174 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



not hurt the foliage at all. The proportion was the same as 

 that given by the essayist. I did not make so large a quantity, 

 but it was the same proportion as he recommended. These 

 are all the points that occur to me now, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Ware. It seems to me that Professor Fernald has 

 brought forward one difficulty in regard to the management 

 of the fire worm that troubles the cranberry grower. He 

 tells us he can manage them very well in his greenhouse, 

 but when he goes down upon the ground itself and lays it 

 out in patches, giving instructions to other people in regard 

 to carrying on the work, he finds that they fail to carry them 

 out. Now, we cannot provide Professor Fernalds on the 

 cranberry patches all over Cape Cod ; and, if common men 

 cannot properly manage his application of Paris green, what 

 are we going to do to protect our cranberries, I would like 

 to know? 



Professor Fernald. My statement perhaps needs a little 

 amplification. Those were experimental patches. Had the 

 gentlemen to whom I assigned the work taken an apparatus 

 of suitable form to go over their entire bogs, and gone over 

 them in their own way, I do not doubt that they would have 

 destroyed a large percentage of the worms. But that was 

 not exactly the kind of work that I wanted done. That is 

 the way I meant to express it. I think in my insectory I 

 can destroy every insect. If I can show the cranberry 

 grower how he can destroy twenty-five per cent of the 

 insects, it will pay for all that it costs. But I think they 

 can destroy a larger percentage than that. I am not sure 

 that I could go over an entire bog and destroy every insect 

 as T do in the insectory ; I feel very sure that I could not. 

 That is a special establishment, built expressly for that kind 

 of work. It is not like field work. 



Mr. Ware. You mean that it is impracticable for ordi- 

 nary growers of cranberries, wanting your superior skill, to 

 manage the work so carefully and effectually as to destroy 

 all the worms, as you would ; but what I want to come at is, 

 whether it is not possible for the common farmer, with a 

 little experience, to do the whole business? 



Professor Fernald. I think that any farmer of average 

 intelligence, or any cranberry grower, can learn to do the 



