THE REPORT OF THE [19 



Mr Dearness : There is one point that is of importance, and that is as to the time 

 it injures the peach buds. It does not injure the buds of other fruit excepting peach. 



Prof. Webster : Not so far as we have learned. There is a possibility of a similar 

 effect on some varieties of pear. 



Dr. Fletcher : It is far better to do the spraying in the spring. One of the great 

 defects in using soap is the want of uniformity. It is simply a matter of accuracy in 

 making it, and the soap that Prof. Webster has used is practically the same potash soap 

 made in an accurate way, so that you can look for the same results every time. 



Prof. Webster : I want to ask Prof. James if there is any way that a series of 

 experiments could be carried out whereby we could get some definite idea, or some more 

 exact idea, of the fertilizing value of soaps made of a certain strength. 



Prof. James : That is a very difficult matter. Analyses of soils are not very satis 

 factory, and you are experimenting with a living plant, which apart from the experiment- 

 might, or might not, produce. It is different from feeding an animal. Trees vary so much 

 in their production, you might take a row of trees and treat them in different ways, but 

 you are never perfectly sure. 



A Member : I notified Mr. John McMechan, who was Secretary of this Society 

 some years ago, and who is a soap manufacturer, to be present here to day, and I also asked 

 Mr. Heard, who manufactures spray pumps, to be present, but neither gentleman is here. 

 I thought they might have been of some benefit to the Society, or we might have bene- 

 fitted them in the manufacture of their products. 



Prof. Lochhead : I had the honor of attending the Commissioners during their 

 trip to the west this summer. I was not able to be with them when they went to the 

 Niagara District, consequently I cannot speak for that district. We saw in the western part, 

 especially around Guilds, south of Blenheim, some effects of the San Jose Scale in several 

 orchards. I think that even the most sanguine believer in the non-destructiveness of the 

 San Jose Scale could come to no other conclusion but that it was a scale that was very 

 destructive if left alone. Apparently the scale was first introduced into the Guilds 

 District, in Mr. Warner's orchard, about six years ago, and from what I can gather, the 

 attention of the neighborhood and of Mr. Warner himself was called to the death of some 

 of his trees. From that orchard the scale has spread to other orchards, so that one of 

 the most important conclusions we must come to is that the scale is extremely destructive 

 if left to itself. Mr. Dearness has just given us very many instances of the destructiveness of 

 the scale, and it lies with us to impress that fact upon the orchard-men of the Province. 

 In the Kingsville District we saw one orchard, Mrs. Pulling's, originally one of the J. D. 

 Wigle orchards, which was in a very bad condition. I did not see any dead trees, but the 

 trees were in a bad condition. At J. D. Wigle's the scale had broken out in two or three 

 localities ; many of the trees that had originally been set out had died, and their places had 

 been filled with fresh nursery stock. This nursery stock had not been fumigated, and 

 consequently the infestation spread from several centres Now as to the orchard to which 

 Professor Dearness alludes, Mr. Honor's orchard, near Amherstburg, I may say that we 

 were driven to the orchard one fine morning, and that we a saw a splendid object lesson 

 on the effects of whale-oil treatment in an orchard infested with the oyster-shell bark-louse. 

 The trees were large, and any observer could have told at once that they had once been 

 in a pitiable state. I do not know whether Mr. Honor had scraped the bark-lice eff or 

 not, but undoubtedly the trees were in a good, healthy, thrifty condition at the time of 

 our visit, and the old bark was sloughing off as if from old wounds. As a matter of fact, 

 the trees had been almost bark-bound before. The recovery of the trees was not 

 due simply to the death of the oyster-shell bark-lice, but it may be partly attributed to 

 the removal of fungi and lichens that incrusted the bark, for I think very serious injury 

 will be done to trees if lichens are allowed to incrust the bark. If the pores of the bark 

 are stopped up, free interchange of gases is prevented, and partial suffocation takes place. 

 The whale-oil soap solution also softens the bark so that it can yield freely to the growth of 

 the tissues within 



After this I had the pleasure of going down to Catawba Island in Ohio. There 

 I saw another splendid object lesson in the recovery of that peach district from the 



