84 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



apart bo that the limbs do not come within 10 or 12 feet of touching, and have an 

 abundance of sunshine and free circulation of air. It is also important that the trees be 

 properly trimmed, all rubbish removed, and the land properly fertilized, for it is a fact 

 that two-thirds of the orchards in Ontario are starving. With good apples at the price 

 they have commanded this year and last, the orchard, if properly attended to, would be 

 the most profitable part of the farm." 



If the fruit-growers of Ontario, generally, can be made to appreciate the above state- 

 ment of Mr. Orr, who is a practical fruit-grower, and will follow his advice, enormous 

 advantage must accrue to the country from the good work which the Provincial Minister 

 of Agriculture, the Hon. John Dryden, has done by having the spraying experiments and 

 other work on injurious insects carried out. In fact, it is hard to find in the whole 

 Provincial expenditure anything which has given such manifest and quick returns for the 

 small amount of money expended. The great interest which was taken in this work of 

 spraying is shown by the fact that over 3,500 fruit-growers attended the meetings when 

 the spraying was being done, in order to see the work, to ask questions and to learn the 

 the proper way to carry on operations for themselves. This was almost double the num- 

 ber that attended two years ago. 



Spraying with arsenical poisons, such as Paris green, London purple, arsenate of 

 lead, etc., was done, first of all, to lessen injury by the Oodling Moth on the apple, and 

 by the Plum Curculio on plums and cherries ; but it is now used against all foliage eating 

 ineects. It has lately also become the custom to spray many plants with a combined 

 mixture which will destroy both insect and fungous pesfc '. For this purpose, the best 

 mixture known is Bordeaux mixture and Paris green. The formula moat widely adopted 

 is one which is very easy to remember, as all its parts contain the figure 4. It consists 

 of copper sulphate, 4 lbs., quick lime, 4 lbs., Paris green, 4 ozs., water 44 gallons. 



Owing to the large amount of capital necessarily invested in and required to 

 operate a fruit farm, and the permanent nature of fruit plantations, more attention has 

 been given to tho^e causes upon which failure and Buccess depend than has been the 

 case with ordinary farm crops, which change ^ *^C' ^v*AW\\\\ 



irom year to year ; consequently, more perhaps 

 is known and more enquiries are received with 

 regard to orchard pests than any other class 

 of insects. The common enemies which occur 

 year by year in orchards have been treated of 

 over and over again in our annual reports, and 

 there would be no advantage in speaking of 

 them now at any length, but attention may be 

 drawn to some of the more serious or unusual 

 outbreaks. 



Tent Caterpillars have been even more 

 abundant than last year in almost every pro- 

 vince of the Dominion. In the Ottawa dis- 

 trict groves of bass woods, maples, and aspers 

 were stripped of every vestige of foliage, 

 as well as the underbrush, consisting of 

 numerous kinds of shrubs. Although the 

 Forest Tent Caterpillar was slightly more 

 numerous, the American Tent Caterpillar. 

 (Fig. 49), it was noticed, occurred with it in 

 almost equal numbers, and, notwithstanding 

 that close search was made for parasites, in this 



number of egg clusters were collected to see if 

 the young caterpillars contained in the egg were in a 1 ithy condition. These were 

 kept in a warm office, and by the 1st of January hu r eds of young caterpillars had 

 latched and were gathered together in a large mat-li- j cluster on the side of the jar. 



