196 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 



September 5 ; isiagara Falls, Ont., December 5 and 7 ; London, Ont., Xovember 

 13, 14 and 15, attending the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario. 

 Meetings hare also been attended and addresses delivered before the Toronto and 

 Montreal branches of the Entomological Society, and also before the Toronto and 

 Ottawa Normal School students on nature study. In June last on account of reports 

 received from Manitoba of serious depredations on crops by locusts, and at the request 

 of the Provincial Minister of Agriculture, I was instructed by the Honourable the 

 Minister of Agriculture to proceed to Manitoba and investigate the matter. Accord- 

 ingly, on June 21 I left Ottawa, and, having joined the Chief Clerk of the provincial 

 department at Winnipeg, visited some of the worst affected districts. This matter is 

 reported upon later on. 



In response to a request to the Minister from the government of the jSTorth-west 

 Territories, I then went on to Regina and joined the Hon. G. H. V. Bulyea and, in 

 company with him and Mr. Angus Mackay, the Superintendent of the Experimental 

 Earm for the North-west Territories, went to the Prince Albert district and held a 

 series of farmers' meetings. Addresses were delivered upon agricultural subjects 

 with special reference to the control and eradication of noxious weeds. These meetings 

 were very successful, and the country traversed — a circuit of about 200 miles through 

 a country of great fertility — was of extreme interest. Leaving Prince Albert on July 

 7, where the first meeting was held the previous day, we drove east and south and held 

 meetings a* Colleston, July 7, Melfort, July 9, Kinistino and Harperview, July 10, 

 St. Louis, July 11, Lindsay and Willoughby, July 12, Eosthern, July 13, and back to 

 Duck Lake on the railway on July 13. A supplementary and very largely attended 

 meeting was held at the request of Mr. Wni. Trant, at Lumsden, twenty miles from 

 Regina. Several excellent farms were examined en route and much valuable informa- 

 tion as to the nature of the country and its suitability for various crops was acquired, 

 which will be of much use to me in the future. 



Acknowledgments. — My special thanks are gratefully tendered to the following 

 for frequent and valuable assistance : to Prof. John Macoun, of Ottawa ; Prof. J. 



B. Smith, of New Brunswick, New Jersey ; Dr. L. O. Howard and Messrs. B. T. 

 Galloway and A. E. Woods, of Washington ; Prof. E. M. Webster, of Ohio, and Mr. 

 G. B. King, of Lawrence, Mass., for identification of specimens, and also to Prof. 



C. C. James, Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Ontario ; Mr. J. R. Anderson, 

 Deputy ^linister of Agriculture for British Columbia, and Mr. Hugh McKellar, Chief 

 Clerk of the Department of Agriculture for Manitoba, for prompt notification of 

 outbreaks of injurious insects. To Mr. R. M. Palmer, Inspector of Fruit Pests for 

 British Columbia, and the Rev. Father Burke, of Alberton, P.E.I., I am indebted 

 for reliable reports on insect injuries and the condition of the crops in their respective 

 provinces, all of which have been of great service to rae in ihaking the work of the 

 division under my charge useful to the farmers of Canada. 



In conclusion I have much pleasure in testifying to the assiduity and excellence 

 of the work performed by my assistants, Mr. J. A. Guignard, B.A., and Mr. Arthur 

 Gibson, in office hours or afterwards whenever required. 



I have the honour to be, sir. 



Your obedient seiTant, 



JAMES FLETCHER, 



Entomologist and Botanist. 



