190» ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 81 



the Griddle mixture was applied, most satisfactory results followed. It will be well for farmers, 

 should grasshoppers appear iu Ontario again next year, to give this mixture a trial. It is a 

 great improvement on the well-known poisoned bran mash , which has been so widely used 

 against cutworms and also to a less extent against grasshoppers. Mr. N. Criddle, of Aweme, 

 Man., noticed that grasshoppers were very much attracted to fresh horse droppings, and he at 

 once tried substituting that material, which is always obtainable on farms without cost, for the, 

 in Manitoba, very expensive bran. The results were so satisfactory that many of the farmers 

 in his district used the mixture during the past summer and saved their crop. This mixture 

 consists of one pound of Paris green mixed with sixty pounds of fresh horse droppings. To 

 this is added two pounds of salt, and the mixture is then scattered broadcast around the edggs 

 of the fields by means of a trowel or wooden paddle. It is probable that even a weaker mix- 

 ture than the above will prove eflfective. 



The pea crop as stated above was a small one in Ontario this year. Few field peas were 

 planted and these only in northern counties. This is due almost entirely to the prevalence of 

 the Pea Weevil, more generally known as the " Pea Bug," which is by far the worst enemy of 

 this important crop. It is indeed at the present time one of the most destructive enemies of 

 farm crops, demanding the urgent attention of farmers in Canada and the United States. The 

 pea crop is one of very great importance, and there is no other which quite takes its place for 

 feeding. The loss is now enormous, probably nearly one million dollars a year in Ontario 

 alone, and yet there is a simple and effective remedy, which is well known and may be said to 

 be perfectly satisfactory in every way, as it is effective, easy of application and of comparatively 

 small cost. A great effort is now being made to stir up public opinion in this matter and get 

 some definite concerted action taken during the present winter and next year, so as to induce 

 pea growers to follow the advice whioh has been so often given. It does not seem unreasonable 

 to hope, in view of the peculiar circumstances of this case, that in one year a perceptible 

 change might be made in the amount of infested and injured peas on the market, and, with 

 this insect, more perhaps than with any other, total extermination seems a possibility if all 

 will work together ; but united action would have to be taken in all parts of Ontario and the 

 northern United States where seed peas are grown. Many farmers have already given up 

 growing peas, and others are talking of doing the same. The facts of this infestation and the 

 problem which they involve, are simpler than is ordinarily the case with a pest of equal magni- 

 tude. The Pea Weevil, as a regular crop pest, only occurs in Canada in certain counties of 

 Ontario, and there are still many places in the north where good peas can be grown free of this 

 pest. The counties worst affected are those lying just north of Lakes Ontario and Erie. It is an 

 exotic insect and has no native food plant, its only known food being the cultivated pea, which 

 is also an exotic and will not winter over in this country. Every pea, therefore, which is sown 

 in spring, has passed through the hands of seedsmen and others, and thus it has been possible 

 at some time to treat this seed before it is sown. A remedy which is perfectly effective and 

 easy of application by everyone with ordinary care, is to fumigate the seed before sowing with 

 bisulphide of carbon. The large seed merchants, for this purpose have special buildings called 

 " bug-houses " and practise this remedy regularly, finding it quite satisfactory ; and, were it not 

 for farmers and gardeners who grow a few peas for their own use and will not adopt the proper 

 means of destroying the weevils before sowing their seed, there would be little difficulty in 

 quickly bringing down the numbers of this destructive enemy. Now, however, some seedsmen who 

 formerly fumigated their seed regularly, are omitting to do so, claiming that their efforts are 

 useless all the time there are so many who do nothing. Although treated seeds may contain 

 no weevils, yet in an infested district a crop grown from clean seed may still become infested by 

 weevils which will fly in from the surrounding district, where seeds containing living weevils 

 had been sown, or from insects which emerged the previous autumn. 

 () EN. 



