Report of the State Entomologist on the Noxious and Beneficial Insects of the State of Illinois Volume 27-29 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 edition. Excerpt: ...the checks, but this difference is too slight to be taken into account. In respect to the number of stalks in each 2,000 hills, the checks stand first, and the other plots come in the following order: kerosene, oil of lemon, kerosene emulsion, scalecide, carbolic acid, and formalin. The difference of 105 stalks between the kerosene plot and the checks is only 3 per cent, and may probably be disregarded; but the difference of 498 stalks (13.5 per cent) between the checks and the carbolic acid plot is too large to be ignored, while the loss of 1,656 stalks in the formalin plot out of a possible 3,695 (45 per cent) can only be explained as due to an original injury to the seed--a conclusion confirmed by reference to an earlier examination of the number of stalks and missng hills in 500 hills of each plot, made une 17. At this time, while the checks averaged 931 stalks to this number of hills, the formalin plot contained but 647, and while there were 41 missing hills in the checks there were 150 in the plot planted with formalin. The loss in the number of ears (36 per cent) due to the formalin treatment and in the total weight of the corn (21 per cent) puts this conclusion beyond a doubt. The fact that the loss in number of ears consequent upon a treatment of the seed with formalin was less than the loss in the number of stalks, and that the loss in weight of the total yield was still less than that in the number of ears, implies that the formalin took the greatest effect upon the poorest kernels which would have produced the weakest plants and the largest number of barren stalks. Something of the same tendency is shown in the results of the carbolic acid experiment, where the loss in number of stalks was 13 per cent and that in weight of the yield...