172 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



5-G EDWARD VII., A. 1906 



of Clifton, N.B., kindly carried out for me some experiments which seemed to indicate 

 that this might be a useful remedy; but I regret to say that some careful investigations 

 recently made by Mr. Saxby Blair, at the Experimental Farm at Nappan, Nova 

 Scotia, have not confirmed these good results. The exact history of our American 

 Pea Moth has never yet bean traced; but it is to be presumed that the eggs are laid 

 on the young pods as soon as these are formed, and that the caterpillars eat their way 

 into them and attack the forming seeds. It was hoped that, by distributing a thin 

 film of poison over the plants and pods, the young caterpillars would be poisoned 

 ■when eating their way in. On account of the waxy covering on the surface of all 

 parts of the pea plant, whale-oil soap was added to the poison mixture to make it ad- 

 here. For early peas the application' was Paris green l lb., whale-oil soap 1 lb., water 

 40 gallons. The plots were sprayed just after the pods were formed, and one applica- 

 tion only was m.ade. The early varieties of peas used were the Alaska, Gradus and 

 American Wonder. The pods were gathered about 10 days after the spraying, and, 

 when the treated and untreated lots of 500 pods each were examined, it was found 

 that there was practically no difference in the amount of infestation, which ranged 

 from 3 to 11 per cent. For late peas, the amount of Paris green was doubled for a 

 ??econd application, that is, these peas received two sprayings, the firet on July 20, 

 with the i lb. mixture of Paris green, and the second on July 29, with half a pound. 

 The pods were not gathered until August 17, and the results were no better than in the 

 other experiments. Where the poison was used, 22 per cent of the pods were wormy; 

 and where none was used, there were a few more, i.e., 27 per cent. It is possible that 

 a knowledge of the full life history of this insect may give a suggestion as to a prac- 

 tical remedy, and efforts will be made to obtain these data as soon as possible. 



The remedies which have given the best results, are the planting of peas as early 

 as possible and sowing the earliest ripening varieties. For table use any variety which 

 can be grown ready for the table by the first week in July, will be free from attack. 

 As this insect passes the winter as a caterpillar inside a silken cocoon spun in the 

 ground beneath the plant upon the seeds of which it had fed, it is of course advisable 

 to adopt the common sense practise to use land for the new crop as far as possible 

 removed from fields which have been used previously for the cultivation of seed pease. 

 As soon as the crop is picked, all i>ea vines should at once be burnt so as to destroy 

 omall and imperfect i)ods which frequently contain the larvae of the moth. 



The perfect insect which lays the eggs from which the ' pea worms ' hatch is a 

 small gray moth three-eighths of an inch in length when the wings are closed, which 

 is able to fly a considerable distance. A correspondent was good enough to give me the 

 following information which may be of use in working out the complete life history 

 of this insect. Mr. W. E. Taylor, writing from Beaverton, Ont., on Nov. 25, says : 



' I wish to ask you about the statement in Bulletin 52, where you recommend 

 to sow pease as far as possible from the previous year's pea field. I sowed my pease 

 this year more than a mile from any other pea field and pease have not been grown near 

 here for three years. The crop was wormy. We have no ' Bug ' or true Pea Weevil 

 here, so they were the caterpillars of the Pea moth. The seed was sown about May 20, 

 and it was an early kind, the June or Dan O'Rourke. How did the pest get here ? Do 

 the moths lay eggs on the dry -pease and gum them over ? ' 



In the above instance the moths must have flown from a distance to lay their eggs. 

 These, as stated above, are laid outside the pea pods, while these latter are green and 

 soft. 



FODDER CROPS. 



Fodder crops were, on the whole, very satisfactory. Large crops of hay were 

 secured in the west, and the prairies provided good pasture all through the summer. 

 Brome grass and Western Eye grass are being more grown every year. * Pastures (in 



