REPORT

OF THE

Inspector of Fumigation Appliances

1903.

To the Honorable John Dryden, Minister of Agriculture :

Sir, I beg to submit therewith the Fifth Annual Report of the Inspector of Fumigation Appliances.

A the conditions in respect to the San Jose Scale were very much the same this year as in 1902, no important changes were necessary in the carrying out of the fumigation laws. Owing to the strict enforcement of the laws in the past four years, the Scale is still confined to two districts, viz., the Niagara Peninsula and part of the Counties of Essex and Kent. If it had not been for the prompt and effective work of the Department of Ag.icul ure in tracing and destroying all infested nursery stock in the Province, the fruit industry would have been in very bad condition to-day. The most important of the apple-growing counties including Huron, Middlesex, Northumberland, Durham and Ontario are now entirely iree from the Scale, and as the raising of this fruit is becoming of such vast importance to the farmers of Ontario, every effort should be made to protect them against any further spread of he insect. Unlike many insect foes, whose presence is quickly apparent, the San Jose Scale is not noticed until it has secured a firm foothold in the orchard. Then, as the growers of the Niagara District have found, the work of extermination is not only very difficult, but also very expensive.

The work of inspection has been carried out as in former years by personal visits both in spring and fall to all nurseries in the Province offering stock for sale. Nurseries handling only evergreens, strawberry plants, bulbs and tubers, herbaceous perennials and bedding plants are exempt from the provisions of the Act, as such plants have been found to be free from attacks of the Scale. A number of the seedsmen offer for sale small fruits such as currants, gooseberries, raspberries and also grapes. As these plants are susceptible to attacks from the Scale it is necessary that these men should observe the law in regard to fumigation of such stock. This is also the case with all firms handling ornamental shrubs and trees. Fortunately almost all of the firms handling this class of stock are outside infested areas, but as they are likely to be constantly getting stock from other sources, the danger of infestation is always present

NURSERIES.

The nurseries as a whole are in better condition now than when the inspection was started. Many of the smaller firms have given up business owing to restrictions placed upon them by the law. This is especially the case in the scale infested centres, where the additional cost of employing an inspector to superintend the fumigation so increased the cost as to the render the business unprofitable. This condition has aided considerably in the work of checking the spread of the Scale to new sections. The fewer the nurseries in the affected limits the closer the inspection can be made and the better watch can be kept over the fumigation.

At present all the nurseries requiring assistance are placed in the hands of men who take entire charge of the fumigation both in spring and fall. This is quite easily arranged with the larger nurseries, but with the smaller firms it is not only very expensive to the nurseries themselves, but also very difficult to procure a man to take charge of the work. The places are scattered and the dates when the fumigation is required vary greatly. There is practically not a day's steady work at any one time. It is to be hoped that these men who are carrying on the nursery business as a kind of side issue, will see fit, when their stock is so situated as to be constantly subjected to attacks of the Scale, to retire from business altogether. If the fruit growers would refuse to buy from these men, they would soon be compelled to do so. Cheap stock is dear at any price, especially when it is almost certain to be infested with the Scale.

In the spring the following circular letter was sent out to the nurserymen of the Province.

"Toronto, February 26th, 1903.

"Dear Sir,-The spring inspection of fumigation houses will begin about the middle of March. If you are haling any nursery stock for spring sale, including apple, pear, plum, peach, cherry and quince trees, grape vines, raspberry, gooseberry, and currant bushes, and all ornamental shrubs and vines, you will kindly notify me at once so that your fumigating appliances may be inspected.

"Chemicals may be obtained by writing to this office. As in most cases, such must be shipped by freight, it is absolutely necessary that you order the required chemicals early. Owing to the impossibility of testing same, nurserymen will not be allowed to use cyanide or acid obtained locally.

"Please commence to have your house put in order at once. Make repairs where nccessary, so as not to delay the Inspector. Owing to the limited time no place can be visited twice, and if your house is not in shape, the delay will probably prevent any shipmen of stock this spring."

As nurseries are not required to obtain a license to carry on business, no accurate record can be obtained of those actually engaged. While many of the smaller firms have given up work, others may be starting in entirely new sections. Of these your Inspector has no trace unless he comes across the names by chance. Some sort of registration seems necessary to safeguard the interests of the fruit growers and of the nursery men already engaged in carrying out the fumigation laws.

No opposition, as was the case in former years, has been shown to the enforcing of the laws. On the contrary, a certain feeling of apathy has developed which is worse in some instances than the opposition previously encountered. This is due largely to the fruit growers themselves who have till quite recently shown very little interest in the question.

Dr. Fletcher, the Dominion Entomologist, writing from Ottawa, says: “I am very glad to see that a few people are beginning to wake up to the danger of neglecting the San Jose Scale. There is nothing new in the situation since last year. Lazy, ship-shod people will always make excuses for not doing what they know is their duty to the con-munity at large and even to themselves. If the fruit growers instead of complaining about what the nurserymen are doing, or are not doing, would attend to their own work better and buy new stock only from the best nurserymen instead of always looking for the cheapest, wherever these nurserymen may be situated, it would be a good thing for Ontario."

"The lime and sulphur wash as described in Prof. Lochhead's recent bulletin is the remedy which has given by far the best results, and after the magnificent work done by Geo. E. Fisher for the Provincial Government no one with any pretensions to com mon sense or business ability can say that he does not know what to do."

CONDITIONS OF THE SCALE, METHODS OF TREATMENT, ETC.

Prof. Lochhead, who has been largely interested in the San Jose Scale since its appearance in Ontario, makes the following statement in a recent bulletin by the Department of Agriculture.

"It is now nearly ten years since the San Jose Scale made its appearance in the United States east of the Rockies, and it is about seven years since it first appeared in Ontario. It has made progress in that time in spite of all the efforts which have been fut forth to keep it under control. In the St. Catharines district there are but few orchards which have escaped invasion and many have succumbed to the terrible attack. In the west the Scale is very prevalent in South Essex and Kent. Although the Scale is so widespread in these districts, yet we must remember that if it had not been for the energetic action of the Government in appointing inspectors, and in passing the Fumigation Act for the treatment of nursery stock, in my judgment, the Scale would have spread to most parts of the Province."

Mr. J. Fred Smith, the Provincial Inspector. says. "I have had no notice, nor have I found the Scale in any new district this year, but in the old places where the Scale was first found, things are in very bad shape where no spraying has been done. I have never seen the Scale increase so rapidly as it did this year. It seems as though a great number had wintered over, for at the beginning of July there was as much young Scale as we usually find by the beginning of September.

There have been some splendid results this year from the uses of lime and sulphur, and some good results from crude oil, but in my opinion not so good as the sulphur spray. At Winona, Alex. Glover had a peach and plum orchard about six years old. The Inspector found, during the summer of 1902 some trees quite bad with Scale. During the month of September Mr. Fisher and I sprayed the worst tree with crude oil envulsion and last spring Mr. Glover sprayed the whole orchard with lime and sulphur, with the result that on the 5th of August when we examined this orchard we could not find a single live scale, but I have no doubt there must have been a few and some by this time very lively. I could name you other orchards nearly as good, the only difference being in the application, for there is no doubt that any of our remedies will kill the Scale if they are thoroughly applied. It is just a question of hitting to kill, but trees that are encrusted cannot very easily be cleaned and I always advise taking such out for the reason that the wash cannot penetrate to the lower layers. There was very littl lime and sulphur used east of Jordan. At St. Catharines and Niagara the bulk of it was crude oil, and it was used on everything, with the result that quite a number of peach and plum trees were killed. However, there does not seem to be any objection raised as they seemed to feel that it was a case of kill or cure and were willing to take the risk, although they had been warned.

In regard to the conditions in the United States, Dr. L. O. Howard, Chief of the Division of Entomology, says: "In answer to your questions relative to the San Jose Scale, you are informed that this insect is slowly spreading in the United States. The excitement which its first appearance occasioned, however, is dying down, and our people are becoming familiar with the methods of controlling it, and are ceasing to fear it as at first. There has been no new method of treatment which has the endorsement of much practical experience. The lime, sulphur and salt wash is the remedy commonly employed and recommended. The difficulty of this preparation is the sole objection to it, and if one has any considerable amount of orchard to spray, the expense of a suitable plant is warranted, and this difficulty is largely obviated. The various efforts which have been made to quicken or cheapen the process have not been satisfactory, or at best have beer. less efficient than the standard wash prepared as dircted in our Circular 52, copy of which I enclose.

Nurseries are inspected in most of our States. certainly all of those whose fruit interests are of any great importance, and the nursery stock usually goes out with a certificate of fumigation. The introduction of the Asiatic enemy of the Scale is still in the

2 F. A.

experimental stage. It has been fairly widely distributed, especially in the southern peach-growing States, and some notable success has been had with it in Georgia. Nowhere, however, has it been sufficient enough to make one advise the discontinuance of spraying operations, except in the orchards where it has been colonized, and where it is desired, of course, that the Scale be let alone to give the beetle a chance to multiply. It is more than probable that spraying will be a necessity for many years to come, as it has been for many years past in California. In the latter State the process has become so familiar to orchardists that they think little of it, and the benefit to the trees, other than in merely keeping down the Scale is so great tha: the treatment is recommended whether the trees are infested with the Scale or not. In the East, for example, this wash has been most efficient in preventing peach curl, and important growers here say that their sprayed trees bear more fruit than those unsprayed, and are kept in fine, clean condition, so that in the East also spraying with this lime, sulphur and salt wash is very beneficial in preventing fungous diseases."

From this letter, it seems that we cannot expect any help at present from the use of insect and fungous enemies of the scale. Prof. Gossard, of Florida, also writes, "Only one attempt has been made to introduce Chinese lady bugs, and the colony commenced breeding this year, but at the last time my visit was made to the orchard in which the insects were loosed, I could find none of them, and I shall be obliged to make another visit to the orchard before I can tell definitely whether the colony succeeded or failed."

"The chief fungous disease of the Scale is native to this State, and usually springs up spontaneously after the Scale has been bad, if the trees have been able to live through an attack of two or three years. Young orchards less than two or three years old, are almost certain to be killed by the insects unless treated by some insecticide."

Experimenters hoped that by the use of soda or potash, the preparation of the limesulphur mixture might be greatly simplified. It was thought possible to considerably reduce the time required to boil the sulphur, and perhaps to do away with the boiling altogether. Of course this would reduce the cost of preparing the wash and do away with any expensive apparatus. Experiments at the Ohio Station apparently showed that to all appearances the soda wash accomplished very little good. The treatment did not prevent the fruit from being rendered unsalable because of the spoiling by the Scale nor did it check further injuries to small twigs and branches. Further experiments are now being carried on along this line by the Departmen: of Agriculture and better results are hoped for.

The use of this lime-sulphur mixture is strongly recommended in all small nurseries where the scale exists in any considerable quantity in the immediate neighborhood. Very young stock which will not be sold for two or perhaps more years, and therefore will not be subject to fumigation till that time, should be especially taken care of, and should preferably be treated with this wash. On account of the small size of the stock they can be very easily got at with the spray-pump.'

CHANGE OF FORMULA.

A slight change was made last year in the formula used in the fumigation. As some of the smaller nurseries still buy the chemicals in bulk, the New Jersey formula with its fractions was found to be rather complicated, and the simpler formula, 1:1:3, adopted by the Dominion Government, was substituted. As tests had shown that no injury resulted from the use of this amount of cyanide and acid on peaches, Japan plums and cherries, the formula for the fumigation of this class of stock was done away with. These changes have simplified the work required for fumigation without in any way lessening its efficiency. The following circular of instruction was sent to every nurseryman in the Province:

7

MEMO. FOR THE GUIDANCE OF NURSERYMEN IN THE FUMIGATION OF
NURSERY STOCK.

I.

READ CAREFULLY AND PRESERVE.

Formula to be used for all classes of Nursery Stock; per 100 cubic feet in house or box :

Cyanide-One ounce.

Sulphuric Acid-One fluid ounce.

Water Three fluid ounces.

2. The following plants do not require fumigation :

Evergreens, Strawberry

Plants. Bulbs and Tubers, Herbaceous Perennials, and Bedding Plants.

3. Damage may be done to stock (a) if fumigation takes place too early in the fall, before the buds are set, and the wood sufficiently dormant; and (b) if fumigation takes place late in the spring, after the buds have begun to swell.

4. The roots of stock should be exposed for as short a time as possible, both before and after fumigation. Experience shows that much injury has resulted from such exposures.

5. No nurseryman shall use chemicals other than those sent out under direction of the Inspector.

6. Nurserymen should bear in mind that a Certificate of Fumigation must be attached to every package of nursery stock sent from the nursery.

7. No fumigation house is to be used for fumigation purposes until sanction has been obtained from the Inspector.

8. Caution.-The cyanide is a deadly poison and shall be kept away from children and animals. Burns from the acid on the hands or face may be treated thus: Wash affected parts at once with water and cover with baking soda. If the burn is bad, brush off the soda and apply Carron-oil.

REGULATIONS FOR THE FUMIGATION OF NURSERY STOCK.

The foliowing regulations have been prescribed by order of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, in accordance with the provisions of the San Jose Scale Amendment Act, passed April 1st, 1899 :

I. Fumigation must be carried on in a box, room, compartment or house suitable for the purpose, which must be air-tight, and capable of rapid ventilation. The owner or proprietor must notify the Minister as soon as preparation for fumigation is complete. The Minister will thereupon order an inspection of the fumigation appliances. No fumigation under the Act is to be carried on until such inspection has been made and a satisfactory report sent to the Minister.

2.

The Inspector, after examining and measuring the box or house, or other compartment in which fumigation is to be carried on, will prescribe the amounts of material to be used for every fumigation, and the instructions as to the same must be carefully followed out. The Inspector may, if thought advisable, supply the material for each fumigation in weighed packages.

3. The fumigation house (which shall include all apparatus or appliances used in the fumigation, such as generators, etc.) is to be subject to the orders of the Minister Subject to the approval of the Inspector, on the recommendation of the Inspector. the fumigation house may be on other lots than those on which the nursery stock are growing.