REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 261 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



' It is said that by the use of Bordeaux mixture the trees have been kept in a per- 

 fectly healthy condition. In the experiment four applications of the fungicide were 

 made, two in July and two in August. You could doubtless secure copies of the several 

 bulletins relating to the disease by applying to the Director of the Hatch Station. 

 Account of the poplar rust as it occurs in Europe, *s given in Hartig's Diseases of 

 Trees, Tubeuf and Smith's Diseases of Plants, and Geo. Massee's Text Book of Plant 

 Diseases. 



'We have in our herbarium specimens of affected Populus monilifera collected in 

 Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana and Nebraska.' 



In view of the large number of cottonwoods which have been imported into Mani- 

 toba and the North-west Territories for planting groves, it is important that all infor- 

 mation possible should be given concerning this disease, which may at any time de- 

 velop under favourable climatic conditions and do much harm. Most of the young 

 trees used by planters in the West are imported from Minnesota and Dakota as seed- 

 lings, which are collected in large numbers from river banks when one year old. Dr. 

 Saunders noticed particularly that none of the varieties of poplars which had been 

 imported from Russia had so far developed the Poplar Rust. If they should continue 

 to show this immunity, their importance will be very much increased for the West, 

 where already they are highly valued for their rapid and luxuriant growth. 



Mr. S. A. Bedford, reporting at the end of the season on this matter, says : — ' The 

 rust was very bad indeed on our cottonwoods on the side hill just east of the house. 

 The trees were four or five years old, made excellent growth and were very thrifty in 

 former years, but this year they were one mass of rust. The cottonwoods by the creek 

 side in the valley were apparently free from rust. I noticed a small amount on the 

 native Aspen Poplar, but nothing very serious. So far the Russian Poplar has done 

 exceedingly well with us here and is a better tree in every respect than the Cottonwood, 

 except perhaps when the latter is on wet land or on the side of a creek.' 



Mr. D. G. Mackay writes that the cottonwood and Russian Poplars were quite 

 free of rust at Indian Head, and were this year of particular beauty. 



FODDER PLANTS. 



Awxless Brome Grass. 



Ever since the institution of the Experimental Farms a constant effort has been 

 made to foster the cultivation of the Awnless Brome Grass (Bromus inermis, L.) in 

 the more or less arid districts of the West. The success which has attended this effort 

 is most gratifying. Thousands of acres of valuable hay and pasture are now being 

 cultivated where but for this grass there would be nothing but exhausted prairie. 

 Knowing that an actual instance is of far more value than much argument, I have 

 requested Mr. C. W. Peterson, the Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture for the North- 

 west Territories, to give me an account of an experiment he tried with this grass. He 

 is so well known and his farm being accessible to so many, his letter will do much, 

 I feel sure, to prove the great value of this grass for the West for hay and pasture, 

 and as a seed crop. 



' Regina, November 15, 1901. — I am in receipt of your letter of the 16th ultimo, in 

 which you ask for certain information respecting the crop of brome grass on my farm 

 at Calgary. As you are aware, on irrigated farms in the Calgary district, the culti- 

 vated hay crops are entirely limited to timothy, for the simple reason, that you cannot 

 dispose of brome hay in the Kootenay district. This fact, I attribute entirely to ignor- 



