160 ' THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Although it is acknowledged by all that the quality and quantity of the 

 agricultural produce of any country is an enormous influence affecting its 

 prosperity as a whole, and notwithstanding that there is no cause which 

 so materially lessens this supply as the ravages of noxious insects, yet we 

 cannot find that the English Government has done anything to encourage 

 or foster this or similar efforts, even though there are such vast interests at 

 stake. It is, however, pleasing to find in the preface to the report under 

 consideration, an account of an important experiment which has been 

 tried at Aldersey Grammar School, situated in the heart of an agricultural 

 district in the County of Cheshire, as to the possibility of teaching boys 

 as much entomology as is needed for common farm use, without inter- 

 fering with their other studies. This experiment has now been tried for 

 three years, under the efficient direction of the Head Master, Mr. W. 

 Bailey, with the co-operation of Miss Ormerod, and the results have been 

 most satisfactory. The boys received a course of lessons on insect life, 

 illustrated by living specimens and diagrams ; they also collected and 

 bred, so as to watch through their different stages the injurious insects of 

 the neighborhood, and by this means soon became acquainted with the 

 common types. " In fact, the great step was made ; by the simple but 

 sound method of teaching pursued, the boys had learnt to know the crop 

 pests by sight, without doubt or mental worry, just as they knew the crops 

 that the insects infest." J. Fletcher. 



Montreal Horticultural Society, Ninth Annual Report, pp. 154, 8vo., 

 Montreal, 1884. 



This pamphlet contains much interesting and valuable information for 

 horticulturists. '• Notes on the Trees and Shrubs of Northern Japan," by 

 Prof D. P. Penhallow, gives a list of the most useful trees of those 

 islands and compares them with some of our own species, with a view to 

 suggesting which might be successfully cultivated in Canada. A most 

 important paper is contributed by Mr. Chas. Gibb on the Russian apples 

 imported by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture in 1870. Descriptions, and 

 in many cases, good illustrations, are given of the best sorts of these 

 valuable apples, and Mr. Gibb here supplies that authoritative information 

 which is needed in reference to those Russian apples likely to prove suit- 

 able to our climate. " The Cultivation of the Cabbage," by Mr. R. 

 Brodie, jr., gives the best varieties, and the best way to grow them on the 

 Island of Montreal. In addition to these papers, there are reports from 

 judges and from four local branches of the Society. 



