110 JOURNAL OP ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 1 



]\Ir. Sanderson was decidedly of the opinion that the New Hamp- 

 shire fruit grower should spray. If new and better methods of con- 

 trolling insect pests are being investigated they should not be an- 

 nounced until their utility Ls thoroughly demonstrated. 



Mr. J. B. Smith stated that he did not believe that entomologists 

 should hold back information or suggestions which might be of benefit 

 to their constituents. If the people of one state were twenty-five years 

 behind the times, it did not seem right to wait for them to catch up 

 with the procession. 



Mr. Bruner gave a statement of some interesting experiences which 

 lie had in Nebraska, with special reference to the distribution of fun- 

 gus diseases affecting insects. As a general proposition he did not 

 consider these diseases a particularly valuable means of controlling 

 injurious insects. 



Mr. Britton presented a paper entitled : 



TESTS OF VARIOUS GASES FOR FUMIGATING NURSERY 



TREES 



By W. E. Britton, Jslew Haven, Conn. 



The object of these tests which I am about to describe briefly was 

 to ascertain if there is not some gas that can be used more conveniently 

 than hydrocyanic acid gas, especially in fumigating small lots of trees, 

 cions and bud sticks. For this purpose it is necessary that the ma- 

 terials be reasonably inexpensive and comparatively harmless to the 

 operator as well as to the trees. We therefore selected carbon di- 

 sulphide, carbon tetrachloride, sulphuretted hydrogen and chlorine, 

 and for purposes of comparison a few tests were made with hydro- 

 cyanic acid gas, the latter being given three different quantities and 

 three different periods of time. These tests are merely suggestive, 

 and no conclusions should be drawn until more work has been done. 

 "We are not yet recommending that hydrocyanic acid gas be replaced 

 by any of the others tested. 



The trees were fumigated in a long narrow box containing ten cubic 

 feet of space. In order to ensure a more uniform distribution of the 

 gas, two generating dishes were used, one being placed near each end. 



The trees were apple and peach of several standard varieties, all 

 more or less infested with San Jose scale, though none so badly as to 

 affect seriously their vitality. Roots and tops were both fumigated 

 and the trees properly labeled and planted in nursery rows, where 

 they could be watched during the season. For comparison untreated 

 trees were planted alongside to serve as checks. 



