83 



ers have been reminded that the examination of these bands and the 

 destruction of the contained larvae is of even more importance than 

 putting the bands on the trees. Stress was also laid upon the fact that 

 more effective work could be done, looking to future exemption, by 

 thorough and careful work in years of small occurrences than when 

 the insects were enormously abundant. The plum curculio was 

 locally the cause of severe injury in a few localities where spraying 

 had been neglected, but the enormous crop of plums this year in all 

 parts of Canada rendered the attacks of the plum curculio insignifi- 

 cant, if not an actual benefit. There is one subject I should like par- 

 ticularly to bring before the Association, which is spraying for the 

 control of the plum curculio. In Canada spraying for this insect is a 

 practical paying remedy, which I calculate will save 50 per cent of 

 the crop, but I notice that United States writers seldom mention 

 spraying, and pin their faith to the extremely expensive, trouble- 

 some, and, with me, comparatively ineffective method of jarring the 

 trees. Last year I corresponded with some of those who recom- 

 mended jarring, and was very much surprised to find how few had 

 tried spraying and compared it as to efficiency and cost with jarring. 



The eye-spotted bud-moth was abundant in Nova Scotia and caused 

 some injury to the apple crop. Two insects which are noticeably on 

 the increase in Canada are the fall web worm and the white-marked 

 tussock moth. Fruit growers and municipal bodies have been 

 reminded that these well-known insects are easily fought if the proper 

 measures are adopted. The birch skeletonizer, Bucculatrix canaden- 

 sisella Cham., appeared again in some numbers in central Ontario, 

 but was not nearly such a pest as- it has been for the past two years. 



Among insects which have been the cause of considerable damage 

 during the season of 1903, or have been unusually abundant, mention 

 may be made of the following : 



Plant-lice of all kinds have been veiy prevalent. The grain aphis 

 extended from the Northwest Territories to the Atlantic coast, but 

 compared with its great abundance affected very little the quality of 

 the crop. The cabbage aphis was a serious enemy of early cabbages 

 in British Columbia, and of turnips to some extent throughout the 

 Dominion, but was the cause of more considerable loss in Prince 

 Edward Island and Nova Scotia. The apple aphis appeared early in 

 the season in enormous numbers in Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia, 

 but was less abundant than usual in British Columbia, where, as a 

 rule, it is one of the most destructive enemies of the apple grower. 

 The most important injuries by the apple aphis in 1903 were to young 

 trees in nurseries and to the fruit while young and green. In some 

 varieties more than others the fruit was much distorted and disfigured 

 so as to give very much the appearance of apples which had been 

 "stung" by the small British Columbian apple fruit-miner (Argyres-- 

 thia conjugeUa Z. ). The black-cherry aphis and the two plum aphides 



