overcome the ingreen in water. water, and will cause great damage to the foliage by scorching. To jurious effect of the free acid, lime is usually mixed with the Paris Very frequently, however, the two substances are not left long enough in contact with one another to allow the lime to combine with the arsenious acid, and scorching of the leaf follows its application to the plant. Another method of adulterating Paris green is by the addition of gypsum or clay. It is hardly necessary to state that these substances are absolutely worthless as in secticides, and are only added to give weight. However, in Bulletin No. 88 of the Inland Revenue Department, Ottawa, dated July 31st, 1903, Thomas Macfarlane, Chief Analyst, states that out of 161 samples of Paris green collected in various parts of the Dominion, only 4.2 per cent. were adulterated. He also states that it seems that an improvement has been taking place during the last ten years in the quality of the Paris green sold in Canada. The percentage of the total number of samples collected at different dates found to be pure were as follows: 1894.... 72.2 per cent. genuine on 23 On the other hand, we found as a result of work done in our own laboratory samples of Paris green, collected principally from country stores in the early part of this year, that 82.6 per cent, of them were more or less adulterated. London purple is another arsenical insecticide sold in considerable quantities in this country. This substance is prepared by boiling a purple residue from the dye industry, containing free arsenious acid, with slacked lime. In case not enough lime is added to the dye residue or the boiling not continued long enough, some of the arsenious acid will be in the free condition, thus causing the foliage to be scorched. Because London purple is made from a by-product, therefore, not as pure a poison as Paris green, and because too much lime used in neutralizing the arsenious acid becomes an adulteration, and too little allows free acid to be present, it is not as reliable as poison as Paris green. Lead arsenate is probably the most insoluble of all the arsenicals used as insecticides, and, consequently, is the least liable to scorch foliage. The lead arsenate is mixed with a quantity of organic matter, principally sugars, to cause it to stick to the leaf. Practical tests with this insecticide show that its action is excellent, and that on account of its almost .entire insolubility it seldom scorches the leaf. It requires about four pounds of this substance, as usually found in the market, to furnish as much arsenious oxide as one pound of Paris green. During the last few years there has been a number of insecticides, depending on arsenic for their poison, placed on the market. Some of these are said to act both as an insecticide and a fungicide, and to supply plant food. As these substances may be bought for much less than Paris green, they have found a ready sale. We gathered a number of these mixtures from merchants in Guelph, and submitted them to analyses for the purpose of ascertaining just what they do contain. The results obtained correspond very closely with those reported elsewhere. The sample of Black Death examined was found to contain copper oxide and arsenious acid equivalent to .43 per cent. of Paris green. The balance of the material was sand, charcoal, gypsum, and limestone. In other words, there was less than a halfpound of Paris green in 100 pounds of the mixture. It would therefore require over 200 pounds of this insecticide to furnish one pound of Paris green. It is sold for 2 cents per pound, or 15 pounds for 25 cents. Bug Finish, another of these insecticides examined, contained copper and arsenic equivalent to 1.06 per cent. of Paris green. No other substance that would destroy in sects was found. The principal materials used for "make weight" were sand and gyp sum. This insecticide is sold at the same rate as Black Death. Kno Bug is the name given to another mixture which the manufacturers claim will not only kill the bug, but, unlike Paris green, it acts as a vegetable tonic and stimulates the growth of the plant. The sample analysed contained copper and arsenic in sufficient quantities to amount to 2.49 per cent. of Paris green. It also contains 4.50 per cent. of potassium nitrate. The latter is certainly a plant food, but, as we understand the physiology of plants, none of it would be absorbed by the leaves, and must fall to the earth and be taken up by the roots before it would be of any benefit to the plant. Under these circumstances it would seem better practice to keep insecticides and fertilizers separate. Kno Bug is sold in 20-pound boxes, at the rate of 6 cents per pound. Slug Shot was found to be composed almost entirely of crude gypsum, with copper and arsenic equivalent to 2.13 per cent. of Paris green. There is also present small quantities of sulphur, carbolic acid, and tobacco. The latter substances are of value as insecticides and fungicides, but 10 cents per pound, or 3 pounds for a quarter, seems like a big price to pay for such a mixture. It may not be fair to value Slug Shot solely on the basis of the Paris green it contains, for carbolic acid is a poison; but, for the sake of comparison, let us see what Paris green costs in these four mixtures. Calculating on the basis of the percentage of this poison as given below, we get the following figures: Cost of Paris Green in the Various Insecticides Examined. Also contains 4.5 per cent. of potassium nitrate for which no value is here shown. +Also contains carbolic acid and tobacco for which no value is here shown. Another insecticide, not depending upon arsenic for its poison, that has been sold in large quantities in the Province during the last few years was analysed. This insecticide, known as Bug Death, is said to kill bugs. feed the plant, increase the yield, and improve the quality of the potatoes. It is practically an impure or commercial zinc oxide. The only constituent present of any fertilizing value is nitrogen, of which there is less than two-tenths of one per cent. It, therefore, cannot supply any material amount of plant food. It appears to have a very strong fungicidal action, and has given good results in actual practice. It is sold at 15 cents per pound, or in 100-pounds lots at 7 cents per pound. It would appear from the above facts that some of the insecticides now market are not of sufficiently high quality to be recommended for general use. Q: What is Paris green adulterated with? Prof. Harcourt: Most commonly with gypsum, road dust, etc. on the Q: Is there a preparation used in the United States called White Arsenic, that is perfectly soluble? Prof. Harcourt: I do not know of White Arsenic being used by itself as an insecticide. White Arsenic in water forms arsenio us acid, which would scorch the leaves of the plant to which it may be applied. The destruction of foliage by Paris green is due to this substance. White Arsenic has been used successfully when boiled with lime, form ing calcium arsenite, thus neutralizing the acidity of the acid. Prof. Taft, of Michigan, Q. Have you had any experience with chemicals for the destruction of weeds? A.: Yes, and arsenic, too. Prof. Harcourt: I have had no personal experience with the use of chemicals for this purpose. The Biological Department has demonstrated, both in this neighborhood and in various parts of the Province, that copper sulphate will destroy mustard. They have also used chemicals successfully in destroying other weeds; but I do not know the details of their experimental work. Q. You spoke of Bug Death; how does it compare with Paris green in cost? Prof. Harcourt: It costs more than Paris green. I think last year Mr. Zavitz reported that the Paris green applied in his experiments costs 60 cents per acre, and the Bug Death $7.65 per acre. Q. As a fungicide is it as good as Bordeax mixture? Prof. Harcourt: In some experiments carried on here it has given better results than Paris green and Bordeaux mixture combined. Q: How much Paris green would you use to the acre? Prof. Harcourt. About a pound. Some complain that they have of late years had to increase the quantity, saying that years ago they had to use only eight to twelve ounces. When Bug Death first came out across the line, several of the experiment stations tested it. One State reported that they used 100 lbs. per acre and got no results. Since then the same State has reported favorably of it, using 20 to 30 lbs. to the acre. Mr. Zavitz: We started eight years ago to experiment with insecticides for the potato beetle. We now have the results of eight years' tests, which are interesting and very suggestive. Two years ago we added the Bug Death to the list of insecticides which had been tested previously. The average results are as follows: Vield of sound potatoes per acre. Treatments. Nothing.. Potato Bug Finish.. Paris green and plaster Paris green and water.. Bug Death dry Bug Death and water. : Q. Is there any more labor in applying Bug Death dry than with water? Prof. Zavitz: Rather more labor than where we used the spray pump. Q. Can you give the comparative cost of treating an acre of potatoes with Paris green and Bordeaux mixture? I notice that in the report of the Experimental Farm at Ottawa, the cost appears to be about $9 per acre with Bordeau mixture. Prof. Zavitz: At our Union meeting last year, Mr. Macoun stated that i. them about $8 per acre for the material, while Mr. Harold Jones reported the material used by him at about $3.75 per acre. Mr. Mason: In a wet season it is necessary to make more applications than one, which would make considerable difference in the cost. had cost cost of in a dry ONTARIO FARM STATISTICS. By C. C. James, M.A., Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Toronto. I think that Canada claims the honor of having the longest series of properly-taken censuses of any country of the world.* When Canada was not Canada-when she was New France-it was one of the duties of the Governor to send home regularly a statement of the inhabitants and their productions. For some two hundred and forty years we can go back, decade by decade, and from these census returns we can trace the history of the growth and development of this country; and in the early days the agricultural products played a very important part in that development. Is the collecting of information in regard to the farm work of this or any country a matter of any importance? Some years ago we very frequently received, instead of the information we desired, some very severe criticisms of the work we were engaged in. Farmers who were intelligent and ought to have known better, would write us and say: "You are wasting money in collecting and publishing agricultural statistics. Why should you collect this information, and place it before the people, in order that the wealthy grain buyers may take advantage of it, and cut down the price?" I have written many a farmer in the earlier years of the work in Toronto, trying to answer this argument. I have told them that, even if we did not gather and publish this information, the great grain buyers would collect it, and they do now collect it for themselves, and that our work was done to help the farmers' end of the enterprise. Again, no industry so widespread as the agricultural industry can afford to have its operations concealed. This industry is SO general and so important that it must be, in the long rung, at least, to its benefit to have its true state of affairs published from time to time. From the Provincial or national standpoint it has also seemed to be a matter of very great importance that the best and most reliable statistics in regard to agriculture should be continually kept before us. It is Our greatest industry. We would think very little, indeed, of the business ability of a great firm that did not from time to time look over the state of its affairs and strike balance. We do not pretend to go very fully into the business affairs of the farmers of this Province, but we think we are doing some good-that we are bringing before them some valuable information-in trying to find out whether from year to year they are making progress or going back. "How are the crops this year? How are the farmers getting on?" When the fall of the year comes around, that is the question on everybody's lips. "What is the condition of the crop?" "How are the cheese factories turning out?" How are the farmers doing." That is the key of the whole situation. If they are all right, then it is all right with everybody else. So I say it is important that we try to get as clear and as correct an idea as possible of how the crops of the year are, and how the farmers of this country are continuing from year to year. In 1846, there was organized in this Province, by the representatives af various agricultural societies, what was known as the Provincial Agricultural Association, out of which was formed a body known as the Bureau or Board of Agriculture. That body carried on work of various kinds for forty odd years. In 1882 the Provincial Government, however, considered that some part of the work at least should be more carefully systematized, so there was incorporated as a sub-department of the Government what was known then and has since been known as the Bureau of Industries. When a Department of Agriculture was formed, some seven years later, it was built upon * Vol. IV. of the Census of Canada 1870-71 contains abstracts of the various consenses of Canada and New France, commencing with 1665-1666. these two agricultural foundation-stones. It took the work that had been carried on up to that time by the Board of Agriculture, and united to it the statistical work carried on by the Bureau of Industries. I told you a few moments ago that our Canadian census returns could be traced back for a period of nearly two hundred and fifty years, and the question may at once arise in your minds as to what is the difference between the statistical reports to which I am referring and the census reports. Briefly this: the census is taken every ten years, and is nothing else than an addition or sum total of the work of all the individuals of the country. Our statistical work, about which I am speaking, is more or less an estimate based upon a smaller number of returns, and is carried on from year to year. You may therefore turn to the Dominion census figures to find out certain information in regard to the agriculture of this country, and you find it only for every ten years. Our returns, however, go back to 1882, and we have them complete for every year since then. They are largely estimated, as I have said. Now a few moments to explain to you briefly how these estimates are made. I might tell you, for instance, that last year the farm property of this Province was valued at $1,044,000,000. The question may at once arise as to how these figures are arrived at. How do we find out the value of the wheat and other crops, or the value of the live stock, etc., which altogether foot up to so many millions of dollars? To start out with, we have the annual municipal assessment returns, and according to statutory requirements, these are sent to our office every year. The assessor, when he goes around, takes a careful statement of the area of every farm. When these returns are received by us, we compile them, township by township, until we arrive at the entire assessed area of the Province.. That is the first thing we start on. Then, for a great many years, the assessors have also been asking, "How many acres of wheat have you? what numbers of live stock?" They are still taking these figures, but they are of little use to us. So we make use of simply the total area. Then, we have, distributed throughout this Province, two thousand correspondents. This is a list of men whom we have carefully selected. They are our trusted correspondents. Three times a year we send them circulars asking for information in regard to the condition of the crops, and the condition of labor and wages, the state of their live stock, etc., and from these returns we compile and publish three bulletins during the year, in May, August and November. The farmers of the Province, however, number one hundred and seventy-five thousand. If we were making a census of their products, we should ask the individual farmer for the results of his year's operation. We do not aim at that; we leave that to the Dominion census. If we were to send out circulars asking for information from these hundred and seventy-five thousand farmers, we might receive replies from one out of every ten; the great majority would not find time to answer, a large number would be utterly indifferent to it, and to a great many the difficulty of sitting down and writing a letter is greater than that of half a day's work in the field. We gradually accumulated a large list of farmers upon whom we could more or less depend for our returns. We got these names largely through the assistance of Public School teachers. They sent us the names of such farmers in their school section as they thought would be sufficiently interested and sufficiently intelligent to send us returns. To these we send once or twice in the year our card, asking for certain information. In June we ask for the area of the farms, the number of acres under various crops, the value of the farm, and the number of live stock. Suppose that from the assessor's figures we have found out there are thirty or forty thousand acres of farm land in a certain township, and from so many farms we have got a total acreage of say two thousand acres, with a sub-division of so many acres for wheat, oats and barley, it then becomes a mathematical calculation to make an estimate. Every return is carefully |