128 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Jan. 



told him that he sent in fifty tons of strawberries daily during 

 the season, besides other products. Some of the persons he met 

 either invited them to visit their estates and study the methods 

 of cultivation, or gave them letters of introduction to the owners 

 of large estates where there was something to be learned; and 

 Mr. Whyte remarked on the unfailing courtesy and hospitality 

 with which they were received and entertained merely on the 

 strength of such letters. He then gave his impressions of the 

 methods of cultivation. 



A great deal of time and labour is given to the training 

 and pruning of the small fruit bushes. The lower shoots are 

 all cut off, and the upper branches are not left to topple over 

 and drag their fruit in the ground, but so that plenty of sun- 

 light and air gets in to ripen the fruit. He also illiistrated 

 on the screen the care that is taken of the larger fruit trees, 

 and how carefully they are pruned and protected. And yet 

 these trees do not look as healthy as ours. They are planted 

 too close, and with shrubs or perennials between, and the trees 

 are covered with moss; and Paris green as a destroyer of insect 

 pests is practically unknown. 



At some of the large estates they took photographs of the 

 special "show gardens," where the owners displayed their 

 artistic fancies for pleasure and beauty, and not for productive- 

 ness. For instance, there was shown the Japanese garden, the 

 Elizabethan, the water, the rock, and many ether peculiar and 

 beautiful gardens. 



Another group of views illustrated English country life: 

 the well-kept but narrow road, with no sidewalks, with hedges 

 instead of fences, and often bordered with flowers. The private 

 residences of any pretention were rarely visible from the road; 

 they would be carefully screened by trees, and only the gate 

 with the name of the estate on the gate-post was seen. But 

 these names were well-known and served the purpose of street 

 numbers. 



One of their most interesting trips outside of London was 

 when they were invited as the guests of the Horticultural Club 

 on their annual outing, which this year was to Stoke Poges, 

 Burnham Beeches, and Cleveden, the home of Mr. W. H. Astor, 

 and winding up at East Burnham, the residence of Sir Harry 

 Veitch, the President of the Club. The beech trees at Burnham 

 Beeches are pollards, that is, with very short trunks, which in 

 the course of several centuries have grown to great girth, and 

 assumed weird and fantastic shapes. 



Another trip was to Bagshot, the private residence of 

 H. R. H. the Duke of Connaught. This place is famous for the 

 great variety and beauty of ornamental trees. And there were 



