Wichita eagle., 1889-12-19

disease, but SO far none have showed an
signs OF it. Would it be possible for yot
to send US number of these insects tha
have died of the disease, to be used IN in
fecting our experiment plats and enable U:
to study the experiment" The infected
material was sent on July is, and on thu
3Oth the following report was received
| "Chich bugs have died rapidly during twt
days. Most of the dead ones are on the
grass and weeds; comparatively few die OF
| the ground. Those dying on the grounc
under tina shade of weeds and grass, de
yelop larger growth of mould than those
found on the upper blades of grass. %
far the disease appears to be specially IA
tai only in or near the localities in
fected July n, yet dead bugs covered witt
the mould are found in considerable mum
bers several rods away from the spots flrsi
/ infected
Four days later the following was re-
ceiyed from the same source: i desire t9
| say further that in the field first infected
| it is very hard to find liye chinch bug
Two weeks ago they were there by the
/ million. Many dead ones can be seen.
The following report was made by Prof
+. NJ. Webster, entomologist of the Indiana
agricultural experiment station: The
germs of Entomophthora received July Il
have had the effect of destroying enough
chlnch bugs to warrant the statement that
| they communicated the disease and estab-
lished it in the field. What the ultimate
result will be and whether it will be, and
whether it will be Of service to the farmer
in dry weather when he most needs 1t, are
questions yet to be settled"
The following is from Clearwater,
Minnesota, farmer, to whom infected ma
terial was sent August 5:
Every marked hill of corn was freed OF
bugs before the corn was cut Cst to 18th OF
September, but still there werd some bugs
in the field, but nothing in comparison to
what it was when the fungoid bugs were
planted, and they seem to be semi-para-
lyzed. So firm is my belief in the efficiency
of this method that l have saved about
1000 infected bugs for next year. Please
accept my thanks for the bugs, and l will
hoist my cap for white fungus.
THAD. j. WOoDwoRTH"
The county treasurer Of Worth county,
Iowa, wrote as follows:
1.-The dead chinch bugs you sent me did
good work. l did as you directed and in
about eight days after put them in my
fifty acre cornfield the bugs began to die,
and now about two-thirds of them are
dead. l will now take pains to get them
scattered over the county.
G. n. HAUGEN, Northwood, Ia"
The following are samples of many let
tiers received from Kansas farmers:
NAVARRO, Dickinson, Co., Aug z.
81 received your deceased chinch bugs
now nearly three weeks ago. l followed
the enclosed directions, only l had perhaps
ninety or one hundred times as many as
you sent. l put them in a tin quart can
and left them in there for about forty
eighe hours. Three days afterward | went
out and looked, and to my SURPRISE found
some dead ones. ] went out a week after
ward and found half of them dead.
passed the other day again and could
scarcely fud any that HAD life in them,
and what few there were were sick, SO that
they could hardly move. | certainly feel
very grateful TO you for your kindness in
sending me these few bugs, and l believe
it will be blessing to the country.
Yours truly,
'LARNED, Aug. /, 1889.
"DEAR SIR-Your letter of the 18th ult.,
with the small box of chinch bugs, came to
me safely. Your directions in my expert
ments with the bugs were carefully fol-
lowed. After the diseased cues had been
with the healthy ones for forty-two hours
| took them to my farm, expecting to
plant them, but found l had been an
ticipated in the work of destruction by
heavy rains. L thed brought them back
and put them on the farm of Captain A. g.
Norris, just south of town, where there
were few bugs. They seemed to perform
the work whereunto they were sent, the
bugs in the portion of the field infected be-
ing killed. so far as could observe. OF
one thing am well satisfied, and that is
that the disease is communicable, just to
what extent my experiments have not
been OF character to establish.
"Yours, truly,
SAMUEL HOUSTON"
Prof. Shows experiments having been
thus successful the present season, he is
anxious to preserve the germs of the
disease through the winter in order to be
able to communicate it anew next season.
In order to be more certain of doing this
he desires the cooperation of the farmers
Kansas and hereby invites them TO send
him specimens of living chinch bugs dur
ing the winter in order that the disease
may be kept alive by working upon fresh
subjects in his laboratory. It is hard to
find any live bugs in Douglas county, and
little effort on the part of farmers else
where will enable him to secure results of
great value to them.
Prof. Lewis lecture was illustrated by a
series of charts, exhibiting the magnified
germs of the white fungus and the germs
of various bacterial diseases which attack
insects, four-footed animals and man.
There was some discussion of the ques-
ton after the professors talk and it was
generally agreed that the address was one
OF the finest ever delivered in the state.
SWINE BREEDING.
Colonel NJ. Stewart, president of the
Kansas Swine Breeders association, read a
paper on Swine Breeding" which was re-
garded as one of the able papers of the
day and part of which is as follows:
Among the earliest recollectlons of my
life which comes to mind as wildly as
though it were an occurrence of last week
or last year, is the scene of numerous pro-
cessions of four footed beasts-white black
red and spotted-noving eastward, ever
eastward, over the turnpike road, until
they reached tide water and met their fiual
destiny.
Their advancing columns was heralded
by man mounted on a raw-boned steed,
who might we'll be compared to the
knight OF the Sorrowful Figure" He
was the avaunt courier whose province 1t
was to sit sidewise in his saddle and give
vent from time to time to the monOtonOus
cry, "swoo, swoo," an enticing call in hog
latin, needing no Interpretation to ears
that greeted it with an appreciatiye grunt.
The rear of these professions were much
like the rear of an advancing army. There
were stragglers by the score, and foragers.
There was the footsore and weary,
and the ambulenees loaded with the sick
and broken down. There was a constant
fulisade of small arms, as it were, min
gled with choice expletlves applied with
equal force and energy to two things in
this world alone, viz: the hog and the
mule. Nor was this all. There was the
usual witticism of the drover, as of the
soldier. What town or village did he pass
through from Steubenville to Philadet-
phia and failed to give vent in stentorian
tones to the stereotyped cry, 40 cents a
day and no dinner, s'bhoy!" This was IN
forties, when Kansas was bowling will
derness, and in the region where / lived
Ohio was away out west. In those days
distinc hree6S of hogs were but little