10 THK REPORT OF THE [19 



I believe it can be exterminated, but it will take a great many years, and the control of 

 treatment must be in the bands of some one man, and that man must not have a great 

 many neighbors. 



Prop. James : What would you have that man do 1 



Prop. Webster : I would put the whole matter of treatment and everything con- 

 nected with it into bis hands. If in some cases he saw fit to let the owner do the work, 

 well and good, but he and not the owner should be held responsible to the Government. 



The Chairman : I suppose you mean he would have to be protected from his 

 neighbors. 



Professor Webster : I guess if you would give him authority enough he would 

 protect himself. If people come to learn that he can do the work better and cheaper 

 than they can, there will be no trouble. 



Prof James : You would not leave the treatment to the owners ? 



Professor Webster : I would leave no treatment to anybody except the one person 

 whom you make responsible to your Minister for its being done properly, at the propsr 

 time, and if it is not, hold him a'one responsible for it. If you put this work in the hands 

 of the public you will get nothing done, even among very intelligent people We had an 

 experience of that last week in fumigating nursery stock. A nurseryman wanted me to 

 let my assistant go down and fumigate his stock. I told him if they would get every- 

 thing ready, so that my assistant could get on with the work just as soon as he reached 

 his destination, and go away just as soon as the work was done, I would let him go. He 

 went down there, and he said they had a fumigating house that he could drive cats 

 through. It was not at all adapted to the use for which it was intended and he compelled 

 them to line it, and then they declared that it was absolutely tight, but after he started 

 work and went outside he said the odor of the gas was very strong and they had to line it 

 again. That shows how far you can trust people who are supposed to be rather above the 

 average farmer and fruit-grower in intelligence. You- must have some one person who 

 does understand and make him responsible, and then see that every man has the proper 

 measures and that they are applied in the proper way and at the proper time. 



Prof. James : Have you any regulation whereby you can decide whether a tree 

 ought to be taken out or fumigated 1 



Professor Webster : No sir, you must see the tree yourseM. There are some varie- 

 ties of trees that are almost worthless, and that would make a great difference. There 

 are so many of these matters to look into that your chief officer must be on the ground and 

 understand the situation in order to be able to decide. I do not know how it is in Canada, 

 but in the United States there are some trees that were not worth ten cents before the 

 scale came en them, but became suddenly valuable about the time they were to be 

 destroyed. 



As to the time, I have never found that we could do much except during the winter 

 and spring. Summer treatment would only app'y to the young scale. I do not believe 

 you could apply anything to the trees, in the summer, that will destroy very many more 

 than the young, without injury to the tree. Daring the winter season, when the foliage 

 is off, of course, you have a much better opportunity of reaching the trees and the limbs, 

 and with the exception of the peach you can use a much stronger mixture. You can then 

 use a mixture that will penetrate and kill the scale. With the peach you can do this also, 

 but it will destroy the fruit buds unless it is applied just when the buds are putting out 

 in spring. There is a time just when the fruit buds are being put out when we can use 

 the ordinary mixture, two pounds of whale oil soap to a gallon of water, without injury 

 to the fruit buds. 



I urgf d Mr. Owen to go to work and manufacture a soap that would be of a uniform 

 grade. The great difficulty has been that we would use a certain brand of soap and it 

 would seem to be thoroughly effective and not injurious, and I would recommend that 

 *ame brand for some one to use and they would get entirely different results, and these 

 brands do not, as a rule, analyze alike ; so I urged Mr. Owen to manufacture a soap that 



