198 EXPERIMENTAL FAEMS. 



It is satisfactory to hear from Prof. F. C. Sears, the Director of the Nova Scotia 

 School of Horticulture, at Wolfville, N.S., that "Spraying was much more generally 

 practised this year than ever before, and the results were very satisfactory, especially 

 so in the use of Bordeaux mixture to control the Black Spot of the apple and the Shot- 

 hole Fungus of the plum. I held about fifteen spraying meetings in different parts of 

 the province and induced fruit growers to experiment also for themselves. I sprayed 

 some rows and left others. The results have been very conclusive in most cases." 



In Prince Edward Island, Father Burke says : " Despite our spraying, we had our 

 share of apple-worm, some sorts of apples being badly injured ; the season being so wet, 

 the Bordeaux mixture did not stay on long enough to do its work. Owing to the wet 

 season, there was also a lot of Black Spot, but, on the whole, we have a fair apple crop." 



In British Columbia, fruits of all kinds were abundant, but there was much loss 

 from insect pests. The two worst enemies of the apple growers were the Apple-fruit 

 Miner (Argyresthia conjugella, Z.), and the small moth described by Walsh in First 

 Illinois Report under the, as it has since been ascertained, rather inapt name of the 

 Plum Moth ( Grapholitha j^ruriivora, Walsh J. 



The fruit interests of the Pacific province are well looked after by the energetic 

 officers of the provincial Department of Agriculture. The Deputy Minister, Mr. J. R. 

 Anderson, and his Assistant, Mi-. E. A. Carew-Gibson, have done excellent scientific 

 work in investigating the botany and entomology of the province, particularly in solving 

 some doubtful points in the life histories of important enemies of crops. Mr. R M. 

 Palmer, the Inspector of Fruit Pests, has devoted special attention to the practical 

 questions of oi'chard treatment, of making known the best remedies for pests and the 

 way to apply them, of keeping the provincial markets clear of infested fruit, and thus 

 incidentally creating a better market for home products. British Columbia is blessed 

 to a remarkable degree with a climate and soil suitable for the production of fruits of 

 many kinds, and the wise and energetic measures which have been adopted and fear- 

 lessly carried out by the officials of the provincial government have certainly been 

 attended with much success. Up to the present time, notwithstanding statements to 

 the contrary, the Codling Moth has not been detected in any British Columbian 

 orchard. 



The Apple Fruit-miner ( A7-gyresthia conjugella, Z. ), which has called for so much 

 attention of late years by its injuries to apples in British Columbia, was again this year 

 the cause of considerable loss. In mixed orchards containing several varieties of apple 

 trees, I noticed last summer that crab-apples were more particularly attacked than the 

 larger kinds. Mr. Palmer makes the following report on the occurrence of this insect 

 in British Columbia during 1898 : — 



"Victoria, B.C., Dec. 15. — On the Islands, especially in the neighbourhood of 

 Victoria, the Apple Fruit-miner (Argyresthia conjxigdla) has been very prevalent this 

 year. The native crab-apple crop was a failure, and this pest attacked cultivated fruits 

 (apples) to an alarming extent. It preferred cultivated varieties of crab-apples to 

 ordinary varieties of apples, and a much larger percentage of larva? completed their 

 growth in infested crab-apples than in the finer fruit. The entire crop of many crab- 

 apple trees (cultivated varieties) was completely ruined, being tunnelled in every 

 direction, all through the pulp of the fruit. Every effort has been made to get infested 

 fruit destroyed, as, although in 1896 some loss was sustained from the pest, it was not 

 nearly so large as in this season, and I now apprehend there is some danger of the 

 insect becoming a constant feeder on cultivated varieties at least of crab-apples, and 

 possibly of some others. — [R. M. Palmer.] 



An interesting account of a Japanese insect, Laverna herelella, Dup., which, if dif- 

 ferent, resembles in most respects the Apple Fruit-miner in a very re'narkable manner, is 

 given with an excellent figure in Bulletin 10, New Series, Div. of Ent,, U.S. Dept. Agr., 

 by Pi'of. Matsumura, of Sapporo, Japan. In a foot-note to this article. Dr. Howard has 

 suggested, from the resemblance of Prof. Matsumura's figure to bred specimens of the 

 Apple Fruit-miner from British Columbia, which he was good enough to examine, the 

 identity of the two insects. Although it is true the figure cited and the perfect moths 



