i88s- 



ANU HORTICULTURIST. 



179 



of your correspondents give their experience on 

 strawberry culture under glass ?" 



" This query was asked in one of the previous 

 numbers of the Monthly, and I for one feel very 

 much interested on the subject and would like to 

 hear from others. No doubt there are those who 

 have been successful. I have been only partially 

 so; possibly improper facilities have retarded my 

 success, the selection of variety, or the proper 

 treatment has been wanting to develop and ripen 

 the fruit satisfactorily. 



" * To err is hum.an ;* 

 But ignorance is not bliss. 



"This is my experience and the result: Last 

 spring two hundred good strong runners of the 

 Sharpless variety were potted into two and a half- 

 inch pots and plunged in open frames ; about the 

 middle of July they had filled the pots with roots, 

 and were shifted into four-inch. In November 

 they were placed on a bench in the greenhouse 

 three feet from the glass. January they began to 

 blossom and, — here lies the rub. I supposed it 



necessary to fertilize, and in the absence of bees I 

 substituted them by using every morning a portion 

 of a leaf or stem which is covered on the under- 

 side with hairy filaments and distributed the pollen 

 in that way. This I continued until fruit began to 

 set and I thought my achievement complete. But 

 let me ask, how was it that those flowers which 

 opened after I ceased my fertilizing, set their fruit 

 also ? 



" By the middle of February a few had swollen 

 to charming proportions, their modest blush had 

 begun to glow and invite a luscious repast. But, 

 alas ! The fairest were seized with mildew and 

 the disease was most disastrous. I attributed that 

 to the dark, dull days of February, and when the 

 bright days did come, another calamity — which 

 never comes singly — they were seized by red 

 spider, then thrown out in disgust to freeze. 



" The result was about two boxes of fair sized, 

 ripe berries, green ones in abundance, which 

 never ripened, or became diseased. Yet, I have 

 not lost hope, but will try again. Would be 

 pleased to hear from some one interested." 



Forestry. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



NOTES ON REMARKABLE TREES. 

 BY DR. C. W. GREENE. 



A writer in the G.-^rdeners' Monthly for May 

 says that the Baobab does not get its growth in 

 less than 800 years. But J. D. Hooker says "it is 

 a very fast growing and short-lived tree." Your 

 correspondent also speaks of the size of the great 

 Dragon tree of Teneriffe, "as it is now." As long 

 ago as 1872 the newspapers reported that famous 

 tree as having fallen. 



A late number of the Century (April, 1885, p. 

 838) speaks of a tree trunk in Washington Terri- 

 tory, formed by the union of a fir and a cedar. 



In my boyhood I knew of a great oak tree 

 which had a large branch that returned to its 

 parent trunk and was blended with it. I suspect 

 that it was an artificial arrangement, for the tree 

 stood near an old house. May, /SSj. 



[Two trees of different species, starting into life 

 in close position will in time appear united, by the 



trunk of the ^stronger enfolding the weaker. It 

 grows around the slower grower. It is not a case 

 of grafting, as we understand it. If by any means 

 the roots of the weaker were severed, the tree 

 would probably die, as it would also probably 

 when wholly enclosed, so that there was no room 

 for the expansion of its own woody circles. Such 

 is the belief of those who have inade physiology a 

 close study. It is not thought one tree draws any 

 support from the other. It might get some moisture. 

 —Ed. G. M.l 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Profits of Forestry. — We contend that when 

 once we can show that a man may make more 

 profit from planting a hundred acres with trees 

 than with corn or other farm crops, Forestry in 

 America will not need advocates. For this reason 

 we are always on the lookout for forestry figures 

 for our readers. 



I n the recent ( I oth ) report of the Ontario College, 



