Canadian Agriculture. 
443 
binds it up agaia in the fall. During all that time the agriculturist has no 
leisure. It' he wishes to be prosperous he must only take sufficient time to 
eat his meals and sleep. At other times he must be carrying on a continual 
warfare with these insects. There is something to attack everything that the 
f.-.rm produces, and if we do not give attention to it the crop is sure to be a 
. failure." 
Here is work for a State Entomologist ! And it is satis- 
factory to be able to add that last year a Dominion Entomologist 
was appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, the first occu- 
pant of the post being Mr. James Fletcher, whose name has 
already been mentioned. In his preliminary report, Mr. Fletcher 
states that he has commenced the collection of a representative 
exhibit of the injurious insects of Canada, together with the 
plants attacked by them, and the mode of attack, as well as the 
jjeneficial insects which keep the injurious kinds in check. 
During the present year the cutworms, clover-insects, insect 
parasites of cattle, and the larch saw-fly, which was first 
recorded as a Canadian insect in 1882, have been selected as 
special objects of study and investigation. Last year one of the 
joint-worms did great harm to the grass-crops of Western 
Ontario, and entirely destroyed some of the hay-crops in New 
Brunswick. . The extent of the damage done by the clover- 
seed midge is sufficiently evidenced by the fact that, whereas a 
few years ago large quantities of Canadian clover-seed were 
exported to the United States, where there was a great demand 
for it, at the present time Canada has to import seed for home- 
growth. Last year the larva of the larch saw-fly, which is new 
to Canada, did so much mischief, that the tamaracs were, in 
many parts of New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario, almost 
completely deprived of their leaves. 
An Experimental Farm and Central Bureau of Agriculture. — 
A very strong feeling prevails in favour of the establishment of 
an Experimental Farm, and of a Central Bureau of Agricul- 
ture. Though the Dominion Cabinet includes a Minister of 
Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture has to concern itself 
with several matters which have little or no connection with 
agriculture. That this is so may be inferred from a summary 
of the contents of the Minister's Annual Report to the Governor- 
General, which embraces the following sections: — I. General 
Remarks. IL Arts and Agriculture. IIL Patents. IV. Copy- 
rights, Trade Marks, &c. V. Quarantine. VI. Immigration. 
VII. Census and Statistics. VIII. Health Statistics. Mr. John 
Lowe, the able and experienced Secretary of the Dominion 
Department of Agriculture, states that the Act of 1868, con- 
stituting the Department of Agriculture, would amply provide 
for the establishment of a Bureau of Agriculture, and for the 
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