118 - EXPERniEXTAL FARMS 



7-8 EDWARD VII., A. 1908 



Brant, Jessica, Septeinl)er 18; Campbell's Early, Potter, Lutie, Cottage, Rogers 17, 

 September 20; Merrimac, Winchell, Canada, September 24. 



Some very promising seedlings fruited this year. 



During the past few years robins have been troublesome in the vineyard and are 

 very destructive to the early varieties of grapes if left unprotected, hence it has be- 

 come necessary to protect them. This is done by means of paper bags which are 

 pinned over the bunches very rapidly and at comparatively little cost when the grapes 

 are beginning to colour. The fruit does not ripen quite so early when covered as 

 when left unprotected. 



The vines were kept thoroughly sprayed in 1906 with Bordeaux mixture and there 

 was little injury from disease. 



BLAGKBEERIES. 



The blackberries wintered better than usual this year, which was somewhat un- 

 expected considering the lack of snow last winter, but the wood was evidently better 

 ripened than usual in the autumn of 1905. Early in the season the crop promised to be 

 a good one, but the hot, dry weather prevented the development of the fruit and the 

 crop was a lig,ht one. The Agawam is the most satisfactory blackberry tested here, 

 Snyder coming next. The Eldorado is promising. 



EASPBERRIES. 



Notwithstanding the lack of snow in the winter of 1905-6, the raspberries came 

 through the winter in fair condition, although there was some injury to the more 

 tender varieties. The hot, dry weather was unfavourable to the production of much 

 fruit, hence the crop was not a large one. A new plantation was made in the spriug 

 of 1906. 



CURRANTS. 



The red and white currants wintered well on the whole and there was a good crop 

 of them. The Cherry, Versaillaise, Fay, Moore's Ruby, and Wilder, are distinctly 

 more tender in fruit bud than most of the other sorts, and the crop of these was light 

 this year. 



The crop of black currants was good in some cases, but a number of the varieties 

 were injured by winter, both in wood and fruit buds. The crop, on the whole, was 

 not more than a medium one. 



GOOSEBERRIES. 



The gooseberry crop was a light one, the flowers having been apparently injured 

 by spring frosts. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



The strawberry crop at the Experimental Farm, as throughout this district, was 

 practically a total failure in 1906. The thawing and freezing of the ground during 

 the winter of 1905-6 and the coating of ice whicli covered the strawberry plantation 

 as it did the ground nearly everywhere on the Experimental Farm caused the death 

 of nearly all the strawberry plants in a plantation containing over 200 named 

 varieties, and 34 unnamed seedlings of great promise, which had been selected from 

 a large number originated at the Experimental Farm. The strawberry plantation had 

 been well mulched with marsh grass the previous autumn. It was impossible to obtain 



