REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 173 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



Ontario) were in from fair to good condition during the summer and fall, and this 

 favoured all classes of live stock. Cold, wet weatlier at time of planting gave corn a 

 set back; but midsummer conditions were so favourable that corn picked up in a 

 wonderful way. Most returns show an average yield.' — C. C. James, Nov. Crop Bull. 



The same conditions and results as prevailed in Ontario, were also found in 

 Quebec and parts of New Brunswick. For the last named province, generally speaking, 

 the crop of hay was good; some counties cut more than ever before, but a cold, wet 

 spring followed by a long drought was severely felt in some places. The returns from 

 Nova Scotia in all but two or three counties show fodder crops were well above the 

 average. ' We have had a better season for the growth of crops than for several years, 

 that is, if we except apples.' (B. W. Chipman.) In Prince Edward Island * Hay crops 

 were almost up to the average. Clover and timothy were somewhat light owing to the 

 drought of last year. Hay was saved in good condition. In very few places is corn 

 reported below the average.' (J. C. Keadey.) There was no serious loss in fodder 

 crops from insects. Cutworms, as is the case every year, were troublesome in some 

 places early in the season, but the season allowed of gaps being filled by resowing. 

 Near ITontreal the Com Root Maggot was reported in corn fields where germination 

 of the seed had been delayed by cool, dry weather. Clover, although very much attacked 

 by the Clover-seed Midge in Ontario, gave very heavy crops of hay in all the eastern 

 provinces of the Dominion. The Clover Leaf Weevil and the Green Clover Weevil 

 were reported from the Ottawa district, the former for the first time, and the Red- 

 headed Flea-beetle {Systena frontalis. Fab.) from Ottawa and Guelph; but no ap- 

 preciable injury was wrought. Clover Dodder was frequently inquired about from the 

 abundance of the seed in clover seed sold. In one instance a crop of alfalfa at St. 

 Mary's, Ont., was much injured. 



The Rose Chafer (Macrodactylus subspinosus. Fab.). — This well known enemy 

 of the fruit grower and flower gardener has this year appeared in a new role. Towards 

 the end of June last the Steele, Briggs Seed Co., of Toronto, sent me several specimens 

 of the Rose Chafer beetles, with the surprising statment that they had been taken 

 from a 20-acre field of fodder corn, growing near Priceville, Ont., which they had been 

 attacking for two days. The corn at the time was about eight inches high, and grow- 

 ing very thriftily. There was no appearance whatever of any trouble four days before 

 the letter was written; but the beetles appeared in vast numbers on June 26, and 

 covered about two-thirds of the field, averaging about twenty insects to a plant, and 

 began to devour the leaves. Naturally a remedy was asked for as soon as possible, as 

 it was claimed that no one there knew the insect or had ever seen anything like it 

 before on corn. It was suggested to the owners, Messrs. S. Price & Sons, of Toronto, 

 to spray the fields at once with a whale-oil soap solution of one pound of soap in five 

 gallons of water, this application having been found very effective against the Rose 

 Chafer by Prof. Webster, in Indiana, the spray killing every beetle it fell upon. It 

 was also suggested to dust the crop with a mixture of one pound of Paris green in 20 

 pounds of freshly slaked lime. Fortunately, the visitation was of very short duration, 

 and the crop subsequently outgrew all traces of the injury. Messrs. Price & Sons wrote 

 with regard to this outbreak on July 19, as follows : ' We are glad to say that the Rose 

 Chafers which were injuring our corn field a few weeks ago, have all gone. They all 

 went inside of 24 hours after we had written to you. They stayed with us for three 

 days and did consideiKible injury; but the corn now seems to have outgrown it, and to 

 be all right. They all flew away before we had a chance to spray them.' 



ROOTS AND VEGETABLES. 



Root crops in most parts of the Dominion gave heavy returns. Potatoes in Ontario 

 and in parts of Manitoba were materially reduced by the Potato Rot. Turnips were. 



