THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



11 



then strip oif the bark, but allow the 

 upper branches with their leaves to I'e- 

 niain. These leaves will evaporate a 

 large portion of the sap in the trunk of 

 the tree before they dry up, and the 

 bark being taken ofi", the trunk seasons 

 rapidly, and makes more valuable 

 timber for any purpose tha.n that which 

 has been cut in winter. Willow and 

 oak bark taken from the trees in this 

 way is valuable for tanning and has a 

 market value. It is the willow bark 

 that is used in the tanning of the soft 

 leather for which Russia is so famous. 

 The apple growers of central Russia 

 pack their apples in boxes made of the 

 bai'k of trees. As soon as the bark is 

 taken from the tree it is flattened by 

 pressure until dry The boxes contain 

 about three bushels of apples and the 

 covers are fastened on with cords tied 

 around the box both ways. Hundreds 

 of thousands of these bark boxes are 

 used every year. This we glean from 

 the Report of the Iowa Horticultural 

 Society for 1882. 



THE WILD BLACK CHERRY, 



Prunus serotina. 

 R. Douglas, the great aboi'iculturist of 

 Illinois, writes to Professor Budd of 

 Iowa, that this is one of the most pro- 

 fitable trees for forest culture ; that it 

 is a rapid grower, easy to transplant, 

 healthy, and fit for the purposes of the 

 cabinet maker when thirty years plant- 

 ed, while the black walnut requires 

 fully double that time before the wood 

 is suitable for such purposes. The tree 

 grows well even on poor gravelly land, 

 and can be planted where the black 

 walnut and many other trees would not 

 thrive. As to its being a breeding 

 place for the tent caterpillar, it is only 

 where the trees stand singly or very 

 sparsely scattered that the caterpillar 

 seems to V;e troublesome, growing in 

 groves they do not suffer specially from 

 this insect. If there be only half a 



dozen Austrian Pines in a township 

 the sapsuckers will make sad havoc on 

 them, but if there be thousands of the 

 trees the work of the sapsucker will 

 not be conspicuous. And so with the 

 cherry tree, when grown in quantity 

 the injury sustained from the depreda- 

 tions of insects will not be greater than 

 might be inflicted by them on a like 

 number of trees of the black walnut. 

 The writer has seen line trees of this 

 cherry growing in the vicinity of 

 Guelph, so that it will doubtless thrive 

 over a large part of this Province. 

 The wood is very valuable and much 

 employed in cabinet work. The seed 

 should be mixed with moist sand as 

 soon as gathered and never allowed to 

 become dry, for if once thoi-oughly 

 dried it is veiy difficult if not quite im- 

 possible to make the seed germinate. 

 It may be sown, if convenient to do so, 

 as soon as gathered, thinly in drills, 

 and transplanted into nursery rows 

 when one year old, where they should 

 be cultivated and kept free from weeds 

 until of sufficient size to be set in per- 

 manent plantation. 



SHELTER FOR S.MALL FRUITS. 



The benefit derived from having my 

 small fruit patch surrounded by ever- 

 greens has surprised me very much. It 

 has at least doubled the amount of 

 fruit and quality of plants over what 

 it was when not thus protected. Ever- 

 greens do not rob and poison the ground 

 like deciduous trees. All kinds of 

 small fruit that I have experimented 

 with do well in theii- immediate vicinity, 

 which is not the case with deciduous 

 trees. I have a row of Snyder black- 

 berry planted on the north side of a red 

 cedar hedge, running east and west ; 

 the way they thrive is a wonder to the 

 neighborhood. The blackberry row is 

 four feet from the hedge. I wish it 

 were about six ; it is now too close to 

 allow room for picking. — C. H. Gard- 

 ner, in Iowa Horticultural Report. 



