192 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



best large varieties before the end of the month. The caterpillars of the Pea Moth 

 would not be large enough to enter the pods and injure the green peas at earliest before 

 the end of the month ; consequently, at Ottawa and in localities with the same summer 

 climate, green peas for the table can always be grown if early varieties are chosen and 

 seed is got into the ground in good time. Mr. W. T. Macoun, Horticulturist of the 

 Central Experimental Farm, has furnished me with the following list of what he con- 

 siders the six best early varieties and of the dates when they were ready for picking : — 



Alaska June 17 Gradus June 18 



American Wonder " 17 Nott's Excelsior " 20 



Gregory's Surprise " 17 McLean's Little Gem *« 23 



In his annual report for this year is given a list with dates of maturing of 25 of 

 the best varieties of all kinds. Where peas are grown for the seed they will be injured 

 in districts where the Pea Moth is prevalent. Experience would indicate that early 

 sowing is in all cases advantageous, but it is also possible that late sowing, so as to hold 

 back the podding, if possible, late enough to escape the season of egg-laying, might give 

 a crop of uninjured seed. 



The Pea Weevil {Bruchus pisorum, L.). — This perennial pest is, year after year, 

 the cause of enormous loss, notwithstanding the fact that millions of the beetles are 

 destroyed every season in the " bug houses " of the large seed dealers. Prof. 0. C. James 

 says in his November Crop Report : — " Pease seem to have been the most unfortunate 

 of the grain crops. The drought of the early part of the summer and a frost about the 

 10th July told upon the growth, and the bug made its appearance in nearly every sec- 

 tion of the province. Some of those reporting are inclined to take a discouraging view 

 of the outlook for pea growing, owing to this pest." 



It is probable that there has been some confusion in the reports of which the above 

 extract is a summary, between the injury of the Pea Weevil and that of the Pea Moth. 

 The distribution of the Pea Weevil is very much more restricted than that of the Pea 

 Moth, and there are large areas in the province of Ontario where the highest quality of 

 seed pease can be grown without any danger of infestation by the Pea Weevil. 



The Bean Weevil {Bruchus obtectus. Say). — Attack. — Small beetles closely 

 resembling in shape and movements the Pea Weevil, bat only half its size, namely, -^^ 

 of an inch long, oval in form, with the head bent down and more or less concealed as 

 seen from above, and prolonged into a short squarely cut snout. Antennae distinctly 

 jointed and enlarging towards the tip ; the first 4 and the last joints reddish. The wing 

 covers marked with ten impressed and dotted longitudinal lines. Tbe whole body 

 covered with short silky hairs. The lines on the wing covers are broken up into pale 

 yellowish dashes and dark brown spots. The tip of the abdomen extends beyond the 

 wing covers and is of the same reddish tinge as the tips of the antennae and the legs, 

 but is covered more or less with short silky hairs and bears a central white line, but 

 there is no appearance of the two black spots which are so conspicuous in the Pea Weevil. 



The life-history of the Bean Weevil differs in some important points from that of 

 the Pea Weevil. The eggs of both are laid upon the pods while these are young and 

 tender. On hatching, the young grub of the Bean Weevil eats its way inside and pene- 

 trates one of the forming beans, several grubs entering a single bean, each one forming for 

 itself a distinct cell. They become full-grown and change to puppe in the autumn and a 

 little later to the perfect beetles. The date of emergence from the seed depends very 

 much, as in the case of the Pea Weevil, on the temperature in the autumn months; it 

 may be in the late autumn or not until the spring ; when the seed beans are stored in a 

 warm building, the beetles may emerge at any time through the winter. One of the 

 important differences between the life-histories of the Pea and Bean weevils is that, 

 whereas in the case of the former the young grubs can only enter the soft green seeds, 

 those of the Bean Weevil can propagate for three or four generations in the dry stored 

 seeds. This fact renders the well known domestic remedy for the Pea Weevil of holding 

 over the seed for two years quite ineffective in the case of the Bean Weevil ; that is, if a 



