32 THE WHITE-FUNGUS DISEASE IN KANSAS. 
North- central section, Smith County, Lebanon. — For this section 
Lebanon was selected as a favorable place for carrying on some field 
experiments. Accordingly, one of the writers went to Lebanon, April 
18, and with the assistance of Dr. W. C. Bower and Mr. Charles 
Isom selected five fields in which to experiment. The details of the 
work in one field only, that of Charles Sargent, will be given, as the 
results in all these experiments were the same. 
At the time of our visit it was very dry. On the 20th a severe 
dust storm prevented us from going to the country. The bugs were 
plentiful in all the fields visited, but no diseased bugs were found. 
Experiments in Mr. Sargentfs -field. — On April 21 Mr. Sargent's 
field was examined for diseased bugs, but none was found, though 
living ones were abundant. On May 10 a supply of Sporotrichum 
was sent to Mr. Sargent with which to infect his field. On May 12 
it was mixed with earth and distributed along a small draw where 
bugs were thick, wheat was rank, and moisture conditions were fa- 
vorable. Small bunches of straw were also infected. The field was 
examined May 31 for results. Occasional dead bugs could be found 
in all parts of the field, but, on the whole, diseased insects were scarce. 
There were more of them, however, in the draw where the infection 
was placed than elsewhere, but this might have been caused quite as 
much by the more favorable conditions there as by artificial infec- 
tion. There seemed to be a few more diseased bugs also in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the bunches of straw than at a distance of a few 
yards away, but the difference was so slight that the experiment could 
scarcely be called successful. On the same date Mr. Moore's field, 
1 mile south, and Mr. Waddles's field, 1 mile north, were inspected, 
and diseased bugs were found in both of them, though they had not 
been infected artificially. There was no appreciable difference in 
respect to the number of dead bugs in the fields. 
On this date (May 31) a second distribution of fungus was made 
in the draw. Spores were dusted directly from the cultures upon 
the bases of the wheat, where the bugs were most plentiful. This 
was done in two definite areas, which were carefully marked. 
During wheat harvest, June 28, the field was again visited. Dis- 
eased bugs were much more numerous all over the field than at the 
time of the previous visit. Especially was this true along the draw 
where in some spots the diseased bugs were thick enough to whiten 
the ground. In and around the two infected spots, however, there 
were no more diseased bugs than in equally favorable spots elsewhere. 
Young bugs were still swarming in the wheat in vast multitudes, so 
that the fungus did not materially help the field, though a good many 
died, especially among the old bugs. Two factors may have been at 
work in the outbreak of Sporotrichum; one, the artificial infection, 
the other, the favorable conditions acting in conjunction with the 
