274 



CURRANTS. 



Although the currant bushes suffered from the spring weather in the same 

 manner as the gooseberries, they were not injured so badly, scarcely any being 

 killed. The effect on their growth during the season has, however, been preci^^ely 

 the same ; the young shoots and blossoms were destroyed, and much of this season's 

 growth has been lost, it being necessary to cut away all straggling shoots. 



Name of Variety. 



Black Currants, Lee's Prolific. . . 

 do Blk. Champion. 



do Blk. Naples 



Red Currants, Fay's Prolific . . . 



do Raby Castle 



do Red Cherry 



do Red Grape . 



do Victoria 



White Currant, White Grape.. . . 



Native Black ..... . . 



Native Red 



Remarks. 



Perfectly hardy, 

 do 

 do 

 Hardy ; lost from effects of roots washing bare. 



do 



do 



do 

 Dov|i)tful. 

 Hardy. 



Bears well, but fruit does not ripen evenly. 

 Tests not satisfactory. 



GRAPE VINES. 



In my last report mention was made of the planting in a well-sheltered plot 

 during ISLiO of 100 grape vines; although all were living in the fall and were very 

 carefully covered before severe weather, none survived the winter. 



We have now tested most of the hardy varieties of cultivated grapes, and 

 experiments are being undertaken with the native grape found growing wild in 

 many parts of the province. 



FRUIT TREES PLANTED IN 1891. 



In May last a fresh collection of trees were received from the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm at Ottawa. This collection consisted of 103 trees of large fruits and 

 318 plants of small fiuits. These were planted in rows, and were all living when 

 winter set in. They will be reported on after they have passed the ordeal of a 

 winter here. 



FOREST TREES AND SHRUBS. • 



As considerable interest is taken in this branch of the farm work, it is thought 

 advisable to give results of another year's testing, so as to show the growth and 

 hardiness of the different varieties of trees and shrubs. 



It will be observed that a large percentage of trees have been lost, but these 

 should not be charged altogether to the climate, as many of those lost are of varie- 

 ties which although desirable to test were never expected to be hardy so far norch. 



Again, as most of our trees came from distant points and were a long time in 

 transit, a number have been lost from the effect of heating, etc. It is also noticeable 

 that a very large percentage of loss has been incurred with seedling trees. This 

 tends to show that young seedlings of some varieties of trees are at too tender a 

 stage of their growth to bear transplanting in this climate. The greatest success 

 appears to have been obtained so far with trees of from two to four years' growth. 



It will be seen from examination of the following tables that with careful selec- 

 tion and planting, followed by judicious cultivation, it is possible to grow in the pro- 



