4-5 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 A. 1905 



OF THE 



ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 



(James Fletcher, LL.D., F.L.S., F.R.S.C.) 



1904. 



Ottawa, December 1, 1904. 

 Dr. William Saunders, 



Director of Dominion Experimental Farms, 

 Ottawa, 



Sir, — I have tlie honour to hand you herewith a report of some of the most import- 

 ant subjects which have been brought officially under my notice during the past season. 



The development of the Division of Entomology and Botany in the various direc- 

 tions has been pushed forward as evenly as possible, with an effort not to allow any 

 work once undertaken to fall behind by giving undue attention to other branches. 



Collections. — During the past year, as previously, the collections of insects and 

 plants have been very much increased. Large additions have been made from material 

 collected in the field, as well as also through the kindness of correspondents who have 

 applied to the Division for help in their studies of insects and plants. The great atten- 

 tion which has lately been directed to Nature Study in schools has brought the officers 

 into close contact with many teachers and students in the public schools of the country. 

 There are few things more marked, in matters connected with the development of the 

 country, than the keen interest which is being shown by all classes of society in those 

 investigations which in a general way may be grouped under the head of natural 

 history, and with which the work of the Division of Entomology and Botany is inti- 

 mately associated. This includes not only a study of insects of all kinds, and plants, 

 wild and cultivated, but also allied researches in forestry, the reclamation of land 

 from the encroachments of the sea or of drifting sand, and also to a certain measure 

 investigations into the habits of birds and animals with which farmers come into 

 contact in their every-day life. This new movertuent in the schools of the country is 

 giving to the growing boys and girls, who in a few years will be the citizens of Canada, 

 en elementary knowledge of many of the common things which surround them every 

 day of their lives, and which for this very reason are of importance to them. A prac- 

 tical knowledge of animals, plants and natural phenomena cannot but be of enormous 

 assistance to the farmers of the country, whose every occupation is connected in some 

 way with nature. The Nature Study movement is going steadily forward, and it has 

 been a great pleasure to the officers of the Division to be in a position to encourage and 

 help those* who have taken it up so earnestly in all tbe provinces of the Dominion. 

 Our collections here have been of much use in this work, and many visitors have 

 availed themselves of the opportunity of consulting the cabinets. 



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