242 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



" Staynerville, Argenteuil Co., Que., June 18. I have a field of horse beans which 

 came up and are growing nicely, but during the last two or three days a kind of bluish 

 fly is stripping off every leaf." — Wm. Nichols. 



" Cheneville, Labelle Co., Que., June 16. — I send you some insects which are in 

 very large numbers on my potatoes, eating the leaves rapidly. I have sprayed the plants 

 with a mixture of 1 pound of Paris green in 200 gallons and the insects are already 

 disappearing." — H. Lefebvre. 



Specimens were also sent from Mr. L. Lepagp, from Minerve in the same county. 



" Port Arthur, Ont., June 23. — I mail you herewith insects captured on a potato 

 patch near Port Arthur, wherein they were stripping the vines of their leaves. These 

 are apparently a far worse destroyer than the Coloi'ado Potato-beetle. This is the first 

 time an enemy of the leaf of the potato has appeared in this district." — Joseph G. 

 King. 



" Montreal, Que., June 25. — I send you beetles which did a little harm on my farm 

 last year, and this year they have done a good deal. Their preference seems to be for 

 tender, delicate foliage, but when this is not handy they take what they can get. They 

 began with Caragana yracilis, Aralia sjnnosa and Clematis Jlammula, and ended with 

 potatoes and tomatoes. They come in hundreds and make a clean sweep of any branch 

 they attack." — Thos. A. Crane. 



" Montreal, Que., June 24. — I send specimens of a beetle which attacks the Windsor 

 Broad Beans. We have giown these beans for three years at Lachine. The first year 

 they produced well, the next year this beetle pest appeared in swarms and ravaged 

 them severely. Tired of picking them off, we tried a weak mixture of Paris green, with 

 Hour or water, I forget which, but it killed the crop and we did not have a dressing. 

 This year we have more beans growing than usual, but they have been attacked inces- 

 santly by the pest which is a voracious eater. A neighbour not knowing our experience 

 tried Paris green and killed his plants. We have been picking and knocking the pests 

 uff into a mixture of coal oil and water in a broad, shallow vessel, which seems to kill 

 them. Last year a small cloud of them settled down on the potato vines and ate to 

 some extent, but did no damage. This year they have left the potatoes alone for the 

 •leans. They do not breed in our place, but settle down in small swarms, full-sized, and 

 It seems to us tl-at nothing but a strong mixture, dangerous to the plant, would kill 

 them, but perh^r vou c.i.n tell us a remedy. It is necessary to pick tl.'em off at least 

 once a day (earlier in the season, perhaps oftener), but they are not diminishing much. 

 The labour is so tiresome that we shall be little disposed to grow our favourite bean 

 another year, and others no doubt feel the same." — A. H. Chambers. 



"Previck Hali, Port Arthur, Algoma, Ont., Sept. 5. — In July my horse beans were 

 infested with black beetles which I have sometimes seen on potatoes. I do nob think 

 they have podded quite so well. I did not dare to use poison for the beetles, as it would 

 have spoiled the fodder. I killed as many as possible by hand, but they stripped many 

 stalks of the leaves." — William Wilson. 



"Petitcodiac, Westmoreland Co., N.B., Dec. 9. — The black blister beetles were on 

 my horse beans in about the same numbers as last year." — D. Sinclair Smith. 



All the specimens sent in this year were the gray blister beetle (Macrobasis unicolor, 

 Kirby). Here on the Experimental Farm the same species was abundant and troublesome 

 on Caragana hedges, some other leguminous shrubs in the botanic garden and Aralia 

 chinensis, L. Although the attack is severe while it lasts, the period during which blister 

 beetles injure vegetation is not of long duration. Moreover, these insects do not appear 

 in injurious numbers every year. They are seldom noticed except in seasons following 

 those when locusts of different kinds have been unusually abundant, a fact which is easily 

 understood when we remember that the larvae feed upon the eggs of locusts. For the 

 same reason we may confidently hope that next year we shall have little complaint of 

 the ravages of blister beetles on beans and other crops, owing to the marked diminution 

 in the numbers of grasshoppers after the 1st of August last. In localities liable to be 

 visited by blister beetles a sharp watch should be kept for their appearance during July, 

 and as soon as they are seen efforts should be made to fight them, either by sweeping 

 the crops with a net mounted on a handle or by beating them into a pan containing some 



