3-4 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 A. 1904 



OF THE 



ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 



(James Eletcher, LL.D., F.L.S., F.R.S.O.) 



1903. 



Ottawa^ December 1, 1903. 

 Dr. Wm, Saunders, 



Director of Dominion Experimental Earms, 

 Ottawa. 



Sir, — I have the honour to hand you herewith a report on some of the more im- 

 portant subjects which have been brought officially under my notice during the past 

 season. 



The appreciation of the value of the investigations prosecuted by the officers of 

 the Division is indicated by the large correspondence with farmers, fruit-growers and 

 others in all parts of Canada. It is impossible in an annual report to deal with all 

 the subjects which come up for consideration during the year. Many of these have 

 already been treated of in previous reports, and the investigation of some is as yet 

 in an incomplete state. Correspondents are constantly adding much to previously 

 recorded facts concerning the habits of injurious insects, the utility of remedies, and 

 the best way to apply them, the value of fodder crops, and many other subjects. The 

 correspondence and replies relating to these are all carefully preserved and classified 

 for future use. A complete index has been made of all letters which have been sent 

 out from the division since the institution of the Experimental Farms up to the pre- 

 sent time, which is of much use when working up afresh a subject which has been pre- 

 vio.usly studied. 



Fodder Plants. — The testing of grasses and other fodder, plants, native and exotic, 

 both in the experimental grass plots at the Central Experimental Farm and by cor- 

 respondents, has been continued, and, as in the i^ast, has been a source of much interest 

 to all who have witnessed these experiments. The Awnless Brome Grass, the cultiva- 

 tion of which, from its introduction up to the present time, I have persistently endea- 

 voured to encourage, has proved a great boon to farmers and stockmen in Manitoba 

 and the North-west Territories. This grass is now recognized as one of the important 

 staple crops of the West, where it is grown both for hay and pasture, as well as for the 

 seed, which always meets with a ready sale. Attention has also been drawn to the value 

 of various mixed crops for summer feed, and, following the experience of our Super- 

 intendents at the western farms, some farmers have grown with great satisfaction 

 mixtures of pease, oats and wheat, one bushel of each to the acre; tares and oats, or 

 pease and oats, one and a half bushels of each to the acre. 



Lucerne or alfalfa has been tried to a certain extent in most of the provinces of 

 the Dominion, and where care has been taken to prepare the land properly by ploughing 

 deeply and then consolidating and smoothing the surface by harrowing, it has done 



16— IIJ 163 



