THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO.

ANNUAL MEETING.

The thirty-eighth annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Ontario was held in London on Wednesday and Thursday, the 13th and 14th of November, 1901. The chair was occupied by the Rev. Dr. Fyles, of South Quebec, President. Among the members present were Dr. James Fletcher and Mr. Arthur Gibson, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa; Mr. Henry H. Lyman, Montreal; Mr. John D. Evans, Trenton; Prof. Lochhead, Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph; Mr. Geo. E. Fisher, Inspector of Scale Insects, Freeman, Ont. ; Mr. Charles H. Young, Hurdman's Bridge, Ont.; Prof. F. M. Webster, State Entomologist, Wooster, Ohio; Revs. Canon Daun and Dr Bethune; Drs. W. J. and H. A. Stevenson, Dr. Woolverton, Messrs. J. A. Balkwill, J. H. Bowman, J. Dearness, John Law, J. Alston Moffat, W. E. Saunders, R. W. Rennie, E. A. Brown, Demster, Thompson, Lochhead, and many other residents of London. The Society was also favored with the presence of the Hon. J. Dryden, Minister of Agriculture for Ontario, and Mr. G. C. Creelman Superintendent of the Farmers' Institutes of Ontario.

Letters expressing regret at their inability to attend were received from Directors, W. H. Harrington, Ottawa; D. G. Cox, Toronto; and James Johnston, Bartonville; and from Messrs. E. M. Walker, Toronto; A. F. Winn and Dwight Brainerd, Montreal.

The morning of Wednesday, November 13th, was taken up with a meeting of the Council for the transaction of the business of the Society and the preparation of their annual report. In the afternoon the Society met at 2.30 o'clock and at once proceeded to discuss the progress, present aspect and future outlook of the San José scale in Ontario The President, Dr. Fyles, expressed his gratification at the presence of so many eminent men at their meeting and felt assured that the conference they were entering upon would be of great value both to themselves and to all interested in fruit culture in this Province.

SAN JOSÉ SCALE DISCUSSION.

At the request of the President, MR. GEORGE E. FISHER, of Freeman, Ont., the Provincial Inspector of Scale insects, opened the discussion. The following is a condensed summary of his address: I wish to state at the outset and to emphasize very strongly the fact that very few fresh localities have been found this year infested by the San José scale. This is very encouraging and leads us to feel that the prospects of stamping it out are not altogether hopeless. People are now realizing better than ever before how dangerous an enemy it is; but it is remarkable how many mistakes were made in identifying the scale, the oyster-shell bark-louse, the scurfy bark-louse, and others, being mistaken for it. In the localities where the scale is present, its increase and destructiveness have been greater than ever before; it does not confine itself to one place, but reaches out into new localities beyond its former limits. As an illustration of the very great increase of the scale, I may give one instance. There is an orchard of 1,600 peach trees which was inspected in August, 1899, by seven experienced men ; they spent six days in their examination and only found the scale on 87 trees, showing that the infestation was but slight. In August of the following year, 1900, I could find the scale on every tree I looked at, but still a good crop of fruit was produced. This year (1901) that orchard is practically dead; it will never bear another crop of fruit; the scale is to be seen

everywhere throughout it. There are quite a number of just such orchards as that, and they constituto an object lesson which is constantly before the people—they cannot close their eyes to a dead orchard. In another orchard I have eaten peaches this last summer gathered from trees which have since become encrusted with the scale and will soon die from the attack.

There is a third orchard that I know of, a large orchard, from which about 25,000 baskets of peaches were picked this year. About the 25th of September I visited it and found the scale on every tree along a row reaching across the orchard; unless this orchard is put under proper treatment at once it has only one more year to live The alarming rapidity with which the scale spreads when once it has found lodgment causes it to be so destructive and so difficult to control. Thus far I have spoken of peach trees, but the scale attacks other kinds also. We have instances of plum trees, pear trees and even apple trees which are dead from the attack of the scale. Apple trees I have found more resistant than peach and was inclined at first to think that they would not be much affected, but the evidence to the contrary is too conclusive when we find apple trees which have been killed outright by the scale. The lower limbs are usually attacked first and then it spreads upwards till the whole tree is infested. I visited an apple orchard of 350 trees in 1899 which was then bearing well; the scale was found but the infestation was slight. Last year it bore a good crop of fruit, but it is doomed and will never bear again-most of the trees will be dead next year.

Now, as to remedies. There are four which serve good purposes. These are whale-oil soap; crude petroleum, and a combination of these two; lime, salt and sulphur (the favorite wash in California); and fumigation with hydro-cyanic acid gas. Whale-oil soap should be made strong, 2 lbs. of good soap to a gallon of hot water, and should be applied freely to saturate every part of the tree. Many people sprayed only one side of their trees, waiting for the wind to change to do the other, and ending by leaving it undone. Others sprayed the trunk where there was no scale and left the boughs alone, though they were full of it.

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Crude petroleum should be applied with great care; it seems to be perfectly safe when used for apple trees, which stand it better than any others, but is very dangerous for peach trees. I have never seen an apple tree which has been injured by it in this country; in New Jersey some trees have been killed, but it was not the crude petroleum that was used. I have found better results from it than from whale-oil soap, and it has also the advantage of being cheaper. The combination of soap and oil is a remedy which requires to be worked out. I am doubtful about it at present but I believe that it will yet prove an excellent remedy when the right proportions have been ascertained by experiment. Fifteen per cent, crude petroleum with water kills the scale but endangers the tree; 25 per cent. with 1 lb. whale-oil soap and a gallon of water is effective and not injurious to the same extent.

Lime, salt and sulphur as a remedy I like very much, but it is difficult to prepare; it requires some convenient mode of cooking, which is the important part, and the apparatus necessary for this is not always to be had. When cooked half a day, using lime that had been slacked in boiling water, it worked well, and so whitened every part of the tree that it reached that its application could be clearly seen; no portion of the tree should be left untouched. The reason this wash is so much more effective in California is because there are no heavy rains there to wash it off. Still, it can be used to good purpose here. Last May was very wet, and it began to rain while we were treating some trees and continued for a long time, yet the wash was successful, and we expect still better results in dry weather.

Fumigation with hydro-cyanic acid gas we tried at different points and at different times during the season, beginning in April and continuing till September. Over 300 trees were treated and a single live scale cannot be found on one of them. In the orchards trees affected by scale were marked and fumigated, the rest were sprayed. It is a troublesome and expensive remedy, but it will pay the fruit-grower to use it, when he would otherwise lose his trees.

If crude petroleum is applied to the trees as late as possible before the buds open in spring it covers the parts treated with a film of paraffine which remains on the trees during most of the summer and effectually keeps off the scale.

HON. J. DRYDEN: Which treatment would you put first? Can you depend on any of them to destroy the scale ?

Mr. FISHER There is no doubt that crude petroleum is the best for destroying the scale, but it cannot be used with safety on some trees. I should not think of using it on peach trees which were in any way weakened; it should only be applied to the most healthy and vigorous trees. It can, however, be safely used on apple, pear and most plum trees, but not on Japanese or egg plums. Where it can be trusted its effect on the trees is very good indeed. One great difficulty is that the ordinary nozzles are too coarse. I should much prefer a finer one than those made. (Here he exhibited three nozzles-one made by the Spramotor Co., of London, Ont., the other two finer ones that were made by a watchmaker according to his instructions).

Whale-oil soap is a very useful remedy for peach trees which would not stand the petroleum treatment. It should be thoroughly applied until the trees are completely saturated and the scale is entirely soaked. The difficulty regarding it is that it is too expensive. It costs 12 cents for soap to spray each peach tree, while the crude petroleum would only cost 2 cents. A combination of the soap and the oil would cost from 4 to 5 cents. The lime, salt and sulphur wash, taking the lime at 12 cents, the salt at 8 and the sulphur at 30, would cost 1 cent per gallon or 2 cents per tree, using two gallons to a tree. Fumigation costs from 15 to 17 cents for the chemicals required for a full grown peach tree.

The peach tree grower should allow the branches to grow close to the ground without a long trunk, the lowest branches being only a foot above the surface. This produces a tree which is better than a tall one for picking, for spraying, for fumigation and for obtaining shelter; it also has no long trunk for harbouring borers.

He found that in using crude petroleum with 20 p.c. water more trees were killed by the Ontario oil than by the American, the latter being much heavier. The specific gravity of the Ontario oil was 394 and that of the American 44. The former was procured from Wallacetown, Ont., through David Barr of Dutton, and the latter from Titusville, Penn. Undiluted oil sprayed with an ordinary nozzle would kill all trees.

The speaker then gave an account of some of his experiences during the past season. One instance was an orchard at St. Catharines in which he treated a block of trees; these are all healthy now, while east of them, only twenty yards distant, there are three or four rows of peach trees which were partially treated by the owner and have since all died.

Near Niagara 370 trees, plum and pear, were inspected on September 20th and found so much infested with scale that they could not stand them during the remainder of the season and the fruit was no good. He made a light application with 25 gals. crude petroleum, half a pint to a tree diluted with 25 p.c. of water; it did not hurt the trees and killed most of the scales. These trees will be treated again in the spring. The addition of water to the oil increases the volume and enables the oil to be more readily sprayed; it soon evaporates and leaves only the oil on the trees.

I cannot-he said-recommend any remedy that will fit every case, nor any nozzle. These may be one-fourteenth inch, one-twentieth, one twenty-fifth, one-thirty-third, one-fiftieth and one-sixty-sixth. One-fortieth is a good size; it makes a very fine spray, and the operator can regulate without difficulty the amount applied, as it works more slowly than a coarse one. MR. JOHN LAW: Does this nozzle ever get clogged?

MR. FISHER: No; the pressure keeps it clear. A long extension pipe should not be used; the shorter it is the better for satisfactory work.

After replying to several questions regarding spraying apparatus, materials and methods of application, Mr. Fisher said: I find now that there is an entire change of feeling amongst the

people. Two years ago they had not seen trees killed by the scale; now such cases are frequent and they furnish an object lesson which cannot be misunderstood. Fruit growers who find the scale on their trees, realize that something must be done and done without delay. Experience now shows the wisdom of the methods adopted by the Department of Agriculture, though so much objection was made at first. The only sure and perfectly effective remedy is burning up all infested trees. Had we begun our investigations a few years sooner we should have succeeded in getting rid of the scale altogether in this Province, but when once introduced into the country it is no easy matter to trace its whereabouts.

In the fall of 1898 we started out with a long list of suspected nursery stock and on investigation found trees infested with the scale in 100 places. These trees were taken out and burned as fast as they were found, and now the localities where they grew are entirely free from the scale. This, together with the splendid work that has been done in the nurserios, has saved the country from a deluge of scale.

In the infested districts the increase and spread of the scale is very great indeed; but where we have treated the trees, even for one year, the insect is under control. The situation is very much improved and I believe, from the results of our work, that by careful treatment we can control the scale and preserve the fruitfulness of our trees. Where good work has been done for one or two years, the results are such as to justify us in coming to this belief. If the treatment were universal, there would be no spread of the scale.

In answer to questions Mr. Fisher said that many who formerly objected are now treating their trees as they have learnt the necessity for it and seen the good results. The best time for treatment is the month of April. No body of men sent out from the Department of Agriculture could cover the affected territory within that month, it is therefore absolutely necessary that the work should be done by the owners of the trees, who are, of course, the parties most interested in the matter.

THE SAN JOSÉ SCALE IN OHIO AND IN ONTARIO.

Dr. FLETCHER, of Ottawa, considered this meeting one of more than usual importance. No subject which had ever engaged the attention of entomologists could compare with that of the injuries done by the San José scale, and the finding of a practical remedy. The Federal, Provincial and State Governments in Canada and the United States had done everything possible to direct the attention of fruit growers and gardeners to the danger of neglecting this terrible pest and allowing it to spread through the country. Much good work had been done, but further experiments were necessary before a quite satisfactory answer could be given to the vital question: "Is there any definite, practical remedy for the San José scale?" He congratulated the Society that the Hon. John Dryden had considered the meeting of importance enough for him to leave his other work in a very busy department to come to London to encourage the Society and to hear the latest views on the subject. The leading entomologists of the world, in America, in Australia and in other countries were now directing their efforts to this very question of getting an effective, easy and cheap remedy for the San José scale. The speaker had been fortuate enough recently to have an opportunity of going right through the infested areas in Ohio and Ontario and examining the experiments which had been tried to control it. In the first place, it should be stated that the San José scale only exists at the present time, as far as Canada is concerned, in one corner of the Province of Ontario, extending along the shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie in the Niagara Peninsula. The important experiments which had been carried on during the past season by Professor F. M. Webster in Ohio and by Mr. Geo. E. Fisher in Ontario were most instructive, and the results were really very similar in nature. In passing through these infested areas it was noticeable on both sides of the line that it was the same insect with the same habits in both places, the climate and the soil conditions were the same, and the fruit trees and fruit growers were identically of the same nature. The San José scale is without any doubt a terribly destructive insect, but it is so inconspicuous and difficult to detect when in small numbers, that there has been difficulty in getting farmers to appreciate how great the danger is. The great outcry nowadays is for definite information. The speaker claimed that the present occasion demanded, and he intended to make, very definite statements, founded on his recent investigations in Ohio and Ontario, and he knew these would be backed up and confirmed by Prof. Webster and Mr. Fisher, both of whom were present.

In the first place, with regard to the possibility of the San José scale killing trees in Canada. Many had hoped that Canada was too far north for the scale to increase rapidly enough to kill trees outright. In reply to this he had to say that he had recently seen plums and peaches which had been quite killed in two years from the time they were found to be first infested, and many other trees which, although not actually killed, were so seriously injured that they were practically useless. Even apple trees, which were thought to be much better able to withstand the attacks of the scale, were in many places, and particularly with some varieties, so much damaged that they were much disfigured by having a large number of their lower branches killed. It must, therefore, be concluded that the San José scale not only had killed trees outright in Canada in a very few years, but that its powers to increase and do harm are just as bad here as they are in other localities where it has gained a foothold.

The Ohio experiments, carefully planned and worked out by Prof. Webster and his expert assistants, showed plainly the benefit of special training in this kind of work. It was most noticeable that where orchards had been carefully sprayed excellent results had followed. This was particularly the case where the work had been done by the entomologists; however, where good practical fruit growers had carried out the instructions carefully the trees had been protected and paying crops had been secured. The advantage of experience was very