DIVISION OF HORTICULTURE 797 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



EXPERIMENTAL STATION, LENNOXVILLE, QUE. 



REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT, J. A. McCLARY. 



The season of 1915 was, on the whole, fairly favourable for the production of 

 horticultural crops. There was a rather heavy precipitation during the fruiting 

 season of the strawberries, and quite heavy rainfalls later on duriug the season. There 

 were two dry spells, but the drought was not of long duration, and consequently 

 there was little, if any, appreciable damage done to the crops. 



TEEE FRUITS. 



APPLES. 



During the spring of 1915 extensive work was carried out in connection with 

 establishing the orchards on the farm. This was by no means a small task but was 

 accomplished very satisfactorily. 



There were two large apple orchards planted, one to be known as the " Cultural 

 Orchard " and the other as the '' Variety Apple Orchard." 



The Cultural Orchard is situated west of the Cookshire road, and extends back 

 to the high banks of the St. Francis river. It contains 8G9 trees of sixteen of the best 

 commercial varieties of apples, and occupies 10-5 acres of land. 



This orchard site is of a slightly rolling nature, with a decided southwestern 

 exposure. This may not be the best exposure for an orchard but the soil and site were 

 more suitable than elsewhere. The soil is, in most parts, of a sandy nature, with a 

 clay or gravel subsoil. In two or three places the soil runs into heavy clay but the 

 trees so far seem to thrive as well on this heavy soil as they do on the lighter portions, 

 although on the clay they are liable to grow too late in the autumn and be injured 

 by winter. 



As the site is high and rolling it was deemed unnecessary to put in an extensive 

 system of under-drainage. However, a tile was laid through one corner where the 

 land is heavy and low. 



All the varieties did exceptionally well, having good stock, carefully selected and 

 packed, and heeled in upon arrival at the farm until planting time. Only six trees 

 out of the 869 failed to grow. 



The following is a list of the varieties including the number of trees of each 

 variety. 



Standard Trees.— Mcintosh, 173; Fameuse, 92; Bethel, 37; Alexander, 21; 

 Wolf River, 20; Blue Pearmain, 20; Scott Winter, 19; St. Lawrence, 19; Langford 

 Beauty, 19; Lowland Raspberry, 19. 



Fillers.— V^ealthj, 113; Milwaukee, 96; Dudley, 89; Duchess, 56; Yellow Trans- 

 parent, 38; Crimson Beauty, 38. 



Variety Orchard. — The variety apple orchard is situated on the rolling lands at 

 the north side of the horticultural area, and east along the Cookshire road from the 

 vegetable plots. 



This orchard is made up of 364 trees of 109 varieties. Some of the varieties have 

 been grown commercially, while the larger portion of the trees are new varieties 



