EXPERIMEXTAL FIRMS. 



64 VICTORIA, A. 1901 



leaves on llio s^'Te vines were killed and the fruit injured. Such tender things as 

 cannas and dahhas were also destroyed. The temperature on that day was 27*8"' F. 

 Much fine weather followed, and there was no more severe frost until Novembsr 13, 

 when the temperature fell to 15° F. On the 14th, four inches of snovv fell and 

 remained, although, as the weather becoming mild, nearly all the frost came out of the 

 ground, and more snow following, there was practically no frost in the ground up to 

 tlio end of the month. Winter set in much earlier than usual this year. 



Fruit Crop. — The past season was favourable to most fruits, the yield and quality, 

 on the whole, being good. Many varieties of apples produced good crops, and as the 

 trees have now been planted for twelve years, the quantity of fruit picked from them 

 this year was considerable, some trees producing from 2^ to 3 barrels. Only a few 

 pear trees fruited, as there are not many trees of a bearing age in the orchard, most 

 of them having been killed by winter or blight from time to tim3. The crop of 

 American plums was very good, and some of the newer varieties are quite promising. 

 As with pears, very few trees of the European varieties of plums were old enough to 

 bear, as these are killed out by the winter from time to time. The cherry crop was 

 practically a failure, for, although some of the trees, bloomed very well, little fruit 

 set. Grapes did comparatively well, but not as much fruit set as usual. They were 

 very slow in ripening, and if there had been early frosts few varieties would have 

 matured. As it was, however, 81 kinds ripened, the fruit heing of good quality, but 

 not as well flavoured as when it ripens rapidly. The strawberry crop was exception- 

 ally good and the picking season longer than usual. As prices for strawberries were 

 high in Ottawa this year, local growers must have found them very remunerative. 

 Raspberries also did well, and the quality of the fruit was good. Currants' were not 

 as good as usual ; and although the American gooseberries did well, the European 

 varieties produced very little fruit, as mildew was bad. The latter might have been 

 controlled somewhat by spraying the bushes with potassium sulphide, but only the 

 new plantation was sprayed. 



PROGRESS OP THE WORK. 



Owing to the favourable season this year, nearly everything made satisfactory 

 progress in the horticultural department. 



The work of top grafting the tenderer varieties of apples on hardy stocks was 

 again a prominent feature of the work in the early spring. 



During the winter, in the spring, and again in the autumn, experiments were 

 conducted in spraying apple trees with a lime mixture to determine the best formula 

 to use for the destruction of the oyster-shell bark-louse, which it had been found 

 possible to remove by this means. 



Cover crops have received special attention in this department during the pas* 

 season, as in 1898 and 1899, the importance of having some covering in the orchart*. 

 during the winter to protect the roots of the trees being fully recognized. Of all the 

 cover crops tested here there is none as satisfactory as Mammoth Red or Common 

 Red Clover. 



Valuable data are being accumulated every year on the hardiness, productive- 

 ness, and quality of a large number of different kinds of fruits, and this year being 

 a favourable one for fruits much information was gained, especially regarding vrie- 

 ties which had never fi'uited before. 



There has not yet been found a hardy, late-keeping variety of apple suitable for 

 growing for commercial purposes in northern and eastern Ontario and th? Province 

 of Quebec, which equals in quality, productiveness and appearance thd best varieties 

 grown in the more temperate parts of the provinces. A large number of seedlings of 

 the best hardy apples which have fruited at the Central Experimental Farm have 

 been grown, and will be planted out next spring, and it is hoped that in time, from 



