Do you happen to have seen the Woburn Report containing, amongst a good deal of information, an account of results of experiments re Black currant mite? I would with pleasure lend you my copy, if you please; there is a little in it, as to their views about hydrocyanic acid—the very great difficulties of applying it to broadscale treatment—and a politely expressed hope that further experiment may lead to useful results. The experiment of moving cut down plants, even if steeped in methylated spirit and water, has not succeeded. Mine had a charming little crop of mite galls on those only moved to my clean ground, and even the steeped plants were not quite without them. In this case four of the twelve plants died, the others were sickly, and all of the two dozen sent me flowered profusely but did not produce one currant!
Yours very truly,
Eleanor A. Ormerod.
To W. B. Tegetmeier, Esq., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.[[66]]
Torrington House, St. Albans,
July 3, 1897.
Dear Mr. Tegetmeier,—I am greatly obliged by what you tell me about your intentions as to publishing a book on “The House Sparrow,” Passer domesticus. My idea is this—that for popular use (farmers and gardeners)—the evidence of what the food of the house sparrow really is, needs to be put plainly before them by means of records of trustworthy investigations of the contents of their crops. For this I have been taking the returns of Mr. Gurney, and some of Colonel Russell, who used to help me; an abstract of the U.S.A. Board of Agricultural Investigations, &c., &c.; also from my own Annual Reports, some lists, and observations of birds which are named as destroying insects—this to show that we do not wholly rely on Passer domesticus! With other material I propose to make a sort of 8 or 12 page “leaflet” or small pamphlet, and send it out gratuitously. I believe it would have an enormous circulation, and would not interfere with your much more valuable standard book. But I am exceedingly desirous to act completely in conjunction with you. To me it would be a very great advantage. I quite reckon on being violently attacked, but it did me no harm before to be threatened to be shot at, also hanged in effigy, and other little attentions. Still it was disagreeable!
FIG. C.—HOUSE SPARROW, PASSER DOMESTICUS.
[Miss Ormerod’s case against the House Sparrow or avian rat is briefly given in the following summary, appended to the aforementioned leaflet, of which nearly 36,000 were printed and issued to applicants:—