NOTES. 497 



' Considerable time was devoted to a discussion of the nursery pests which should 

 be regarded as dangerous enough to influence or prevent the granting of a certificate. 

 The pests which were mentioned by different inspectors as of chief importance 

 included crown gall, peach yellows, pear blight, San Jose scale, woolly aphis, and 

 sinuate pear borer. 



A lengthy discussion was given to the question of the best insecticide programme 

 for orchards infested with San Jose scale. The results of experiments with kerosene 

 and crude oil in different States have not been uniform and in some cases have been 

 somewhat contradictory. As a rule, no bad results were reported from the use of 

 kerosene and crude oil on apples and pears, and other hardy trees; on peaches and 

 plums more precaution has to be observed. Whale-oil soap, while effective and 

 safe on all kinds of trees, was objected to on the ground of greater expense. A com- 

 mittee appointed to prepare recommendations regarding the best insecticides to use 

 for the destruction of the San Jose scale in orchards and nurseries, reported as follows: 

 For nurseries, fumigation with hydrocyanic-acid gas, after inspection; for orchards, 

 treatment with dilute solutions of insecticide soaps, oils, or other insecticides to kill 

 the young scales, in late summer and fall; winter treatment with insecticide soaps or 

 oils strong enough to kill the scale and safe for application on all kinds of trees. 



During a discussion of the question of the proper public policy with respect to the 

 division of the costs of insjiection between the State and the property owners, a 

 variety of conditions existing at present and their advantages and disadvantages 

 were brought out. It was argued, on the one hand, that the work of inspection was 

 directly for the benefit of the nurseryman or property owner, and, on the other hand, 

 that since the general extension of inspection, requiring all nurserymen to be inspected, 

 the financial advantage of a certificate is largely destroyed. Several inspectors stated 

 that they had experienced more or less serious difficulty in collecting the assessments 

 against nurserymen and property owners, and others that the fee led small nursery- 

 men doing a local business to avoid inspection. The society gave formal expression 

 to the view that in States which require inspection of nursery stock, the expense of 

 inspection be borne by the State. 



A discussion was had on the question of the desirability of national legislation on 

 nursery inspection, and the society indorsed the bill providing for national control of 

 interstate commerce, already recommended by entomologists, nurserymen, and 

 orchardists. It was voted to request this Department to publish a practical article 

 on the principal nursery pests of the country, for distribution among horticultural 

 inspectors and nurserymen. With regard to a practical definition of nursery stock, 

 it was voted that strawberry plants, grape cuttings, and general ornamental stock 

 grown out of doors be included in that term. 



A committee appointed to consider the propriety of making a permanent organiza- 

 tion of the society, recommended that no such action be taken. 



The society adjourned to meet next year in connection with the Association of 

 American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. 



Ontario Agkicl'ltural and Experimental Union. — The twenty-third annual 

 meeting of this organization was held at the Ontario Agricultural College at (iuelph, 

 Canada, December 9 and 10. An interesting programme of papers was provided, 

 prominent among which were discussions of the cooperative experiments of the 

 Union. During the season of 1901 cooperative experiments were carried on with 

 1,885 experimenters on grain crops, 222 on root crops, 146 on forage crops, 180 on 

 field beans and sweet corn, 66 on fertilizer experiments, and 261 on miscellaneous 

 experiments; there were also 309 experimenters testing small fruits and 21 testing 

 different methods of preserving eggs. In all there were over 3,000 Ontario farmers 

 conducting cooperative tests upon their own farms during the year. The mimber 

 has grown steadily from 12 in 1886, the year the cooperative experiments were 

 13639— No. 5 S 



