basis for 
exhaustive studies along the lines which the results of the investiga- 
tion indicate as the most promising. 
The studies were conducted as directed upon the practicability of ar- 
tificially utilizing the germs of insect diseases as remedial agents. Ac- 
cordingly the germs were isolated as pure cultures by the usual methods 
and artificial infection experiments made to ascertain the facts. The 
results as such are entirely satisfactory, though in no sense solving 
or setting at rest the problem under consideration. Yet. if properly in- 
terpreted, they contribute valuable suggestions relative to the basis 
upon which the problem should be considered, or a solution attempted. 
The results can not rightfully be takeu in a negative sense except in 
respect to the method and the basis upon which they were obtained. 
Practicability having been the object in these studies, only such 
experiments and observations are presented in this report as bear di- 
rectly upon that phase of the problem. The minutiae of some new 
methods of staining the germs, their specific descriptions, and like mat- 
ters, are entirely omitted, since, for the purposes of this report, they 
might be confusing and misleading. If this discussion contributes in 
any way towards freeing the minds of some from misleading and un 
bacteriological opinions concerning' the problem, or assists in putting 
future efforts on a more scientific basis, it will serve as great a purpose 
as our present knowledge of the specific organisms and the attending 
difficulties involved will permit. 
