REPORT OF THE SOCIETY 27 



Montreal-Quebec highway. This section is nearly devoid of either native or 

 planted white pine. As gooseberries and currants are met infrequently on the 

 farms it would seem that the rust has been brought to these places from infected 

 plants on the South Shore where the banks project toward the county of Cham- 

 plain. What leads to this conclusion is the fact that it was not before a second 

 inspection, which took place in October, that we discovered the rusted plants. 



In the Ottawa valley, where the examination was very rapid, owing to the 

 extent of the area to be covered and to the sparsity of the agricultural communi- 

 ties, what has been done leads us to the conclusion that this area is yet free from 

 the disease. 



However, we are informed by Mr. W. A. McCubbin that one case of infection 

 has been traced in the neighborhood of Pembroke, Ont., which is very close to 

 Quebec, in the very heart of the white pine habitat in the Ottawa region. In 

 Jacques-Cartier county, where the rust had been reported last year, it reappeared 

 again this year. 



What Remains to be Done. 



As a result of this reconnaissance it may be said that the "White Pine Blister 

 Rust" is spread more widely in our province than we had thought and to such an 

 extent in certain districts that there seems to be almost no means to control it. 



It will be necessary to go over all the territory inspected last year, owing to 

 the incomplete inspection made, to detect, if possible, if there are pines affected. 



W^e do not know how far east of the counties of Lotbiniere and Megantic the 

 disease has spread. On the North Shore, when the rust was discovered in 

 Champlain, it was too late to go around the infected area, and around Montreal, 

 we had to abandon the inspection for the same reason. In the counties bordering 

 the international frontiers, our inspectors could not find any rust, but that may be 

 due to the fact that we sent them too early in the season in that section. It is 

 well to notice that almost all the discoveries were made during September and 

 October, those in Lotbiniere, Nicolet and Jacques-Cartier excepted, and that in 

 the counties of Champlain, Sherbrooke and Shefford it was a second inspection 

 which took place in October that led to the discoveries. We were taught by 

 experience that the period extending from the fifteenth of August to the fifteenth 

 of October is the most suitable for the inspection of this disease on Ribes leaves, 

 as far as our conditions are to be met. Along with this reconnaissance work, we 

 should establish a few sample plots where we could make a careful count of the 

 number of wild currants and gooseberries to the acre and also establish the ap- 

 proximate cost of eradication. 



