212 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



7-8 EDWARD VII., A. 1G08 



Remedy. — Although every year responsible for a great deal of loss to farmers aiid 

 gardeners, this insect is one of the easiest pests to control. There are many remedies 

 which are more or less exploited; but the one which has given us most satisfaction at 

 Ottawa and has certainly proved very satisfactory to every one who has tried it, is to 

 dust the plants, as soon as the caterpillars are noticed, with a mixture of 1 pound of 

 pyrethrum insect powder in 4 pounds of cheap flour, or any other perfectly dry powder. 

 Mix the whole together and keep it in a tightly closed canister or jar for 24 hours. 

 The powder is then ready for use and may be dusted over the cabbages either with a 

 cheese-cloth bag tapped lightly with a slender stick, or from one of the various insect 

 gnns, or dusters, now sold by seedsmen. The advantage of this remedy over many 

 others which are recommended is that, although insect powder is so deadly to the cater- 

 pillars and most insects, it is quite harmless to human beings and the higher animals. 



The rather prevalent custom of using Paris green and other arsenical poisons on 

 cabbages and other vegetables, must be condemned as being very dangerous without 

 any commensurate advantage. 



It is claimed, as the heading up of cabbages is a development from the central 

 axis and not an infolding of the leaves, that there is no danger of the Paris green or 

 other poison being inclosed in the cabbage head; but these cabbage worms and several 

 other kinds of caterpillars which feed upon the cabbage, bore holes into the heads, 

 thus giving an opportunity for these poisons to be washed into them, and, as a matter 

 of fact, some actual instances of poisoning in this way are recorded. Two or at most 

 three applications of the insect powder have always been found enough on our grounds 

 at Ottavv'a to clear cabbages and cauliflovrors thoroughly. 



The Spined Rustic Barothra curialis, Smith. — In the report of this Division for 

 1905, pp. 179-180, considerable space was given to a notice of a remarkable outbreak 

 of a usually rare noctuid moth under the name of Barathra occidentaia, Grote. 

 During the season of 1906 a few specimens of the moth were taken at night in various 

 parts of the country within the range where the moths and caterpillars had been 

 observed the previous season, but there was no widespread occurrence similar to that 

 of 1905. One instance of noticeable injury was reported to me by Dr. C. A. Hamilton, 

 of Mahone Bay, N.S. This was in the garden of a neighbour, where fully half of a 

 large patch of cabbage was destroyed by the caterpillars. Dr. Hamilton had none of 

 the insects in his own garden and heard of no other growers who suffered. There was, 

 however, an occurrence recorded by the United States Bureau of Entomology in the 

 State of Vermont. 



As stated above, the insect was treated of in my 1905 report under the name of 

 Barathra occideniata, Grt. ; but I have since learnt from Sir George Hampson, of 

 the British Museum, that the species is really Barathra curialis. Smith ; and this 

 identification has been confirmed by Dr. J. B. Smith, the describer of the species, and 

 also by Dr. H. G. Dyar. 



A New Cabbage Pest, Barynotus scTioenlierri, Zett. — To the already large lisft of 

 insects which attack the cabbage, another has to be added, in the large gray Otio- 

 rhyncid beetle above named, as is shown by the following letter: — 



Lawrencetown, N.S., July 7. — ^ I send specimens of a beetle that is doing a great 

 deal of damage to the cabbage crop in this locality. They attack the young cabbages 

 and cauliflowers when set out in the field, stripping the leaf right down to the ground. 

 I shall be glad if you can give me the name and a remedy, if one is known to you.' 

 — Colin Hiltz. 



This beetle is interesting from a scientific. standpoint on account of its occurrence 

 in Nova Scotia. It is a European species, but was detected in Nova Scotia on the sea 

 coast some years ago by Mr. W. H. Harrington, in company with some other Eu- 

 ropean insects such as OtiorhynchiLS riigifrons, Gyll., 0. sulcaius, Fab., ..and Scia- 

 philus muricatus, Fab. These are all common iBsects of -NortheriL Europe. .All three 



