September, 1918. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



vU. 



Annapolis Valley Notes 



Manning Ells, Port Williams, N.S. 



More or less burning from all sprays used 

 caused quite an injury this year, probably 

 because so much spraying was done in dark 

 and cloudy weather. Users of soluble sul- 

 phur report more injury than those using 

 the commercial lime-sulphur. The foliage 

 as a whole is not as healthy as one would 

 wish at this season of the year. In varie- 

 ties, Gravensteins, Ribstons, Kings, Golden 

 Russets and Nonpareils will give eighty per 

 cent, of a full crop. Blenheims, Baldwins, 

 Fallawaters, Ben Davis and Spys, fifty per 

 cent, of a crop, with the total from thirty to 

 fifty per cent, greater than last year. 



Not for a decade have we had such a large 

 strawberry crop as that just harvested. The 

 price consequently has been much below 

 the level of former years. An average re- 

 turn to the growers, however, of eight cents 

 a box, shows some profit on the right side of 

 the ledger, while many people in our towns, 

 to whom berries have been a luxury, were 

 this year able to buy and enjoy without feel- 

 ing it an extravagance. The United Fruit 

 Company handled the berries grown by their 

 members, and through their branch in Hali- 

 fax distributed direct to all parts of the 

 province. This service benefitted both 

 grower and consumer, placing a fresher and 

 consequently better article in the hands of 

 the latter, and on account of their low 

 handling charges, giving to the grower the 

 full value of the market. 



Plums and pears are only half a crop, but 

 so few of these are grown that the differ- 

 ence between a full crop and half a crop 

 is not of great importance. Other farm 

 crops are all that could be desired, the hay 

 crop especially being one of the largest in 

 the history of the Valley. 



Control of Vegetable Insects 



Arthur Gibson, Chief Assistant Entomologist, 

 Ottawa. 



Growers of vegetables are troubled with 

 insect pests which every year levy a heavy 

 toll. In addition to the regularly occurring 

 kinds, there are almost every season out- 

 breaks more or less widespread in occur- 

 rence, of little known species or of certain 

 ones which occur intermittently, such as, for 

 instance, the army-worm, which in 1914 cost 

 the province of Ontario alone a quarter of a 

 million dollars. It has been estimated that 

 at least twenty per cent, of vegetables grown 

 every year are destroyed or rendered use- 

 less by injurious insects. The wide-awake 

 grower is every year learning more and more 

 about the common forms of insects which, 

 almost every season, attack in varying de- 

 gree the different vegetables which he grows. 



It is surprising, however, that in many parts 

 of Canada, growers of vegetable crops have 

 not given sufficient attention to those kinds 

 of insect pests which occur almost annually, 

 and which, of course, destroy, more or less, 

 cabbages, cauliflowers, tomatoes and other 

 cultivated plants. Such losses could often 

 be prevented or a large percentage of the 

 crops saved if the grower had properly in- 

 vestigated the injury and applied the cor- 

 rect remedy. It is not, of course, necessary 

 that the vegetable grower should make a 

 special study of the insects themselves. He 

 has not the time nor the inclination to do 

 this. What every grower should, however, 

 notice when an insect is attacking a crop 

 is how it feeds — whether it bites its food or 

 sucks it up through its beak which it inserts 

 into the plant tissue. If the insect is a bit- 

 ing one a stomach poison, such as Paris 

 green or arsenate of lead, is usually recom- 

 mended, but if the species is a sucking one, 

 such a stomach poison would be useless, be- 

 cause the insect would insert its beak 

 through the poison and reach a safe feeding 

 ground beneath. A contact insecticide is, 

 therefore, necessary, for controlling sucking 

 insects, and those usually recommended are 

 kerosene emulsion, whale oil soap and to- 

 bacco preparations. 



The Entomological Branch of the Domin- 

 ion Department of Agriculture has devoted 

 considerable attention to the study of vege- 

 table insects and their control, and circulars 

 and bulletins have been published on some 

 of the more important pests. Investigations 

 are now in progress on the life-ihistory, hab- 

 its and control of cutworms, locusts, root 

 maggots, etc. 



The present season has witnessed serious 

 outbreaks of such well-known pests as the 

 Red-backed Cutworm, the Army Cutworm, 

 the Lesser Migratory Locust, the Onion Mag- 

 got, the Cabbage Maggot, the Seed Corn 

 Maggot, the Colorado Potato Beetle, etc. 

 Since the publication in April of a new 

 poisoned bran remedy for cutworms, we 

 have conducted further experiments in the 

 control of these caterpillars and in certain 

 dry areas, such as in Southern Alberta, we 

 have found that where shorts was substitut- 

 ed for bran better results were secured. The 

 protection of cabbages and cauliflowers by 

 placing tarred felt paper discs around the 

 stems at the time of planting out has again 

 given satisfaction. For radishes and onions 

 fresh pyrethrum insect powder, two ounces 

 in one gallon of water, or white hellebore 

 in the same strength, has some years given 

 good results, the mixture being applied once 

 a week for three weeks from the time the 

 plants appear above ground. Owing to the 

 cost of the material, however, the use of 

 either of these insecticides at the above 

 strength is only practicable on a small scale. 



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Church & Front Streets 



TORONTO, ONT. 



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Madeintwostvles— mounted or unmounted. We 

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SOUTHWELL, NOTTS., ENG. 



September 

 1915 



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