156 



In June I was invited to attend a summer meeting at Picton of the Prince 

 Edward County Institute, and through the kindness of Mr. W. Boulter, of Picton, 

 I was enabled to visit many of the farms, hop-gardens and orchards in the vicinity of 

 Picton. Mr. Boulter's own orchard was most instructive from an entomological point 

 of view It would be impossible to find better trimmed and cleaner trees than were 

 there. The smoothness and cleanness of the trunks of some trees which had been 

 planted twelve years was remarkable, and was due entirely, he assured me, to watching 

 them at the periods of insect occurrence and then attending to them promptly. A 

 part of his regular annual treatment has been, for some years, washing them in June, 

 with ordinary home-made lye. He says : " This is made by filling a large barrel, ' leach' 

 as it is called, with hard-wood ashes, pounding them in tight, and then pouring water 

 on as it soaks up. If the ashes are pounded in thoroughly it will take two days 

 before it starts to run. This lye is very strong. If the ashes are not pounded down 

 well it soon soaks through and the lye is weak. The proper strength is found out 

 by experience, as farmers' wives know in soap-making. We put this lye on all our 

 trees every year. For trees from four to six years old, we dilute the lye about one-half 

 with water ; after that we use it nearlj^ full strength, applying it with a corn broom, 

 rubbing the trunks and limbs thoroughly. We also let a good deal run down the 

 trunk to kill any insects that may be at the ground. Many have told me that the 

 lye is too strong. I think not, and you can judge from what you saw when here. 

 We think the lye kills many insects which harbour in the bark; at any rate, we 

 know that since we have tried washing we have been very little troubled with 

 borers. We also draw all our ashes from the canning factory and spread them around 

 (away from) the trees. These I consider one of the best fertilizers in an orchard." 



The black-spot of the apple {Fusicladium dendriticum) was found to be very 

 prevalent upon both apples and pears. I therefore made " Fungous Diseases and 

 their Eemedies " the subject of one of my addresses at Picton. Another was " Insects 

 Injurious to the Pea Crop." 



From Picton I went to Leamington, in the County of Essex, where I addressed 

 a meeting in the afternoon upon " Fungous Diseases of Fruits" and "Fruit Insects," 

 and in the evening spoke on "Window Gardening." The next day was spent with 

 Mr. W. W. Hilborn, the President of the local Fruit Growers' Association, who 

 kindly drove me to several of the large peach orchards and farms in the district. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The interest in the work under my charge is indicated by the large number of 

 letters which have been received. These numbered l,5-i7 during the last year, and 

 about the same number were dispatched. By far the larger proportion of these 

 were from farmers and others in Canada, but many were from co-workers in other 

 countries. During the past summer an important step has been taken in Great 

 Britain by the introduction, by Miss Eleanor A. Oi-merod, the distinguished Ento- 

 mologist of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, of the arsenites as insecti- 

 cides. It is somewhat remarkable that notwithstanding the fact that these 

 materials are now so much used in America as to be considered indispensable in the 

 cultivation of certain crops, it is onl}'- within the last year that they have been used 

 in England. Owing to my position as Government Entomologist, I was honoured 

 b}' being consulted, at the suggestion of Miss Ormerod, as to the best treatment for 

 certain leaf-eating caterpillars which had been committing grievous depredations to 

 fruit trees in the south of England. In response, an account was given of the 

 American method of treating such insects, and under Miss Ormerod's able direction 

 most satisfiictory results were secured. On 23rd December, 1890, in reply to my 

 inquiry, " lias the Paris Green treatment for leaf-eating orchard insects, which you 

 have intioduced into England this season, proved as satisfactory as you were led to 

 expect ?" Miss Ormerod writes, after expressions of thanks for assistance, which is 

 very highly over-estimated, as follows: — 



