32 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



6-7 EDWARD VII., A. 1907 



that this can be prevented to a very large extent. One of the best means of preven- 

 tion is a wooden veneer vs'hich encircles the trunk, thus preventing the rays of the 

 sun from striking the trunk. It is better loose so that there will be an air space 

 between it and the tree. Building paper, com stalks, boards, sacking or almost any- 

 thing else which will shade the trunk may be used. Black substances, such as tar 

 paper, should be avoided. The protection should be given in autumn. Nothing, 

 however, that will be likely to harbour mice should be used. 



Mice. — Some winters great injury to apple trees is done by mice, hundreds of 

 trees having in some places been girdled and destroyed. When a yovuig orchard is 

 just coming into bearing the disappointment is very great when after the snow dis- 

 appears in the spring the trees are found girdled and the prospective returns from tlie 

 orchard are destroyed. The following recommendations are made after nineteen 

 years' experience: All rubbish which will harbour mice should be removed from or 

 near the orchard in autumn. The trunks of trees should be wrapped with building 

 paper in autumn. After wrapping thousands of trees in this way with practically no 

 injury from mice this method is confidently recommended as the simplest and best. 

 Tar paper is also satisfactory, but injury to trees has occurred in places where tar 

 paper has been used, and it is not recommended. The wooden veneer used for pre- 

 venting sunscald is also an excellent means of preventing the depredations of mice. 

 Banking up the earth about the base of the tree to the height of about one foot is also 

 a fairly good plan, and even tramping the snow about the base of the trees will answer 

 a similar purpose. If a tree is girdled by mice it usually dies the same year or tte 

 year following. If the girdle is narrow the tree may be saved by bandaging to pre- 

 vent the wood from drying out, and this method may be adopted when the tree is only 

 partly girdled. When a tree has been injured by mice it has been found a good prac- 

 tice to cut or scrape away the injured part and cover the wound with grafting wax 

 or paint. Girdled trees may also be saved by bridge grafting or connecting the bark 

 above and below the girdle with scions. 



Close Planting of Apple Trees. — In the spring of 1896 there were 144 Wealthy 

 trees set out 10 by 10 feet apart, or at the rate of 435 trees to the acre. The expenses 

 and receipts from this orchard have been kept and published from time to time in 

 the annual reports. In the report for 1905, when the last statement was published, 

 it was shown that the average net profit per acre per year from 1896 to 1905 was at 

 the rate of $59.03, and the average net profit per acre from 1899 to 1905, or since the 

 trees began to fruit, was at the rate of $105.75. There is a good crop of fruit in 

 1906, and the average profit will probably be increased. This method of planting 

 apple trees is only suitable to a few varieties which begin to bear early, and is not 

 reconmaended for general practice, but the experiment is interesting and suggestive. 

 The trees havp so far been kept in bounds by pruning, but eventually some of the 

 trees will be removed. 



Each year we are more convinced that apple trees will not be long lived in the 

 colder parts of Ontario and Quebec, and that the most profitable method of planting 

 will be that by which one will get the largest returns from his land in the shortest 

 time. 



PLUMS. 



Varieties. — During the past nineteen years 253 named varieties of plums have 

 been tested at the Central Experimental Farm, including most of the European, 

 Japanese, Americana, Nigra, Miner and Hybrid varieties. Briefly stated, it may be 

 said that none of the European and Japanese plums have proven satisfactory, being 

 either too tender in fruit bud or wood, or both. Some of the European varieties are 

 a little hardier in the fruit bud than others, among which are some of the Russian 

 importations and some seedlings originated on the Island of Montreal. The winter 



