71 



fiirraer within this area, both in Canada and the United States, have 

 to desist from sowing peas entirely, but also ever}' private individual 

 who wishes to grow a few green peas for the table. If laws were 

 enacted looking to this end it would be quite impossible to enforce 

 them. Among gardeners and the general public there is, I opine, 

 neither information nor unselfishness enough to induce them to deny 

 themselves to such an extent as to give up this favorite vegeta])le for 

 the benefit of other people or of any branch of trade. E^ven among 

 those who grow and handle peas in large quantities for the market 

 there is a great lack of knowledge with regard to the pea weevil and 

 its habits. Some do not know for certain which of the several ene- 

 mies that attack the pea actually is the pea weevil. Owing to the pre- 

 valent inaccuracy with which popular names are applied to insects, 

 nearly everything in the shape of an insect which attacks crops con- 

 spicuously is for the time being styled "the bug." The pea weevil is 

 known generally as '"'the pea bug," but nevertheless is often con- 

 founded with such ditterent insects as the pea moth and the destructive 

 pea aphis. 



It therefore appears that what is now most fitting and necessar}^, 

 as looking to ultimate victory against this enemy, is a vigorous cam- 

 paign of education through the ready means at our disposal, viz, 

 ofiicial reports and bulletins and the agricultural press. All uncer- 

 tainty should first be done away with and accurate definite knowledge 

 distributed as to the habits of the insect, the best remedies to apply, 

 and when and how to apply them. There are efi'ective sure remedies 

 for the pea weevil; and growers must be made to understand this, 

 and to see that by adopting them, even at some small trouble, they 

 will greatly benefit themselves, while by neglecting them they will 

 injure themselves, their neighbors, and the whole country. I have 

 confidence enough in the common sense of Canadian and American 

 farmers to believe that they will adopt them. 



In conjunction with Professor Lochhead, the Ontario provincuil 

 entomologist, and Professor Zavitz, the experimentalist of the Ontario 

 agricultural college, at Guelph, this campaign has already been begun 

 by us in Canada. Important meetings of farmers have been addressed, 

 including an assembly of all the farmers'' institute workers of the 

 Province of Ontario. During the coming winter the subject w'li be 

 brought prominently before every farmers' ii>stitute meeting held in 

 the Province. Timely articles will be issued advising pea growers not 

 to sow a single grain which has not been first treated, nor to allow seed 

 merchants to sell them peas which have not been fumigated or other- 

 wise treated to destroy the weevil. These measures, however, will 

 only reach a small number of those who are concerned, so no oppor- 

 tunity will be lost of bringing the importance of this subject before 

 the country. The public press in Canada has already done nuich anl 



