33 
pearance of infection or trace of disease appearing in any of the 
fields into which the infection had been introduced by us, until 
the advent of wet weather in the fall. 
In southern Illinois the drought was generally severe in June 
and July, and I have little doubt that substantially the same 
unfavorable result followed upon nearly the whole mass of indi- 
vidual experiments made by farmers with the material sent from 
the Station. My previous experience with farmers’ reports on 
this matter has led me, however, to attach but little impor- 
tance to them, except where they can be sifted by cross-question- 
ing and personal inspection. Opportunities for fallacious 
observation are unusually numerous here, and the whole subject 
is beset with difficulties quite sufficient to remove it beyond the 
reach of the ordinary untutored and unskilled observer. Nu- 
merous visits were made by myself and my assistants to those 
reached by our distribution, infection boxes were examined, field 
experiments were inspected, and many interviews were had with 
farmers themselves. While in many cases their infection boxes 
were working well, we have found but three fields in which the 
disease was succeessfully propagated this year. Even those in 
which it had appeared spontaneously early in the season—and a 
number of such fields were found—were so thoroughly dried up 
in June and July that the further spread of the infection was 
checked, and the disease disappeared entirely. We have cer- 
tainly established by this summer’s work the practical ineffi- 
ciency of this method for the prompt destruction of chinch bugs 
in very dry weather, under conditions prevailing in Illinois this 
year. 
The three exceptional fields above mentioned were widely 
separated, —one being near Farina, in Fayette county; one near 
Edgewood, in Effingham county; and the third near Odin, in 
_Marion county. In all these cases the experiment was begun 
early in the season, and no result appeared until the late sum- 
mer and autumn rains began—much too late to arrest or dimin- 
ish injury to the crop of the present year. The number of 
chinch bugs dead with fungus disease in these fields this fall 
makes it quite possible, however, that they may give origin 
next spring to a general outbreak of the disease on the premises 
of these farmers which will do them important service. This is 
a conclusion less important than it would otherwise seem if it 
