10 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



"best order. The prize to be awarded ' 

 by a committee who shall visit each 

 school ground in the county not less 

 than three times during the growing 

 season, which times are not to be known 

 beforehand by the schools. Would not 

 the offering of such prizes, and the 

 -appointment of such visiting committee 

 be an appropiiate work for the Fruit 

 Growers' Association of Ontario, seeing 

 that it now embraces tree planting and 

 flower-gardening within the scope of 

 its objects ? We commend the subject 

 to the consideration of the association 

 .at its next meeting on the thirtieth of 

 the present month. 



THE WALBRIDGE APPLE. 



This variety is taking a prominent 

 position as a hardy tree and a desirable 

 winter a{)ple in Iowa. Mr. John Piatt, 

 of northern Iowa, writes to the Secre- 

 tary of the Iowa Horticultural Society, 

 that ten years ago in passing the orchard 

 of a neighbor, he was surprised at the 

 healthy condition of a number of the 

 trees, which, on inquiry, proved to be 

 Walbridge. They had then withstood 

 the cold withering blasts, for which 

 that part of Iowa is noted, for moi'e 

 than a quarter of a century, and shewed 

 no sign of decay. On the contrary 

 they were loaded with fruit almost to 

 breaking, forming a striking contrast 

 as compared with most of the original 

 orchard which, save an occasional Haas, 

 Golden Russet or Snow Apple, was 

 either dead or dying. And now ten 

 years later, the same old trees of the 

 Walbridge are still standing, laden with 

 a bountiful crop of apples, standing 

 " as guiding posts to the solution of 

 tlie prol)lem of the successful cidtiva- 

 tion of a hardy, good-kcoping winter 

 apple, adaptcid to tlie bleak climate of 

 northern Iowa." 



With such a record in a climate so 

 rying, surely this variety may be 



planted in Mu.skoka or Haliburton, or 

 the Valley of the Ottawa, or in the 

 Province of Quebec with every pro- 

 spect of success. It is also known by 

 the name of Edgar Red Streak, having 

 originated in Edgar County, Illinois. 

 The fj'uit is of medium size, of a pale 

 light yellow color shaded with pale red 

 in the sun, and striped and splashed 

 with bright red over most of the ex- 

 posed surface. The flesh is white, fine 

 grained, juicy, with a mild sub-acid 

 flavor. In use from January to May. 

 The quality is not considered equal to 

 that of Esopus Spitzenburg or Grime's 

 Golden Pippin, but the hardiness and 

 productiveness of the tree and the late 

 keeping character of the fruit make it 

 valuable for a cold climate. 



FORESTRY. 



RECLAMATION OF DRIFTING SANDS. 



Robert Douglas, of Illinois, states 

 that in order to establish the fact that 

 the very poorest lauds can be profitably 

 planted to certain kinds of forest trees, 

 he purchased several hundred acres of 

 sand ridges and blowing sands on the 

 western shore of Lake Michigan. He 

 succeeded with Scotch and Austrian 

 pines on blowing sands, and with white 

 pines and P^uropean larches on sand 

 ridges sparsely covered with Bearberry, 

 Potentilla and Trailing juniper. These 

 trees occu])ied about two years in ex- 

 tending their lower branches to cover 

 the saiul, and then threw up leaders 

 almost as rapidly as if growing on good 

 land. This experiment was not made 

 by planting a few of the different kinds 

 of trees on a few acres, but by hun- 

 dreds of thousands of trees on three to 

 four hundred acres. 



THK BEST TLME TO CUT TIMBER. 



The Russian foresters cut down their 

 timV)er trees just after the spring growth 

 is completed, and before the bark has 

 tightened too much for peeling ; they 



