president's address — SECTION G. 151 



The original investigations of Mr. OllifF on the saltbvish scale 

 f Pulvinaria MaskelUj, bronzy orange bug f Oncoscelis sulciventrisj, 

 the orange borer ( Ur acanthus cryptophagusj, the pumpkin beetle 

 ( Aidacophora hilarisj, the potato beetle (Monolejita rosea), and 

 the potato moth (Lita solanellaj destroying tobacco, are worthy 

 of special notice. 



Experiments are being conducted with the parasitic fungus 

 ( Botrytis fenella) that has been found so destructive to cockchafer 

 larva? in France. The results hitherto in our cane and maize fields 

 have not borne out the favorable reports from the French vineyards. 



I submit for your inspection a number of illustrations of insects, 

 grasses, fungus diseases, and new commercial crops, from the pen 

 and brush of Mr. E. M. Grosse, the artist of the department. I 

 think you will agree with me that these are quite up to the standard 

 of such works in older' countries, and are better adapted to adorn 

 the walls of our schools and colleges, and to illustrate our reading 

 books and Australian agricultural text books, than the useless 

 reproductions we so often see. 



The whole of the original investigations of these specialists, 

 admirably illustrated by the artist, have been published from 

 month to month in the official publication of the department — the 

 Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, of which 5,00(1 copies 

 are distiibuted free to hona fide agriculturists and fellow workers 

 in these subjects in other countries. I cannot speak too highly 

 of the good influence of this publication in educating our most 

 intelligent farmers, in stimulating the younger men to study, in 

 bringing the department into constant touch with the more 

 progressive students, and in communicating our work to other 

 countries, and thus earning generous exchange of reports, bulletins, 

 and current literature. 



The vignerons of the colony have been much assisted by the 

 services of Mr. J. A. Despeissis, viticultural expert, who has 

 visited all the vine- growing districts to give practical instruction, 

 and has written a series of articles on " The Vineyard and the 

 Cellar," which, when completed, will form a valuable text book on 

 vine-growing and wine making. 



A thoroughly practical fi-uit expert (Mr. A. H. Benson) has 

 visited all the fruit growing centres, giving instructions in all the 

 operations of the orchard, and doing special good by practical de- 

 monstration of the mixing of the best fungicides and insecticides, 

 and their application by means of the excellent spray pumps now 

 available from America. Under his supervision valuable experi- 

 ments have been carried out to discover the conditions under w^hich 

 fruit can be best kept in cold storage, with a view to opening up 

 larger markets and making more stable conditions for our fruit 

 industry. 



A travelling dairy was sent round all the districts likely to take 

 up this branch of agriculture, and a large number of pupils have 



