1909] Dr. Fletcher's Work in Agriculture. 193 



country in the capacity of Accountant in the Library of Parlia- 

 ment. 



On July 1st, 1887, Dr. Fletcher was appointed Entomologist 

 and Botanist to the Dominion Experimental Farms and was 

 transferred from the Library of Parliament to the Staff of the 

 Farms. He was thus enabled to devote himself entirely to natural 

 history and his work became the great pleasure of his life. For 21 

 years I was intimately associated with him from day to day and 

 watched the development of his work with great interest. In his 

 capacity of Dominion Entomologist he studied with much assid- 

 uity the many problems which presented themselves in refer- 

 ence to insect life, such as the life-histories of many insect pests 

 which prey on the crops of the farmer and by their depredations 

 often materially lessen his profits. He also studied closely the 

 life-history and habits of the many parasitic species which feed 

 upon and destroy the farmers' enemies, and thus render very 

 substantial service. He also experimented with the means pro- 

 posed for the destruction of the injurious species. The Entomo- 

 logical Division also prepared collections of both injurious and 

 friendly species showing them in all the different stages of their 

 growth. 



As Botanist he studied the value, as fodder plants, oi such 

 species of grasses and clovers as can be grown successfully in the 

 different parts of the Dominion. He ascertained their relative 

 value for the production of hay and recommended the most 

 promising of them for general cultivation. These fodder plants 

 were grown in plots adjoining the hedges at the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm, where the}^ could be conveniently shown to visitors 

 and their advantages explained. He also studied the subjects of 

 smut, rust and other parasitic fungi, especially such as are injur- 

 ious to our valuable grain crops. He also devoted much attention 

 to another class of enemies with which the farmer must wage war 

 if he is to be successful. I refer to the weeds which infest his 

 crops. These, if allowed to multiply, crowd out the useful plants 

 he is growing, rob them of the moisture they need, also of much 

 of the fertilizing material in the soil which would otherwise con- 

 tribute to their nutriment. 



In both these divisions of Dr. Fletcher's work the field was 

 practically unlimited and in preparing his annual reports from 

 the large mass of material available, the chief difficulty was to 

 select the best and most useful. It was Dr. Fletcher's habit from 

 the outset to endeavour to place his observations and conclusions 

 before the public in the plainest possible language. On this point 

 in one of his earliest reports he says: "In preparing the present 

 report I have endeavored to make it useful to the agriculturist, 

 all unnecessary technicalities have been eliminated, and only 



