68 



sprayers and insecticides owing to the war considered. The Conference 

 decided to approach the Department of Agriculture with a proposition 

 that the latter should take upon itself to ascertain the suppHes of 

 these articles available in Russia and the possibility of their im- 

 portation from abroad. The Department should also be asked to 

 afford assistance to national manufactures as far as practicable. 

 Experiments with chromium compounds and potassium permanganate 

 were suggested. With regard to methods of controlling Oria musculosa, 

 the conference adopted the following recommendations : — The des- 

 truction of stubbles, weeds, etc ; an increase in the area of black 

 fallow land, and of plants to be ploughed in as green manure on fallows, 

 as well as of crops immune to this pest ; at an early stage of infestation 

 the fields must be reploughed and resown with some immune crop ; 

 if the damage is done later when the plants can serve as green food, 

 they should be mown, and, according to the amount of infestation, 

 either burnt or used as food for cattle, the fields being reploughed for 

 black fallow ; experiments in trapping with molasses must be further 

 tested. 



The Conference also suggested that the Bulletins of the Charkov 

 Zemstvo should contain monthly information from various stations 

 and Bureaux, owing to the absence of a corresponding monthly journal. 



LocHHEAD (W.). Principal insects of the season in Quebec. — Agric. 

 Gaz. Canada, Ottawa, i, no. 10, October 1914, pp. 801-804, 3 figs. 



The season has been a normal one and few insects have been present 

 in large numbers. The green apple aphis. Aphis pomi, did consider- 

 able damage where control was neglected. Early in the season, plums 

 were attacked by the plum aphis. Aphis prunifolii, but this decreased 

 materially later. Leaf-hoppers on the apple were abundant, but not 

 formidable. The grape-vine leaf-hopper, Typhlocyha comes, the 

 chief insect pest of the grape in Quebec, was present as usual in large 

 numbers. The buSalo tree-hopper, Ceresa bubalus, and the tarnished 

 plant-bug, Lygus pratensis, were numerous. The pea aphis, Siphono- 

 phora pisi, has done much damage. Cutworms were injurious in 

 several districts, especially the red-backed cutworm, Euxoa ochro- 

 gaster. The army worm, Cirphis {Leucania) unipuncta, appeared in 

 destructive numbers in Pontiac county in July, but losses were not 

 great owing to the energetic action taken. The diamond-back moth, 

 Plutella maculipennis, increased on turnips and did some damage. 

 Tent caterpillars were present in numbers, which though formidable, 

 were much less than those of last year. The ravages of a bacterial 

 disease as well as of dipterous and hymenopterous parasites ensure 

 normal numbers next season. The bud-worm, Eucosma ocellana, 

 was kept under by several parasites of which the most important 

 was Trichogramma pretiosum {Pentarthron minutum), which destroyed 

 over seventy-five per cent, of the eggs. The cigar case-bearer, 

 Coleophora fletcherella, was very abundant on currants and gooseberries, 

 where spraying was neglected. Hylemyia antiqua and Chortophila 

 brassicae, as well as Chortophila (Phorbia) fusciceps, which attacked 

 turnips last year, were all present, but did not do serious damage. 

 The turnip flea-beetle, Phyllotreta vittata, and the wavy-striped 

 flea-beetle, P. sinuata, were common on crucifers early in the season. 



