282 



The Hessian Fly. 



[AUG., 



class seed as distinguished from the growth of grain for food, 

 and the purpose of the association is to bring these farmers into 

 an organisation which will instruct them in the best means of 

 improving their seed, and also educate buyers and farmers 

 generally in the value of high-class registered seed. Reference 

 is made to the fact that in the maize-growing States of Western 

 America associations of seed-corn growers have been organised 

 for the purpose of ensuring supplies of seed, improved not only 

 in yield but also in quality, particularly in the content of 

 protein. 



The sale of seeds in Canada is not at present subject to any 

 Government control, but the attention of the Department of 

 Agriculture has been directed to certain abuses in the seed 

 trade, with the result that a Bill, which is now before the Legis- 

 lature, has been drafted providing for the inspection and sale of 

 seeds. One object of this Bill is the prevention of the dis- 

 semination of noxious weeds, and a handy collection of 

 economic seeds has been prepared by the Department for the 

 use of seed merchants and agricultural institutions as a means 

 of assisting in the identification of seeds of useful and noxious 

 plants. These collections contain authentic specimens of 100 

 species, put up in small bottles and suitably labelled, and are 

 supplied to seed merchants for two dollars. The Bill also 

 proposes to establish uniform terms for the grading of the more 

 important grass and clover seeds according to fixed standards of 

 purity and vitality. 



The Board have received a report that an attack of the 

 Hessian fly has been observed in the neighbourhood of Box, 

 Chippenham. Although this fly is occa- 



^ e / ^. es ?! an sionally met with, it has not in recent years 



\Leciaomyia 



destructor ) been the cause of any very serious damage ; 



but in 1886 and 1887 the insect became 

 somewhat widely distributed throughout Great Britain, twenty 

 counties in England and ten in Scotland being attacked. 



In view of its destructive character in America, Canada, and 

 some parts of Europe, the Agricultural Department of the 



