"bean plants on insects. They had an experimental plot in the Mis- 
sotiri Biver bottoms, a few miles east of Atchison, Kans. 
The following observations were supposedly aiade "by Dr, Christen- 
sen: A l^acre field in Kansas was planted with various plants. The 
outer barrier consisted of 10 rows of sor^um and then cane two- thirds 
of a row of castor-beans. That short row of beans almost stopped the 
grasshoppers that migrated from a weedy field next to the eor^im. 
They chewed at it by day and roosted heavily there at nig^t. They 
appeared dopey, emd then died. So great was their x>as8ion for the cas- 
tor-bean plant that they hardly - touched other plants on either side of 
the barrier. Away from the castor-bean barrier the grain losses from 
birds and hoppers ran up to 95 percent. Along the barrier the grain 
loss ranged from 33 percent to none at all. The barrier was of two 
varieties of castor«bean, cambod^nsis being much more effective than 
the larger variety, zanzibarensis . yfhea 10 castor-bean plants were 
transplanted to a cornfield swaning with grasshoppers, the hoppers 
left the corn to eat the transplants cosqpletely, and then died. In a 
park dead hoppers were found beneath ornamental castor-bean plantings. 
In a test 19 hoppers were ca^d with some castor^bean foliage, which 
killed l6 of them in US hours.— Bear (10). 
The story of Or. Christensen* s 17-aere experimental farm near 
Atchison, Kans., was again told in 19^2. Fifteen aore-s of this farm 
were devoted to the growing of weeds and the other 2 acres to grain 
sorghums, castor-bean plants, and other things not planted by plains 
farmers.— Berth (11 , pp. 176-181). 
The evidence available does not indicate that castor-bean plants 
have any great importance in grasshopper control, but It is Insufficient 
to warrant a statement that no variety of them has any value for that 
purpose. Certainly, the extravagant claim that they seem certain or 
even likely to solve our grasshopper- control problem is not Justified.— 
Bare 
G-rowing castor-bean plants to eliminate grasshopper damage to 
crops does not work, despite some publicity to the contrary. The con- 
clusion that these plants are of no value in grasshopper control came 
as a result of an experiment conducted over a period of 3 months which 
involved at least 300 grasshoppers and severed varieties of eaftov- 
beans. — [Drake] (19)> 
Tests have proved that castor-bean foliage is not polsonotis to 
grasshoppers or other insects.— Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion (^, p. 212). 
In order to settle the controversy Invoked by Dr. Chrlstensen* s 
observations, carefully planned experiments were conducted in Kansas. 
Tests with grasshoppers caged over castor-bean plants were first con- 
ducted, in both the laboratory and the field. The four varieties used 
