1918 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 17 



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ADDRESS. 



J. C, Chapais^ Delegate of the Quebec Sooiety for the I'rotection of 



Plants. >. 



Representing here, as a delegate, the Quebec Society for the Protection of 

 Plants, I have thought it might interest you for a moment to hear about a note I 

 found while perusing, recently, a French work on agriculture called " Le Livre de 

 la Ferme," (The Book of the Farm), written by Pierre Joigneaux, an agronomist 

 of France who has edited it at Paris since 1857. This book is considered as one 

 of the classics on agriculture and as an authority in that branch of human knowl- 

 edge, along with those of De Serres, De Domballes, Gayot, Gasparin, Barral. Isidore 

 Pierre, Heuze, etc. The note, to which I have just alluded, relates to an es?ay by 

 a French-Canadian entomologist, Mr. Emilien Dupont who, in 1856, entered it in 

 a competition opened to the entomologists of Canada, as appears from the follow- 

 ing quotation: 



Bureau of Agriculture and Statistics, 



Toronto, 15th August, 1856. 



On the 15th August, 1856, there issued from this department the following notice: — 



Bureau of Agriculture and Statistics, 



Toronto, 15th August, 1856 

 Prize Essays— £40, £25, and £15. 



The above premiums will be paid for the three best essays, respectively, on the 

 " Origin, Nature, and Habits — and the history of the progress, from time to time — and 

 the cause of the progress, of the weevil, Hessian fly, midge, and such other insects as 

 have made ravages on the wheat crop in Canada; and on such diseases as the wheat 

 crops have been subjected to, and on the 'best means of evading or guarding against 

 them." 



The Essay to be furnished to the Bureau 



P. M. Vankoughnet, 



Minister of Agriculture, etc. 



The time named in the notice iirst issued having been extended to the 15th 

 day of April, twenty-two essays M^ere received up to that time. The Boards of 

 Agriculture for Upper and Lower Canada named Professor Hincks. of University 

 College, Toronto, and Professor Dawson, of McGill College, Montreal, as a Com- 

 mittee, to decide upon the merits of the several essays. 



According to the decision of these gentlemen, the first prize has been awarded 

 to H. W. Hind, Esq., Professor of Chemistry, at Trinity College, Toronto; the 

 second prize to the Rev. George Hill, Rector of Markham ; and the third prize to 

 Emilien Dupont, Esq., of St. Joachim. 



Joigneaux, in his "Book of the Farm." fourth edition, edited in 1883, app:e- 

 ciates the prize-awarded essay of Dupont as follows, in chapter LI dealing with 

 " Insects Injurious to Cereals,'^ paragraph Cecidomyife, page 955, and I have 

 thought that this quotation made by a French agronomist d'outre mer of the work 

 of an entomologist of America would prove of some interest to you as it has for me. 



Here is the quotation from Mr. Joigneaux: 



"Mr. E. Dupont, who has observed keenly the habits of these insects (the Cecido- 

 myiw) , when they were doing a great deal of damage in Canada, in 1834 and during the 

 following years, has made some important observations from which he has drawn valu- 

 able indications. 



" ' Cecidomyia tritici.' he says, ' is delicate and can barely do more than move farther 

 tlian a few acres from Its native spot, and, at that, only in calm weather. The fields that 



