44 EXPERIMEMAL FARMS 



9-10 EDWARD VII., A. 1910 



From the foregoing statement it will be seen that, in the provinces of Ontario 

 and Quebec, 1,503,129 plants were examined. The larger proportion of this stock was 

 fruit seedlings — apple, pear, plum and cherry — either for grafting or budding. The 

 total number of nests of the Brown-tail Moth found in tha shipments made to the 

 two provinces named, is 196, all on stock imported from France. Of this number, 188 

 were found in Ontario, and 8 in Quebec. These occurred as follows : 100 on pear, 56 

 on apple, 28 on plum, 5 on quince, 1 on cherry, 2 on rose, 2 on spiraea, 1 on sugar maple 

 and 1 on Prunus pissardi. As each nest contains from 200 to 300 small caterpillars, 

 it can be easily understood how the above provinces would probably have become badly 

 infested by this extremely pernicious insect had these nests not been discovered and 

 destroyed. 



Shipments destined for other parts of Canada, of which advice was received, were 

 at once reported to the provincial officers. Those for British Columbia were reported 

 to Mr. Thos. Cunningham, Inspector of Fruit Pests, Vancouver, B.C., and those for 

 Nova Scotia to Prof. M. Cumming, Secretary for Agriculture, Truro, N.S. Mr. 

 Cunningham has advised us that nests of the Brown-tail Moth were found by his 

 department on stock imported from France, but as yet we have no complete list of 

 his findings. Mr. E. R. Clarke, of Annapolis, N.S., reported to the Division, that he 

 had found one nest on stock which he had imported from France. . Prof. Cumming 

 stated, under date of June 14, that ' no Brown-tail Moth nests were discovered on 

 imported stock officially examined this year in the province of Nova Scotia.' 



At the outset of the above work, the Ontario Department of Agriculture was 

 notified from time to time of the finding of the nests of the Brown-tail Moth in ship- 

 ments of nursery stock from France coming into the province. Through the kind co- 

 operation of Prof. C. C. James, Deputy Minister of AgTiculture for Ontario, and Mr. 

 P. W. Hodgetts, Director, Horticultural Branch, Mr. Harry Arnold, the San Jose 

 Scale Inspector for the township of Pelham, was instructed to assist Mr. Gibson in 

 examining some of the shipments received, chiefly those which came into the larger 

 nurseries in the above township. Mr. Arnold is a very careful worker, and his valued 

 help was very much appreciated. In a few instances owing to stress of other work 

 at Ottawa, which prevented Mr. Gibson from covering the whole ground, Mr. Arnold 

 examined several shipments alone. In these cases he reported that he had been most 

 careful in looking over the consignments. 



Mr. Gibson further reports : ' Every nurseryman or firrn visited was asked 

 to be most careful to see that all packing (such as moss and paper) was burned as 

 soon as possible, also all cases in which stock had been received, particularly such in 

 which nests had been found. It was also pointed out that in New York State the 

 stock received in such cases was being dipped in a standard miscible oil, diluted with 

 ten to twenty parts of water. This was shown by experiments to be sufficient to kill 

 the caterpillars. As most of our nurserymen have not had any experience with these 

 miscible oils, they were told that the ordinary well-laiown kerosene emulsion, diluted 

 with nine parts of water, would probably answer the same purpose.' 



' About the middle of January some of the nurserymen received shipments of fruit 

 seedlings from France. These arrived during a particularly mild spell of weather 

 and were at once heeled in, in the ground outside. When advice came from the Chief 

 of the Bureau of Horticulture of New York State that nests of the Brown-tail Moth 

 had been found in shipments from France, the ground in Ontario was frozen hard, 

 so it was impossible then to remove the stock which had been heeled in, to examine 

 it. Hence this work had to be done in spring as soon as the weather permitted. The 

 slock examined on the 18th, 26th, 28th (Mr. J. E. McComb's) and 29th April, and on 

 3rd and 10th May, had all been heeled in, outside, with the exception of that of Mr. 

 B. W. Secord's, which had been packed away in layers, with earth between, in a cool 

 cellar.' 



' From the careful way in which all shipments of nursery stock were examined, 

 we have every reason to expect that every nest of the Brown-tail Moth present was 



