caused by insect pests. The apple crop in particular suffered much from worms, much of the fruit being affected in unsprayed orchards. The tent caterpillar also did injury. Several correspondents note the fact that where spraying was properly attended to these pests were kept in check, and good crops of fruit secured. Notwithstanding all dis. advantages the returns from all over the Province, with the exception of a few northerly counties, show that the supply of fruit, more especially of apples, was considerably more than sufficient for home consumption, very large shipments having been made to England and the United States from the western fruit growing section. Pears, peaches, plums and small fruits were also shipped from many localities. There was great variation as to quality, much of the yield being spoken of as inferior."

The acreage in orchard and garden, and in vineyard, is given in the following table by county groups and for the Province :

Every group shows an increase in the number of acres given to orchard, garden and vineyard, 345,538 acres now being devoted to fruit, of which 10,118 acres are in vineyard. The Lake Ontario and Lake Erie groups furnish nearly half the acreage given to fruit in Ontario.

FROM THE MAY RETURNS.

Colchester S., Essex: All our orchards at present are being examined for the San José Scale. So far as I can learn none have been found in this township.

Gosfield S., Essex: Fruit trees are looking well, with every indication of an abundance of fruit of every kind.

Tilbury N., Essex: A large number of fruit trees have succumbed to the blight of last summer. Camden, Kent: Not much spraying has been done in this section, but many farmers are making enquiries after this work, and no doubt there will soon be many at it.

Harwich, Kent: I never saw the fruit trees in this locality look better. If blows cr blossoms are any indication the peach crop will be an abundant one.

Canboro', Haldimand: Fruit trees are in a very good condition, except the common red cherries, which are nearly all destroyed by black-knot.

Turnberry, Huron: I think that every fruit tree in the township should be sprayed, but although your Department has scattered broadcast information regarding the mode of spraying and the different mixtures, I find that muny are either afraid of making mixtures. or are afraid of the expense. I believe that if eight or ten experts at the business were to go around with their appliances through each township and charge a fair rate per tree, there would be money in the business.

Sullivan, Grey: The late winter was exceptionally mild, and hence we are likely to have an extra number of pests to contend with. Insect life in every form is abundant. Young grasshoppers are already abundant. Caterpillars over an inch long were numerous in orchards and woods over three weeks ago. If ever spraying was needed it will be this spring.

Ekfrid, Middlesex: Fruit trees are looking well at present, and promise an abundant crop, but we must fight insect and fungous enemies vigorously. The black-knot on the cherry is very hard to conquer, or the only cure-cutting away-leaves but little of the tree standing.

The

Province.

Beverly, Wentworth: The Government inspector has been all over this township looking for the San José Scale, but has not found any.

Gwillimbury E., York: The fruit trees are full of buds, and some now in blossom, with plenty of tent caterpillars.

Scarboro', York: There is going to be plenty of bloom on apples, plums and cherries, and the caterpillars are going to be as numerous as ever. I noticed to-day that the bud-moth had got to work, and there are also dozens of green lice around where the buds are opening, but what injuries they will do I am not able to say at present.

Brock, Ontario: Fruit trees are looking very well, but on close examination there appear to be a lot of lice or aphides on the buds, which will require spraying to kill them.

Cavan, Durham: Fruit trees are seriously threatened by caterpillars.

Brighton, Northumberland: On this farm strawberries were in blossom on April 24th. At present there is a fine prospect of a good crop of everything.

Laxton, Victoria: Apple trees have been badly affected of late years with bark louse, and in looking over the trees I find that caterpillars are going to do destruction if not taken in time. The spring being warm, they have been hatched out earlier than usual.

Stephenson, Muskoka: Fruit trees are in good shape, except that some are troubled with a small green louse, which eats the centre out of the bud. Spraying will have to be more generally practised or the pest will destroy the orchards.

FROM THE AUGUST RETURNS.

Gosfield N., Essex: The vines are laden down with grapes. Never was a better year for berries.
Harwich, Kent: Leaf curl has injured peaches considerably.

Tilbury E., Kent: In quite a number of cases cherries decayed on the trees. Black-knot is pretty

common.

Yarmouth, Elgin: Winter apples will be about a quarter crop. Harvest and fall apples are more plentiful, but falling fast. There is a full crop of pears, but scab and blight are destroying the trees.

Canboro', Haldimand: Apples bloomed well, but a great many fell off. The grape crop is grand; the vines have all they can bear.

Stamford, Welland: Nothing on most of the apple trees. The crop is light and the quality will, I think, be inferior.

Stanley, Huron : Apples are not a heavy crop and poor in quality. There are very few plums, but the pear trees are fairly loaded.

Tuckersmith, Huron: Apples look well considering the dry season, though the Snow, Astrachan and some other kinds are badly spotted. Some varieties have a splendid crop, but others, including the Northern Spy, so largely grown, are not bearing.

Sarawak, Grey: Few winter apples-not one tree in ten has any fruit on in this county-principally summer and fall fruit.

Sunnidale, Simcoe: Greatest crop of plums for years.

Westminster, Middlesex: Berries were a very fine crop. Wild berries were small, but strong growers like the Cuthbert in reds, the Gregg in black rasps and Snider in black caps, fruited very heavily. Dereham, Oxford: There are very few winter apples, but a fair crop of early ones.

Oakland, Brant: Strawberries were very plentiful. Raspberries were scarce and injured by dry weather.

Dumfries N., Waterloo: The plums have stood the drouth better than apples, and there will be a fair average crop. The plum trees in general had a good heavy foliage which protected them.

Niagara, Lincoln; Pears are the only fruit crop that looks as well as last year.

Clinton, Lincoln: Rain at blossoming time washed the pollen from the fruit blossoms which consequently were not fertilized.

Saltfleet, Wentworth: Grapes are a heavy crop, except the Rogers varieties, which did not act well. York, York: Apples are small and injured by scab and codling worm. Caterpillars were prevalent this spring. The spraying of apples is not general.

Darlington, Durham: Fruit trees are so infested with injurious insects, etc., that eternal vigilance and fighting are necessary to secure a crop.

Haldimand, Northumberland: We must all trim well and spray if we are to have a full crop of sound

apples.

FROM THE NOVEMBER RETURNS.

Mersea, Essex: The apple crop was hurt considerably from blight and insects. None of the fruit was hurt from frost and hardly any from storms.

Southwold, Elgin: Frost kept off remarkably well this fall. Plenty of fruit for home consumption, and a great many apples shipped away.

Yarmouth, Elgin : Blight very bad on pear trees. Supply of apples not sufficient for home consumption.
Walsingham S., Norfolk: Abundance of fruit of all kinds; a great surplus of apples to ship.
Dunn, Haldimand: The scab and codling moth destroy at least fifty per cent. of the apple crop.
Sherbrooke, Haldimand: Codling moth was very bad here. Even sprayed trees did not escape.

Stamford, Welland: Fruit trees in very good condition. Apples a poor crop; grapes good.
Warwick, Lambton: The supply was good of berries and small fruit, but the apples were very wormy.
Grey, Huron: Fruit is not good. Some orchards are better than others, but very little first-class fruit.
Howick, Huron: Fruit trees are very much neglected in pruning and also in spraying. The apples are
not at all what they might be-they are scabby and deformed.

Stephen, Huron: The supply of fruit is more than sufficient for local consumption. Large quantities are left to spoil for want of a market.

Culross, Bruce: Fruit trees of all kinds healthy and vigorous. Abundant fruit for home consumption and a surplus of fall and winter.

Kincardine, Bruce: We suffered a great loss by insect pests and wind storms, none by blight or frost. Bentinck, Grey: Fruit trees are not in very good condition. The caterpillars stripped them of their leaves, and they look a little blate.

Glenelg, Grey: The crop was exceedingly small, yet of very good quality.

St. Vincent, Grey: Many thousand barrels of apples exported.

Tecumseth, Simcoe: Except plums, grapes and currants, all fruits are a comparative failure.

Vespra, Simcoe: Damage in some places from tent caterpillars and codling moth. Curculio not as bad as last year.

Nissouri W., Middlesex: Great quantities of apples have been exported to the British markets. Norwich N., Oxford: Fruit trees are looking well with a little blight on pear trees. All fruit was a small crop except pears which were a drug on the market.

Logan, Perth: A good quantity of apples has been shipped. Fall varieties turned out very well, but winter apples are somewhat wormy.

Garafraxa W., Wellington: Trees are in a healthy state, but a few of them are bad with lice-they seem to be worst on fall trees.

Waterloo, Waterloo: A great surplus of apples, and they are looking fine and good. Farmers are getting $1.25 a barrel for the good winter apples.

Mulmur, Dufferin Early kinds were deficient; later fruits much better.

Niagara, Lincoln: A good many peach trees are being destroyed by a new disease termed rose leaf; and the blue aphis has been bad on English cherry trees these two years.

Saltfleet, Wentworth: Apples are in good shape where the trees were sprayed, but injured a good deal by leaf blight where they were not sprayed.

Trafalgar, Halton: Trees are in good condition, but there was a good deal of loss in some trees planted this season on account of drouth.

Etobicoke, York: The hail storm did a deal of harm to the apple crop The fruit is decaying where they were struck by the hailstones.

Gwillimbury N., York: Plumns were abundant. Grapes very fine. Rather dry for other small fruits. York, York: Trees and vines are in Al condition, and with a favorable winter we may look for a large crop of all kinds of fruit, if the trees receive proper care in the spring by spraying.

Pickering, Ontario: There will be shipped from Port Union station this fall about 1,000 barrels of apples. The quality was only fair. The apples were badly affected by scab and sun check.

Cartwright, Durham; Loss by insects very great where no spraying was done.

Cramahe, Northumberland: The young fruit trees seemed to have stood the terrible drouth in the summer fairly well.

Ameliasburg, Prince Edward: Apple crop was very light as a rule, perhaps from effects of frost, as they were better along the water than elsewhere. Other fruits were abundant.

Winchester, Dundas: Apples were injured in the spring in many orchards, and the crop was light, but the trees seem to have recovered.

Lancaster, Glengarry: Fruit trees of later planting of good varieties seem to be thriving, but old trees are dying away very fast.

Caledonia, Prescott: Serious loss in some localities caused by caterpillars in June, and a general percentage by all insect pests.

Gloucester, Carleton: Apple trees are in pretty good condition now, but they were nearly eaten up by caterpillars the first of summer.

Thurlow, Hastings; Good young trees have made good growth.

Tarbutt, Algoma: The fruit that we had was of the very best quality, but still it is hard to get the right varieties of fruit trees for this country.

TOBACCO.

The August bulletin had the following: "The counties of Essex and Kent have been experiencing a boom this year in the growing of tobacco. A large area has been given to this crop, and although the early part of the season was too dry for best results the plants in many cases are quite promising. While many of the growers are practically without experience, the general opinion appears to be that the crop will be a fairly successful one in that particular section. Grasshoppers and the "worms" of the sphinx moth are reported to have done injury to the plants. Correspondents also report tobacco as being grown in the counties of Prescott, Lanark, York, and Lennox and Addington, and on St. Joseph Island, and other sections are also becoming interested in the crop." November reports were to the following effect: "This crop has turned out well. The season for setting out plants was rather dry, but the general growth was good, and a large quantity of leaf was obtained. A little late planted was caught by frost, but the bulk of the crop escaped. Correspondents speak favorably of the curing. The 'worm' was the worst enemy of the crop."

Colchester N., Essex: Many farmers are going into raising tobacco, which will necessitate the employing of extra hands.

Gosfield N., Essex: Tobacco growing will be all the rage here this summer.

Pelee Island, Essex. A large number are going to grow a patch of tobacco this year, as our soil and climate are well adapted for its growth. What was grown last summer paid the growers well.

Harwich, Kent: There will be a lot of tobacco planted in this locality this season. The soil and climate seem to be favourable to it.

Raleigh, Kent: There will be less beans grown this year than usual, as tobacco will be all the craze. Some farmers intend to plant as much as twenty-five acres or more, but from five to ten acres will be grown on about every other farm.

FROM THE AUGUST RETURNS.

Colchester N., Essex: The crop will be a medium one. It was dry at setting time. Early set plants are doing well; some are setting out yet.

:

Colchester S., Essex Fair to very good. It was too dry at the time of planting, and a good deal of replanting had to be done.

Gosfield N. Essex: There is a large area planted, and it looks all right generally although there are some sickly patches. The sphinx moth worm and grasshoppers have done a little damage.

Gosfield, S. Essex: Plants are very uneven. Weather has been very dry and worms are in full force. Malden, Essex. Plants are not uniform. It was too dry.

Mersea, Essex Tobacco is in fair to good condition, although it has been rather dry for the crop and grasshoppers are eating the plants.

Pelee Island, Essex Early planted tobacco looks well; later is poorer. too dry for the plants.

The first part of July was

Camden, Kent: Early planted looks well, but late planted look away behind. Very few farmers have had experience in growing this plant.

Harwich, Kent: Tobacco has been somewhat backward on account of drouth at time of planting, but recent rains are making the crop look splendid. Tobacco worms have been bad.

Orford, Kent: Tobacco has every appearance of being a good crop.

Raleigh, Kent: A large number are now getting their first experience in growing tobacco. Early planted is very good, but late planted is poor. The worm has been a little troublesome.

Scarborough, York: I have seen only a small number of plants which were mailed me on July 1st, out of which I have a few plants which are doing nicely.

Denbigh, Lennox and Addington: Excellent except where hurt by frost. Only small quantities are used for home use.

Drummond, Lanark: Am growing a few plants for trial, and they are doing well.

FROM THE NOVEMBER RETURN.

The

Colchester, Essex: Tobacco is a splendid crop, and will average about 2,000 pounds to the acre. first crop was cut long before any frost, and most of the second would have been, but owing to the low price being offered a great part of the second crop will not be saved.

Colchester, Essex: This part of the country has had a complete change in the season's work. The high price for tobacco last year set farmers wild, and a large area was sown, running from one to sixty acres with some, while scarcely a farm is without its small patch. The acreage is really more limited than expected, as fully one-fifth of the land planted became vacant owing to plants not starting for want of moisture.

Colchester, Essex: Tobacco has been a good crop, but the douth was bad for setting, causing an uneven growth.

Gosfield N., Essex: Tobacco is a large crop, but it has been injured some by grasshoppers.
Mersea, Essex: Tobacco is one of the best crops for years.

Pelee Island, Essex: Old growers say tobacco is a good crop this year, except where ravaged by the

worm.

Harwich, Kent: Tobacco is a good crop and well saved generally, although some planted more than they could care for.

Harwich, Kent: Tobacco is a good crop. The tobacco worm or green grub was a source of annoyance. Where the crop was well attended to it gave a good return.

Orford, Kent: A good deal of the tobacco is poor, many patches having been frosted.

Thorold, Welland: There have been a few trials with a large growth.

Howick, Huron : There is very little tobacco grown here. A few of the Germans grow it for their own use, and it was a good crop this season.

Westminster, Middlesex: Tobacco is not generally cultivated, but it has done remarkably well. The plant suffered to some extent from the tomato worm.

Hawkesbury E., Prescott: Tobacco is cultivated in small plots, and is a fair crop.
Glamorgan, Haliburton: Tobacco is not grown here except for the flower (Nicotiana affinis).

FLAX.

Owing to a rumber of western flax mills having closed down during the last two years the acreage of flax has fallen off greatly. The crop will be only middling in quality, The area in flax dropped from

frost and drouth having told upon both seed and stalk. 16,240 acres in 1897 to 10,720 acres in 1898.

FROM THE AUGUST RETURNS.

Plympton, Lambton: There is a pretty good crop, but there is not much grown.
McKillop, Hurɔn: There is no flax grown here this year, as the mill is closed up.

Wawanosh E., Huron : Flax is in good condition, but not much has been grown this year, as the crop was not profitable last year.

Turnberry, Huron: There is a very heavy crop of fibre. The crop of seed will be affected somewhat by frost. However, it will be a good all round crop.

Holland, Grey: Flax looks well, but only small patches are raised.

Zorra, E, Oxford: Flax is all right where sown in good time. Late sown is injured by frost and drouth.

Elma, Perth: Flax is a fair crop this season, but it has not been so much sown as formerly on account of the flax mills being shut down in this locality. Farmers are tired of pulling flax by hand and selling for $7 or $9 per ton.

Wallace, Perth: Not so much has been sown on account of the flax mill at Listowel being closed. Flax has suffered somewhat from the frost.

Ramsay, Lanark : Flax is in good condition, but only a little is grown.

FROM THE NOVEMBER RETURNS.

Stephen, Huron : Flax is not as much cultivated this year as formerly.

Stephen, Huron: Thousands of acres are sown every year to flax. There are no less than four flax mills in the township. The flax dealers buy it from the farmers by the ton. Of course it is a little ready money to a man, but then it is very hard on the land, as everything is drawn away and no return is made to the soil. I consider this is a poor way to farm.