85 



weathev, burning the scrapings, and then giving them a thorough 

 coating of slushy whitewash. I shall be glad if any members present 

 who have tested this remedy will give us the benefit of their expe- 

 rience, as I know that this enemy of the pear is attracting a good 

 deal of attention in the Eastern States. 



The San Jose scale in Canada, I am thankful to say, has not spread 

 beyond the limits of the area which was known to be infested at the 

 time of our last meeting, but nevertheless its numbers have decidedly 

 increased within that area. The injury now being done, it must be 

 acknowledged, is extreme. This area is comparatively small and lies 

 south of a line drawn from the extreme western end of Lake Ontario 

 to Lake St. Clair. The Federal Government is watching most jeal- 

 ously every shrub and tree imported from countries known to be 

 infested, and all classes of plants upon which the scale is liable to be 

 introduced are fumigated at the border by Government officials, 

 whether this is stated to have been previously done or not. It is but 

 just to state that up to the present time not a single instance has 

 been found of new infestation from stock brought into the country, 

 or of a living scale upon any tree which had been fumigated. Those 

 progressive fruit growers who have sprayed their trees to clear them 

 of the San Jose scale have had the greatest satisfaction with the lime, 

 sulphur, and salt wash, either with or without the salt. Experiments 

 are in progress with the New York Geneva station lime and sulphur 

 wash, in which the sulphur is combined with the lime by mixing it, 

 while the latter is being slaked, with a solution of caustic soda or 

 caustic potash. If this combination should prove stable and effective, 

 it will, I believe, be found to be one of the most important discoveries 

 in economic entomology. The one great difficulty in the way of get- 

 ting this useful remedy against scale insects adopted is the trouble 

 and inconvenience of boiling it from two to three hours to dissolve 

 the sulphur. I regret to say that my own experiments with this 

 wash, like those of all other workers I have so far corresponded with, 

 are incomplete. I have found that the combination of the sulphur 

 with the lime can be brought about quickly and without difficulty, 

 but as yet I do not know how effective the wash thus made is upon 

 the scale insects. I hope at this meeting to get some further light 

 upon this important subject. 



Root maggots of the cabbage, turnip, radish, and onion were very 

 destructive in many parts of Canada during the past season, com- 

 plaints of their depredations having been received from both the 

 Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as from many poirts in the inte- 

 rior. Satisfactory remedies for these insects seem still to be desid- 

 erata. For cabbages and cauliflowers, in my experience, the best 

 remedy has been the use of the tarred-paper disks recommended by 

 Professor Slingerland. Next to these is the pouring of a small quan- 

 tity of a strong decoction of pyrethrum insect powder (-4 ounces to the 



