112 The Spraying of Plants. 



. . . and we believe that the plum wart may be held in check 

 by the use of this remedy." This note attracted but little 

 attention, and four years later, when the Cornell station pub- 

 lished a bulletin 1 on the same subject, scarcely a person appears 

 to have adopted the remedy. The Cornell experiments were 

 carried on during two seasons, and they showed conclusively 

 that the disease can be treated successfully and profitably by 

 the use of the Bordeaux mixture. 



II. IN CANADA. 



Canada was active in taking advantage of the knowledge 

 gained in the United States and in Europe. The experiments 

 of Saunders in destroying the potato beetle were made soon 

 after the discovery of the value of Paris green (see page 60). 

 Through the kindness of Professor Craig, of Ottawa, I have 

 been able to collect the following data regarding the early use 

 of insecticides and fungicides in the provinces. He writes that 

 " as far as I know G. W. Cline, of Winona, Ontario, and J. K. 

 McMichael, of Waterford, Ontario, were the pioneers among 

 the practical orchardists in the work of applying insecticides." 

 In reply to a letter, the last-named gentleman kindly writes as 

 follows : " I commenced spraying about the spring of 1883 with 

 a small force-pump, using a number of ingredients, as an experi- 

 ment to destroy fungi on pear trees. 2 In the spring of 1887, I 

 bought a large double-acting force-pump, and sprayed my apple 

 and pear trees with a solution of hyposulphite of soda, which 

 I first used in 1885 to destroy fungi, and obtained fairly good 

 results. For canker-worm and other insects I used Paris green. 

 For a few years I sprayed with the carbonate of copper to 

 destroy fungi on the leaves and fruit of apples and pears, but 

 recently the sulphate of copper has been applied for the same 

 purpose." Since neither Mr. McMichael nor Professor Craig 

 know of any grower in Ontario who sprayed any earlier than 

 is stated in the above letter, we may conclude that the former 

 was the first, or at least one of the first, to make such appli- 

 cation in that province. 



1 Lodenian, Cornell Agric. Exp. Sta. 1894, Bull. 81. 



2 See Ann. Rept. Fruit Grower* 1 Ass'n of Orit. 1889, 36. Mention is here 

 made of the application of hyposulphite of soda in 1887. 



