91 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



this firm paid no attention whatever to the evil, when it was pointed out to them, 

 and when asked to ditdnfect their stock before shipping it to their customers, stated that 

 they would if tiny had time; and, later, said they did not have time. There is very 

 strong evidence in the hands of entomologists going to show that this firm made 

 both their last fall and spring shipments, knowing that they were unloading their 

 scale infested trees on the public and scattering this pest, the serious nature of which 

 they could not help knowing, far and wide over the country. Failing in every 

 attempt to secure satisfactory replies to his communications, or even a list of the 

 patrons who were likely to suffer from their imposidons, and after your humble 

 servant had pointed out to him that be was only being imposed upon and his mode- 

 ration toward this firm only being used to further their scheme of unloading their 

 infested trees on the unsuepecting public, that he was forced to call upon the " Rural 

 New Yorker" to expose them In the issue of that publication for May 4, 1895, the 

 editors, after exposing the Parsons Company, say that the Company made a plea of 

 ignorance of the serious nature of the pest, and supposed it was only one of the 

 many scales that they had known for the last fifty years. No wonder that the " Rural 

 New Yorker " people were boiling over with indignation over a course that was alike 

 unprincipled and un-American, and ask why it was necessary for them to come 

 forward and make business men attend to their duty, telling the company that it 

 wa^ no excuse at all for them to plead ignorance of the dangerous character of the 

 pest and neglect the repeated warnings that have been given. To plead ignorance 

 was a direct insult to State Entomologist Lintner, who had again and again warned 

 them ot it and urged them to take immediate steps to prevent distributing it all over 

 the country. These people now, after being publicly exposed, promise to do all in 

 their power to prevent sending out infested stock, and if the public deal with them 

 as they deserve, it will be some time before they will distribute their trees at all, 

 for who will expect them to keep any promise after such evasions as they have 

 attempted 1 If the entomologists and the press are not again called upon to expose 

 them a second time, it will be a pleasant surprise. 



Now, gentlemen, I have criticised harshly, but I sincerely believe not unjustly. 

 I have exposed these people before ycu, not in order to taunt you with the 

 disgrace of some who follow your calling, but because they threaten interests of yours 

 that I am employed to protect. It is my business and duty to do so. You do not 

 need to deal with these people yourselves to suffer contamination. Let me explain, 

 and this I will do by illustration. Last winter a man came to me in high dudgeon 

 and wanted me to show up a prominent firm of nurserymen in Ohio. He said that 

 he had gone to them in the fall to buy trees. He did not appear to care much what the 

 trees were so long as they were fruit trees and cheap. He said that he had gone to this 

 nursery and found what he thought would answer his purpose, provided the price was 

 right. The trees were poor and expected the price to correspond, " but do you believe," he 

 said, "them galoots wouldn't sell me them trees at an^ price- and said they were goiDg to 

 burn them up, I suppose just to make me pay a big price for others. But I won't do 

 it. I'll 1 buy where I can get what I want and at a reasonable price of eastern nurseries." 

 Now, we all know what sort of a fruit grower such a man would make. One of the sort 

 that sets out his trees and then lets the pigs, cattle, sheep and horses take care of them, 

 and who, if he were to buy scale-infested trees would not find it out until the whole 

 neighborhood was endangered. Suppose such a man buys scale- infested trees and plants 

 them out in your neighborhood, thereby threatening your business, what will you do 

 about it? If he furnishes scale enough to destroy a thousand dollars worth of your stock 

 and ruin your trade for several years, you cannot help yourselves, in the present condition 

 of our laws. You cannot reach the man who sold the trees, and to destroy them on your 

 neighbor's premises without his p< rmission, is to eliminate yourself. I have no fears of 

 the pushing, up-to-date fruit grower or the honorable nurseryman, for if they have the 

 misfortune to get this pest, they will stamp it out without compulsion. But I am 

 afraid of the nurseryman who will knowingly or carelessly distribute this pest to 

 careless or indifferent purchasers ; and this is precisely where we entomologists are 



