576 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXXI, No. 6 
the winter are retained for further study, while those perennials 
which winterkill and all annuals are replanted each spring. To 
insure satisfactory growth it has been found necessary to plant the 
seed in small flowerpots in the greenhouse about March 1. This 
gives the seedlings a good start. After danger of severe frost injury 
is past, which is usually about April 1, they are transplanted to rows 
in the garden. This method of culture gives most of the grasses an 
excellent early-season growth. There are usually a few instances 
in which this treatment produces either extremely early or very late 
maturity. Such cases are rare, however, and therefore of no great 
significance. Then the grasses are transplanted to the garden rows, 
the plants are knocked from the pots and divided into small tufts, 
care being exercised to avoid any injury to the roots. The tufts 
then are carefudy set in shallow trenches, and the soil firmed around 
them. The plants are placed in rows 5 feet long and 2 feet apart. 
This usually gives a considerable number of plants for observation, 
and prevents serious competition between species in adjacent rows. 
The grasses made an exceptionally good start in the spring of 1924. 
Most of the rows had excellent stands. Although only a few plants 
were obtained in some rows, these were always normal. The early 
spring conditions so greatly favored the growth of grasses that most 
species had made a large amount of leaf growth before the chinch-bug 
migration from the wheat to the grasses had begun. 
FACTORS CONSIDERED 
ANNUAL OR PERENNIAL 
One of the first plant characters to be considered in a study of this 
nature is the longevity of the plant. A short-lived annual might 
reasonably be expected to make an earlier and more vigorous growth 
than longer-lived perennials. In making observations on the chinch- 
bug injury to the grasses, it was noted that perennial species consist¬ 
ently exhibited much more resistance to attack than annuals. This 
may be due in part to the fact that most of the perennials had harsh 
leathery tissues, while most annuals are characterized by tender 
tissues which often are thin and sometimes rather flaccid. The 
chinch bugs attacked the annuals first and within a few days killed 
most of them. 
It is realized that some plants are listed as annuals which, under 
other conditions, may be perennial, and vice versa. In some years 
at Manhattan certain species may survive the winter, while in others 
the same species may be completely killed. The habit given in this 
paper refers, therefore, to the behavior of the species under Kansas 
conditions. 
NATIVE OR INTRODUCED 
In taking notes upon the amount of chinch-bug injury in the grass * 
garden, it was observed immediately that species indigenous to 
Kansas exhibited striking resistance. It was further noted that the 
species native and common to that part of the State in which chinch- 
bug injury to cultivated crops most commonly occurs showed the 
greatest tolerance to attack. Furthermore, those same grasses com¬ 
prise by far the greater percentage of the plants found in pastures, 
meadows, sod roadsides, and undisturbed fence rows. These are 
