110 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



2-3 EDWARD VII., A. 1903 



Topsy. — Fruit large, black, very glossy, sweet, good flavour ; quality very good ' 

 fruit clings exceptionally well, which makes it especially valuable. Bush productive* 

 It originated with Dr. Wm. Saunders as follows : — Some seeds of a cross between Dera- 

 psey's black currant and a cross-bred gooseberry (Houghton X Broom Girl) were sown 

 in a p>ot in the greenhouse in the autumn of 1890. Five plants grew. Of these, four 

 had gooseberry foliage and one, black currant foliage. The latter was planted out in 

 1891 and has been called Topsy. 



GOOSEBERRIES. 



The European gooseberries did better this year than ever before, but the crop was 

 light on most varieties. A determined effort was made to prevent the spread of mildew 

 this season, but it was only partially successful. Beginning when the leaf buds were 

 breaking, on April 18, the bushes were sprayed thoroughly every week with a solution in 

 the proportion of 1 oz. potassium sulphide and 2 gallons of water. This was continued 

 until June 5, when traces of mildew being noticed, the bushes were sprayed twice a 

 week until July 19, making 20 sprayings in all. Notwithstanding this thorough and 

 constant application of a fungicide, the leaves dropped badly from most European varie- 

 ties, though what fruit remained on the bushes was not nearly as much affected as 

 usual. In some gardens in the city of Ottawa very fine, clean European gooseberries 

 can be grown without spraying. Whether this is due to the kind of soil or to the 

 moister atmosphere in a closely planted garden has not yet been determined. 



Among the American varieties, the Downing, Pearl, and Red Jacket (Jocelyn) are 

 the most profitable, though some of Dr. Saunders' newer seedlings are very promising. 



SPRAYING. 



In no season, probably, since spraying has been recognized as necessary to success- 

 ful fruit culture has the value of it been more apparent than this year. The crop of fruit 

 was abundant, but conditions were very favourable for the development of fungous 

 diseases. What promised to be a good apple crop in the early part of the season was 

 very much lessened in value by the development of the black spot fungus and the per- 

 centage of No. 1 apples was small where trees were unspi-ayed. Thorough sprayin(», 

 though difficult to manage owing to showery weather, prevented the spread of the 

 disease, and there were many instances were men who sprayed well had a large percent- 

 age of clean fruit. Although it is recommended to spray winter apples five, or even six, 

 times during the season, many persons do not spray more than three times. This is a 

 great mistake, as was amply demonstrated this year, as the black spot develoned late 

 and where spraying had been discontinued the fruit was moderately to badly affected. 

 The expense of spraying is considerable and it is money thrown away to not do the work 

 thoroughly and frequently. 



In Great Britain and Europe during the past three years a mixture has been made 

 with washing soda to neutralize the sulphate of copper instead of lime. It is claimed 

 that this mixture adheres better than the ordinary Bordeaux mixture. Tests were made 

 at the Central Experimental Farm this year to learn how much soda was necessary to 

 neutralize 4 lbs. of bluestone, and it was found that 5 lbs. were needed. The formula 

 for the preparation of the soda mixture would thus be : — 



4 lbs. copper sulphate. 



5 lbs. washing soda. 

 40 gallons water. 



An experiment was tried to determine the value of this mixture as compared with 

 the ordinary Bordeaux, but as none of the fruit was spotted no conclusions could be 

 drawn. The soda mixture is well worthy of a trial, for although a little more expensive, 

 it is more easy of application than that made with lime, and often good lime is hard to 

 get in the country. 



