THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



49 



As already hinted the Pea-weevil prefers a warm to a cold climate, 

 and its devastations are scarcely known in high latitudes. On this 

 account the impression prevails that it does not occur in certain parts 

 of Canada, and few persons are aware that it is nearly as bad, espe- 

 cially in Ontario, as it is with us. We are in the habit of sending to 

 'Canada for our seed peas, because we get them free from bugs ; but 

 the reason that their seedsmen have such a reputation is to be traced 

 to their greater care in destroying the weevil and in sorting their seed 

 rather than to any immunity from its ravages which their peas possess 

 The following extract from a letter from Mr. Win. Saunders, of London , 

 'Ontario, who, as secretary of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association 

 and as a prominent member of the Canadian Entomological Society, 

 is as well posted, perhaps, as any one in the Dominion, will give some 

 idea of its occurrence there: 



The Pea-weevil I find prevails in all parts of Canada to a greater 

 •or lesser extent, from the 'Red River settlement to Quebec. In some- 

 places it is so numerous as to discourage farmers from attempting to 

 grow peas at all, while other localities are but little troubled. About 

 the neighborhood of Windsor (opposite Detroit) there are no peas- 

 grown worth speaking of; but 00 or 70 miles iurther east, towards 

 London, they are an important crop, and about London, say within 30 

 or 4 ' miles, and as far east as Guelph and Hamilton, will include the 

 chief district from which your western supplies are drawn. 



During 1869 I grew a field of peas on my own farm. They pro- 

 duced a good crop, and although we have some of them on hand yet 

 I have never observed a buggy one amongst them, although I have 

 examined them several times. But it is rare to find them so free as 

 that and something depends on the season. Last season the weather 

 was very wet and the crop very light, and the dealers tell me now 

 that there are scarcely any peas fit to ship in the country on account 

 •of the quantity of bugs they contain. They say that they always 

 have to select for shipping, and while sending them as clean as pos- 

 sible they do not profess to send them entirely free from bugs. 



Our farmers here are perhaps a little more particular than yours 

 about their seed. They will sometimes keep it over till the second 

 year or else scald it before planting so as to destroy a large propor- 

 tion of the bugs. The general opinion seems to be that if peas are 

 sown late, say about the first of June, they will be almost free from 

 bugs in any season, and some adopt this method, but it is not by any 

 means a general thing, for should the weather set in very hot, as it 

 sometimes does about that time, they would become somewhat 

 dwarfed and the crop lessened. I have not heard of any one growing 

 two crops in one season. 



Many eminent seedsmen— Mr. Langdon for instance as I have been 

 credibly informed— effectually kill the weevils by enclosing the peas 

 in tight vessels along with camphor. The same object is attained by 

 keeping peas two years, and taking care that the beetles do not es- 

 cape before they die. Peas will grow well when kept for two years 

 or even longer, but they should always be well dried so as not to 

 mould. A good plan is to tie them up in bags and hang them in an 

 airy place from the time they are gathered till about Christmas, and 

 then in order that they may not become too dry, to put them into 



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