190S ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



away, as in the case of peas injured by the weevil. In the many cases where the germ is destroyed; 

 bj^ the weevil, of course no growth takes place at all. 



This question of controlling the Pea Weevil in Canada is one which concerns everybody.. 

 It is not with the large seed merchants and big houses with which most danger lies but with, 

 the individual farmer and private individual who grow a few seed peas for their own use and 

 do nothing to destroy the weevils in them before sowing. As I have stated, there are easy- 

 remedies which are available for all, such as holding over the seed till the second year, or treat- 

 it with coal oil, using one gallon to 20 bushels ; but the best remedy consists in fumigating 

 with bisulphide of carbon, and a farmer who has only five bushels of seed can fumigate this at 

 the expense of a few cents by putting the five bushels in an ordinary coal oil barrel and then 

 placing (either in an open dish on the top or by pouring the liquid straight upon the seed) one 

 ounce of bisulphide for every hundred pounds of seed. A bushel of peas weighs about 60 lbs, 

 therefore the five bushels would require three ounces. The barrel must be closed up tightly and 

 left in an open shed away from other buildings for 48 hours. The bisulphide is a liquid with a. 

 very objectionable odour which vaporizes quickly at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. 

 The vapour is heavy and quickly runs down through the peas, and, as it is exceedingly deadly 

 to all forms of animal life, every insect in the peas will be killed. The unpleasant odour of 

 the chemical is very soon dissipated when the peas are exposed to the air, and the value of this 

 treatment is that not only are the infesting insects destroyed with certainty but this without 

 injury to the seeds either as to their wholesomeness for food or as to their germinating quality 

 for seed. If it is thought that there is any danger in using such an inflammable material as 

 bisulphide of carbon or there is any hesitancy, as is sometimes the case in using a remedy with 

 which farmers are not familiar, there is always at any rate available the old and well tried 

 remedy of holding over the seed for two years, by bagging the peas immediately after threshing. 

 If this is done with early harvested and threshed peas, not a single weevil can escape, for it has. 

 been proved that these cannot eat their way out from a bag of cotton, or even of paper, and 

 all weevils which issue in the bags must die. A very rare instance is on record of a weevil 

 living over in the seed until the second year, but this is such a rare exception that it need not 

 be considered and does not amount to a proportion of one in many hundreds of millions ; indeed 

 is so rare that I do not know of a single instance where it has been authoritatively confirmed. 



One of the largest seedsmen in Canada tells me that he has to send to Germany to get 

 his peas grown. And we have competition to-day in the London market. Indian peas shipped 

 from Calcutta are being sold at a few cents cheaper than we can get them to the London 

 market, and they are as good as our best peas ; therefore, our trade is in danger, and it is im- 

 portant that we should wake up at once and save this crop, which I believe can be saved if we 

 will only go about it in the proper way. 



Every letter I have received and every seedsman I have consulted, have agreed that public 

 attention should be drawn to this matter. I have correspondents in all parts of the country, 

 and all say it is a most important matter and requires immediate attention. There is no 

 Society that can draw attention to it better than the Entomological Society. The seedsmen. 

 I have consulted, are of the opinion that, if the suggestions given above were adopted, a 

 large reduction could be made in a very short time in the increase of this insect. 



The acreage of peas is now reduced very low. it will not be increased very much next 

 year, so that we have an opportunity to start now to draw public attention to this matter. 

 Professor Lochhead and I have been corresponding about the subject for a year, and there is no 

 doubt about it that the Federal and Provincial Governments will do all they can to draw public- 

 attention to the matter and to help in every possible way to get rid of this pest. 



The Grass Pea, which has been suggested as a substitute for the field pea, has not proved as> 

 great a success as was hoped. It is not a pea, though it is considered a pea for many purposes^ 



