212 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



1-2 EDWARD VII., A. 1902 



grand crop of the whole province, and the farmers now know the habits of these in- 

 sects and have learnt the best ways of fighting them.' 



As to the eastern provinces, a general statement applies to all. The crops were 

 good, with the exception of fall wheat in western Ontario, which was badly attacked 

 by the Hessian Fly. The spring opened early with very favourable conditions for 

 growth up to the beginning of July, when there was a period of excessive heat, fol- 

 lowed in some parts of Ontario and Quebec, and in the whole of the Maritime Pro- 

 vinces, by a month or six weeks of drought, from which grain crops, hay and pastures, 

 Buffered in many places. Some injury was also done to barley and spring wheat by 

 the Hessian Fly and drought. Cutworms in wheat were complained of in the Ottawa 

 valley. One report, the first record of the occurrence of the Wheat Midge in the 

 Prairie Provinces, comes from central Manitoba ; no specimens were forwarded, but 

 the observer, Mr. N. Criddle, is careful and describes the attack accurately, as small 

 light reddish maggots tapering towards the head and clustered around the grains in- 

 side the chaff. The Grain Aphis was unusually destructive in several localities in the 

 North-west Territories. 



The pea and bean crops in Ontario have been short and low in quality, due chiefly 

 to hot weather. Peas have been much attacked by the Pea Weevil, and many farmers, 

 as a consequence, are turning their attention to the Grass Pea or Chickling Vetch 

 (Laihyrus sativus, L.), which gives good crops of 10 to 30 bushels of seed par acre, 

 suitable for nearly all purposes for which peas are used and also perfectly free from 

 the attacks of the Pea Weevil. In Nova Scotia the Black Bean Aphis, or ' Black 

 Dolphin,' has attacked Broad Beans and Horse Beans, so severely in some places as to 

 *uin the crop. 



The Pea Moth (Semasia nigricana, Steph.) occurred in some places, but not to 

 the same extent as is frequently the case. At Ottawa there were so few of the cater- 

 pillars in cultivated peas that some experiments in spraying the plants with arsenites 

 were rendered useless because neither the treated rows nor those left unsprayed as 

 checks, showed any infestation. A plot of the Beach Pea (Lathyrus maritimus, Bige- 

 low), however, was badly infested by this insect or an allied species which worked in 

 the same manner and destroyed nearly half the seeds. 



The Destructive Pea Aphis (Ncctarophora destructor, Jnsn.), which was a most 

 destructive enemy throughout Canada east of the prairie region during 1899 and 1900, 

 and also attacked the clover to a less degree, has almost entirely disappeared ; only a 

 single report of its presence was received. This was from the Island of Orleans, in 

 the province of Quebec. Inquiry from correspondents at several places where it was 

 abundant and destructive in 1899 or 1900, revealed that it had disappeared as suddenly 

 as it had come. 



The Grain Aphis (Siphonophora avenue, Fab.). — The plant-lice so often seen upon 

 wheat, oats and rye are well known to farmers. They sometimes occur in vast numbers, 

 but generally disappear suddenly just as the grain is beginning to change colour, as 

 a rule, being destroyed by their many parasitic and predaceous enemies. It is very 

 seldom, however, in Canada, except in restricted areas, that these insects do much 

 harm to the crops attacked. The Grain Aphis multiplies with great rapidity and the 

 insects may be found of varying colours — green, yellow, reddish, or blackish — and of 

 all sizes, on the plants at the same time, on the stems and heads in June and on the 

 leaves in the autumn. These plant-lice in shape are of much the same appearance, but 

 there are frequently more species than one present. Unfortunately there are no practi- 

 cal artificial remedies against grain plant-lice which can be applied on a large scale to 

 fields of grain. 



During the past summer there have been rather more important injuries by this 

 insect than usual in the West — three or four slight attacks in Manitoba and two bad 

 ones in the Territories. It is important, however, to state that these outbreaks are, 

 as a general thing, put a stop to by natural enemies. Amongst these some of the most 



