79 



are leg-ularl}' sent to every member. 1 need not, therefore, take up 

 time now in repeating these further than to nay that the mixture has 

 been improved during the past year by Mr. Criddle and that it has 

 been eminently satisfactory in controlling* locusts. The mixture now 

 consists of 1 pound of Paris green mixed with 60 of fresh horse drop- 

 pings. To this is added 2 pounds of salt and the mixture is then 

 scattered round the edges of fields which it is thought may be invaded 

 by a swarm of locusts. This remedy, of course, is also available for 

 grasshoppers in all parts of the country. The most convenient recep- 

 tacle for mixing this and carrying the material to the field is half of a 

 coal-oil barrel mounted on a cart. A })iece of shingle answers well as 

 a paddle to distribute the mixture with. 



The injuries by the pea weevil and the possibility of eradicating it 

 I ha\l3 alread}" laid l)efore the meeting in a separate pajjer. This is 

 perhaps the entomological prol)lem of most importance in Canada 

 to-day. 



INSECTS AFFECTING KOOT CROPS. 



Root crops throughout the Dominion have been exceptionally fine 

 and there was little complaint of injury by insects. The Colorado 

 potato beetle was complained of in the new Mormon districts of 

 Alberta, lying in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, also in Mani- 

 toba in a few localities, but was not a cause of much loss. In Prince 

 Edward Island, on the other hand, it was extremely abundant and 

 destructive, owing, perhaps, to an unusually hot and dry ])eriod which 

 prevailed during 'luly. 



Some injury was complained of to potatoes in Manitoba by blister 

 beetles. This was to be expected as a consequence of the abundance 

 of grasshoppers during the last four or five seasons. 



The turnip aphis {Aphis hrassicse L.), which for many years has 

 been very troublesome in Canada, was abundant this year only on 

 the Pacific coast and in Newfoundland. Its attacks were chiefly on 

 cabbages. 



INSECTS AFFECTING FRUIT CROPS. 



TTie eye-spotted hud-moth. — Fruit crops have on the whole been 

 ver}^ satisfactory. In the apple orchards of Nova Scotia there was 

 great irregularit}' of production, some orchards being heavily loaded 

 while others close to them had very poor crops. This I attribute 

 largely to the temporary abundance in the maritime provinces of the 

 eye-spotted bud-moth {Ttnetocera ocellana), which I detected there last 

 winter on the trees in the larval condition and in remarkable numbers. 

 It can not be denied, however, that Canadian fruit farmers have pro- 

 gressed enormously during the last half decade, as is testified by the 

 eiieral adoption of spraying and other common-sense methods of 



