QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



303 



Other industries have been helped by the 

 Dominion department of agriculture, and 

 many of them have been put on. a paying 

 basis. The fruit industry with all its possi- 

 bilities is being neglected as is shown 'by the 

 action of the Minister in refusing to give 

 the fruit interests a special commissioner. 

 I am in favor of fruit growers uniting and 

 demanding that the government give them 

 a comimissioner of their own and thereby 

 recognize the great possibilities of the fruit 

 industry. 



Soot &s a Fertilizer 



PROF. R. HARCOURT^ O. A. C, GUELPH. 



What is the best way of using soot as a ferti- 

 lizer ? Should it ibe scattered on the ground 

 or mixed with water and applied as a liquid ? — 

 (J. G. Goble, Woodstock, Ont. 



Soot owes its value to the presence of a 

 small and variable quantity of ammonia 

 salts. The best house soots do not contain 

 more than about 3.5 per cent, of nitrogen. 

 They do not contain any appreciable quan- 

 tity of potash or phosphoric acid. As 

 there is such a small amount of fertilizing 

 constituent in the soot, it would not pay to 

 mix it with water and use it as a liquid. 



All that is necessary is to sow it broad- 

 cast on the ground as a top dressing. It 

 would possibly give its best results on 

 grains, sown after the growth commences 

 in the spring. I do not think it is rich 

 enough in nitrogen to be an efficient manure 

 for the horticulturist. 



Direct Shipments 



A LEADING Canadian fruit grower of 

 the Hamilton district, who has re- 

 cently returned from Great Britain, states 

 that a number of the large wholesale com- 

 mission firms in Great Britain are becoming 

 disgusted with the auction sale method of 

 purchasing their supplies of fruit, which is 

 now followed in Great Britain. Several 

 of these firms are anxious to get in touch 

 with leading Canadian growers and with 



our cooperative apple growers' associations, 

 that they may arrange for direct shipments 

 of apples and other fruit. Two of the 

 firms mentioned are those of Veitch, Moyer 

 and Er-skine, of Edinburgh, and Watson & 

 Co., of Aberdeen, Scotland. 



Firms like these claim that when they buy 

 their fruit by auction they are unable often 

 to select the kind of fruit they want or fruit 

 that is packed in the way they would like 

 They believe that if they can arrange with 

 large Canadian shippers they will be able to 

 obtain the fruit they would like. Some of 

 these firms intend to send buyers to Canada. 



Insects on Larch and Honeysuckle 



TENNYSON D. JARVIS, B.S.A., O.A.C., GUELPH. 



My larch trees are being attacked by some 

 greenish caterpillar. These caterpillars are 

 very numerous and in clusters. Many of the 

 needles have a white downy substance on them. 

 Some small insects, some of which have wings 

 and some without wings, appear in wihlte clus- 

 ters on my bush honeysuckle. Wihat are the 

 insects which cause .the trouble and the best 

 methods of combatting them ?— CD. M., Peel 

 County. 



The larvae that is attacking the larch trees 

 is the Larch Saw Fly (Nematus erichsonii). 

 I would advise spraying the trees with Paris 

 green solution (Paris green four ounces and 

 water 40 gallons). The white sticky sub- 

 stance to which you refer is likely the Larch 

 Chermes, a very small insect common on 

 the larch. This insect has a sucking 

 mouth, and should be sprayed with kerosene 

 emulsion. The clusters of insects on your 

 honeysuckles are plant lice. These insects 

 have sucking mouths and should also be 

 sprayed with kerosene emulsion. 



Spraying is an absolute necessity in order 

 to attain success, and is very remunerative 

 in return for the outlay required tO' make a 

 thorough job of it. The question is how to 

 get it done with the help at hand and keep 

 up with other work. Power sprayers have 

 appeared on the scene to solve this problem. 

 — (W. H. Brand, Vinemount, Ont. 



