t84 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL.84 



from Toronto), and Dr. William Saunders, at one time a druggist, 

 but also interested in insects, plants and agriculture generally." To 

 Doctor Saunders is given the credit for the origin of the experimental 

 farms system of Canada and the establishment of the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm near Ottawa, of which he was the first Director. 



There should also be mentioned here the writings of the Rev, 

 T. W. Fylcs who jniblished some good economic papers at an early 

 date. Notable among them is his pamphlet entitled " Some of the 

 Insects that Frequent the Orchard and Garden," Montreal, 1879. The 

 illustrations are borrowed from Riley's Missouri Reports. 



In 1887 Mr. Fletcher was transferred to the staff of the Central 

 Station as Entomologist and Botanist, and from that time on, for 

 very many years, his status was practically identical with that of ento- 

 mologist to one of our State Experiment Stations except that his 

 field was much larger. He published a report yearly in the Annual 

 Report of the Experimental Farms. He showed himself to be a man 

 of extraordinary energy, a most entertaining writer, and a most 

 careful observer and one who kept the practical part of his work- 

 foremost in view. Unlike most of the American workers, he saw the 

 necessity for keeping in personal touch with the farmers. He gave 

 frequent talks on injurious insects at farmers' institutes, and in that 

 way built up a very large circle of friends and admirers among the 

 most intelligent agriculturists of the Dominion. 



His reports constantly improved in character. The agriculture of 

 Canada developed enormously. The country became richer, and more 

 funds were devoted to the experimental farms system, but the amount 

 that was placed at Fletcher's disposal seemed by no means commen- 

 surate with the demands of the situation. Fletcher's energy, however, 

 his broad grasp of the subject, and his indefatigability as a writer 



* Doctor Bethune had been writing extensively on the injurious insects of 

 Canada from the spring of 1867 when his first paper, entitled " Cutworms 

 Destroying Spring Wheat " was published in the Canadian Farmer. He con- 

 tinued to write extensively for this journal until the Entomological Society of 

 Ontario was founded, and after that his papers are to be found in the Reports 

 of the Society. 



Doctor Saunders began to publish the year after Doctor Bethune. He also 

 used the Canadian Farmer first, but with the founding of the Canadian Ento- 

 mologist in 1868 he began an extensive series of papers published in that journal 

 for many years. In 1883 he published an excellent illustrated book entitled 

 "Insects Injurious to Fruits," 436 pp., 440 figs., J. B. Lippincott & Co., Phila- 

 delphia, of which a second edition was published in 1889. 



