9-10 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 A. 1910 



REPORT 



OF THE 



DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY AND BOTANY 



BY THE DIRECTOR, DR. WILLIAM SAUNDERS, C.M.G. 



It becomes my painful duty to record the death during the year of a beloved 

 member of our staff, a most highly esteemed fellow worker, oue whose urbanity and 

 kindly spirit endeared him to all. I refer to the late Dr. James Fletcher, Entomolo- 

 gist and Botanist to the Dominion Experimental Farms, who died, after a brief illness, 

 on November 8, 1908. He was born at Ashe, in the county of Kent, England, on 

 March 28, 1852, was educated at King's School, Rochester, and came to Canada in 

 1874 to fill the position of a clerk in the Bank of British North America. After two 

 years he gave up his position in the bank and became an assistant in the Library of 

 Parliament at Ottawa. Here he devoted much of his spare time to the study of ento- 

 mology and botany, and became, as years went on, a recognized authority in each of 

 these branches of natural science. 



Prior to the organization of the Experimental Farms, Dr. Fletcher acted as Hon- 

 orary Dominion Entomologist to the Department of Agriculture, and in this capacity 

 published two reports, the first in 1884, the second in 1885. These reports dealt 

 chiefly with injurious insects and the remedies for their destruction. 



On July 1, 1887, Dr. Fletcher was appointed Entomologist and Botanist to the 

 Dominion Experimental Farms and was then transferred from the position he had 

 occupied in the Library of Parliament to the staff of the Farms. He was thus enabled 

 to devote himself entirely to natural history and his work became the great pleasure 

 of his life. For twenty-one years the writer was intimately associated with Dr. 

 Fletcher from day to day and watched the development of his work with much 

 interest. In his capacity of Dominion Entomologist. Dr. Fletcher studied with great 

 assiduity the many problems which presented themselves in reference to insect life, 

 such as the life histories of many injurious insects which prey on the crops of the 

 farmer and by their dppredations often materially lessen his profits, as well as the life 

 history and habits of the many parasitic species which feed on and destroy the farmer's 

 enemies and thus render him substantial service. He also experimented with the 

 remedies proposed for the destruction of the injurious species and thus tested their 

 efficacy. 



As Botanist, Dr. Fletcher studied the value as fodder plants of such species of 

 grasses and clovers as can be grown successfully in the different parts of the Domin- 

 ion. He ascertained their value for the prodiiction of hay and recommended the most 

 promising of them for more general cultivation. These fodder plants were grown in 



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