15 



to year. The increased amount of damage done by the weevil to the 

 pea crop for seven years is represented by the following proportions 

 of peas infested with the weevil : 1894, 4 per cent. ; 1895, 8 per cent. ; 

 1896,12 per cent.; 1897,26 per cent.; 1898,39 per cent.; 1900, 65 percent.; 

 ■and 1901,89 per cent. While we have been very careful to treat the peas 

 immediately after harvest, some ot the neighboring farmers have con- 

 tinued to grow peas, and have not fumigated the crops ; hence the 

 marked increase in the number of weevilly peas from year to year. 

 The fact that the percentage of weevilly peas has increased in this 

 district from less than 10 per cent, to practically 90 per cent, in a 

 period of six or seven years indicates what is likely to occur in those 

 districts of Ontario where the pea weevil is just getting a hold, pro- 

 viding no precaution is taken to eradicate it, either by fumigation or 

 starvation. Neither in the Experimental nor the Farm Department 

 of the College were any peas sown in the spring and allowed to ripen 

 in the summer of the present year. 



The average weight p3r measured bushel of all the varieties 

 given in the table is 59.4 pounds. These results have been influenced 

 more or less by the damage done by the weevil ; but as the peas were 

 treated immediately after harvest, they weighed heavier than if the 

 weevils had been allowed to complete their work and escape from 

 the peas. As a result of careful examinations which we have made 

 of peas, all of which had been infested and from which the weevils 

 had escaped, we found the weight per measured bushel varied from 

 vi8 to 52 pounds according, largely, to the size of the peas ; the 

 smaller the peas, the greater the amount of damage done by the 

 weevils. 



It will be seen that thf» average amount of straw produced by the 

 different varieties varied from 1.1 to 1.8 tons per acre. For the aver- 

 age soil of Ontario, those varieties which produce a medium to a large 

 amount of straw, usually give the best satisfaction. 



There is, perhaps, no result of the varieties here presented which 

 is more striking than the yield of peas per acre, the highest being 38.2 

 and the lowest 23.5 bushels. It must be remembered, however, that 

 the White Wonder variety, which stands at the head of the list in 

 yield of peas, is not suitable for the majority of Ontario farms, owing 

 to its short growth of straw. The Egyptian Mummy variety pro- 

 duces a large yield of both seed and straw, but the straw is coarser 

 than that of most other varieties. It will also be remembered that 

 the individual peas of this variety are quite large in size, and that 

 the percentage of weevi.ly peas was less than that of any other 

 variety. 



Within the past nine years, ten varieties of field peas which have 

 given good results in the trial grounds at the college, have been dis- 

 tributed throughout Ontario for co-operative experiments. These 



