426 



^iOUBNAii OP HORTiOULTDEE AND COTtAGS GAEDENEB. 



I November 12, IS'ii. 



flavour of the food the cow has to eat. Cabbages and Tarnips 

 are very distasteful, and their absence from the food given to 

 cows is often insisted upon by all who are judges of batter, yet 

 they are tasteless compared with Horse Chestnuts; but that 

 cows eat these I have the best of all proof, and having once 

 tasted them they seem to get a hankering after them, and if 

 allowed to partake of them in quantity, I question very much 

 if the milk would bear the test of the analyst. Certainly the 

 merest tyro in acquaintance with milk would condemn it. 

 Having a good many Horse Chestnut trees scattered about 

 our pasture lands, wo have been in the habit of having the 

 fruit picked up every day for some years, but latterly have 

 discontinued the practice, the crop not being heavy until this 

 year. When the cows have had access to the fields partly 

 overhung with Horse Chestnut trees they have eaten of the 

 forbidden fruit, and the consequence is the butter, I am told, 

 is only fit to melt-up for kitchen use. So much for that part 

 of the Horse Chestnut fruit ; bat how far it may be useful to 

 horses troubled with shortness of breath I am unable to say. 

 Perhaps it may be of service then, although the two purposes 

 it is recommended for seem too much opposed to each other. 

 To relieve horses in breathing, and to make a paste for shoe- 

 makers and bookbinders, seem contradictory applications. Per- 

 haps the bill-stickers — now-a-days a rather numerous commu- 

 nity — may take a hint, and a saving of more palatable food be 

 the result. 



Let us now turn to what I expect is meant — the Sweet 

 Chestnut, a tree not quite so widely different from the Horse 

 Chestnut as the chestnut horse, but bearing no resemblance 

 whatever in foliage, character of timber, or botanical struc- 

 ture, being, in fact, about as much unlike as the Globe Arti- 

 choke is to the so-called Jerusalem Artichoke. Bat here the 

 writer of the paragraph is again at fault. I have seen several 

 trees of the Sweet Chestnut cut up, and in the rough condition 

 they certainly resemble the Oak very much, but when dressed 

 the difference is very perceptible ; moreover, the difficulty of 

 getting a perfectly sound piece is so great that it will never 

 be a competitor to the Oak for the many purposes the latter 

 is put to. I have seen trees with a trunk from 30 to 40 feet 

 cubic measurement, and when sawn up, no matter whether 

 at the time of cutting down or a year or two afterwards, the 

 planks or qnarterings, whichever it was sawn into, would in 

 most instances splinter and almost fall in pieces. Observe 

 I am speaking of perfectly healthy sound trees, no disease 

 nor defect being visible anywhere ; yet the adhesion of the 

 timber in a lateral direction is so imperfect that the wood 

 falls to pieces almost in the hands at the time of sawing, 

 or it may be afterwards : so great is this evil that Chest- 

 nut timber is but little used for any but rough purposes. 

 We have gate-posts of it that we have found it necessary 

 to bind round the top with iron hooping to prevent their 

 splitting, perhaps, half the way down or more. This is un- 

 fortunate, as the tree is certainly one of the handsomest I 

 know, exceeding the Oak in that respect. Summing-up, how- 

 ever, what I know of the timber in a plain practical way, I 

 may say that trees from (5 to 8 and 10 feet of cubic measure- 

 ment generally cut up better than older ones, the adhesion of 

 the lateral connecting fibres being stronger in a young tree 

 than in an old one. I may further add that the want of ad- 

 hesion complained of, though greatest in the concentric rings 

 forming the yearly growths, is not confined to these alone. The 

 section of the tree when cut is also liable to star, to use a 

 glazier's phrase, and these star openings extend much further 

 than in any other timber I am acquainted with, so much so 

 that Chestnut timber for anything excepting rough work is 

 seldom met with. Of its utility for cask-making I can give 

 no opinion ; excepting that from the faults laid to its charge 

 above I question it much ; and I must also leave to others to 

 solve the disputed question whether the roof of Westminster 

 Hall is composed of this timber or uot.^A CoKEEsroNDENi. 



HAKDINESS OF VABIETIES-FRUIT-GEOWING 

 IN THE OTTAWA VALLEY. 



The recent meeting of the Fruit-Growers' Association of 

 Ontario, held in the city of Ottawa, has called attention to 

 the fruits of that region, and has added not a little to our 

 knowledge of what may be done there in tho way of fruit- 

 raising. 



The valley of the Ottawa enjoys a high reputation for pro- 

 ductions of various kinds. Her lumber production is enormous, 



her quarries of stone inexhaustible, her marble abundant and 

 susceptible of a high finish, her agricultural productions of a 

 most valuable description. Bat we have been in the habit of 

 thinking of that region as one possessing a climate far too 

 inhospitable to admit of the growing of fruits. Nor has this 

 impression been altogether without foundation. Tho severity 

 of her long winters, with upwards of 00"' of frost, must of 

 necessity preclude the raising of many very fine sorts of Apple, 

 Pear, Plum, and Cherry, thus almost always necessitating in 

 the planter a degree of knowledge of the relative hardihood of 

 different sorts which he could not be expected to possess. 



Many were the attempts made to grow the finer varieties of 

 our various fruits, and nearly as many were the failures, not 

 because of a want of knowledge on the subject of fruit culture 

 in general, but because of a failure to perceive what modifica- 

 tions the peculiarly severe climate and the nature of the soil 

 demanded. Trees were introduced which were wholly unable 

 to bear the severity of that climate, and planted in soil not 

 prepared to receive them. To these two causes — the planting 

 of varieties too tender to endure the climate, and the want of 

 proper drainage of the soil, may be attributed the many and 

 repeated failures which have resalted so disastrously to the 

 planters themselves, and thrown for a time such a cloud over 

 the whole subject of fruit-production throaghout that region. 

 Happily for all interested, that cloud is being lifted. W'ith 

 the increase of wealth among the population there has come 

 an increased attention to the question whether good fruit could 

 not grow in their own grounds. Believed from the pressure 

 of that necessity which compelled the earlier settlers to toil 

 that they might eat, and to eat that they might toil, then 

 came the leisure to study out the difference of constitution in 

 different sorts of the same fruit, and to experiment with these 

 different sorts until those were ascertained which could bear 

 the severity of the climate ; while at the same time the means 

 wherewith to underdrain and thoroughly prepare the soil for 

 the growing of fruit trees were at command. 



Hence it is that now we have some well established data to 

 go upon in the planting of fruit trees in the Ottawa valley, 

 some points ascertained by actual experiment which serve as 

 guides and finger-posts for all who may hereafter desire to 

 grow fruit there. From the very interesting discassions and 

 relations of experience in these matters which were elicited by 

 the recent meeting of the Provincial Association, we can now 

 say to every landowner in the valley, that he may grow good 

 fruit of many kinds if he will carefully inform himself upon 

 three points : — 



1st, The varieties that are sufficiently hardy. 



2nd, The drainage of the ground upon which he intends to 

 plant ; and 



3rd, Tho form in which he trains his trees. 



Experiment has demonstrated that the varieties of the 

 Apple which can be grown successfully are the Duchess of Olden- 

 burgh, Bed Astrachan, Snow Apple, Hawthornden, St. Law- 

 rence, and Golden Russet, and all the different Crab Apples. 

 To this list of varieties might be added, with every prospect 

 of success, a few more which have proved to be very hardy in 

 othfr places where the winters are fully as severe as they are 

 at Ottawa. Of these we venture to name the Telafski, Pewaukee, 

 Wallbridge, Wealthy, Ackermau, Allen's Eusset, and Clark's 

 Orange. They have stood unhurt through winters in which 

 the thermometer frequently ranged from 30° to 40° below zero, 

 and therefore are worthy of a trial wherever hardihood is an 

 essential requisite. 



It seemed to be a very difficult matter to find a Pear tree 

 that would endure the climate. Even the Flemish Beauty 

 had been killed to the snow line ; yet we are disposed to 

 believe that with proper drainage and training both the 

 Flemish Beauty and Clapp's Favourite could be grown and 

 fruited there. 



Some of the finer sorts of PInma have been grown with a 

 measure of success. Gentlemen spoke of the Bradshaw, Coe's 

 Golden Drop, Lombard, &c. ; but the impression remains that 

 Plums do not succeed as well here as they do at Owen Sound ; 

 whether it be because of the cold or for want of proper drainage 

 it is not yet possible to decide. 



The only Cherry that has been successfully grown here is 

 the one known generally as the Kentish or Red Pie Cherry. 

 Probably a few of the different sorts of the hardy Morello 

 Cherries would succeed ; but none of those likely to endure the 

 climate are of any better quality than the Kentish. 



Quite a number of varieties of tho early-ripening Grapes will 

 thrive well here, but they must all be laid down and protected 



