THE CANADIAN HOKTICULTURIST. 



63 



a foot from the ground, and puts the 

 eai'th back again. He says that one 

 application on young trees with smooth 

 bark will last for four or five years. He 

 says that it will spread as the tree grows 

 and will not wash ofl'; he has been 

 using this remedy for a number of 

 years, and tells me that he has had no 

 trouble with borers since he has used 

 it. I sold a hundred ti-ees to a man 

 last spring that had faith in this remedy, 

 and he put a coat of tar on them before 

 he planted them. 



The two pear trees, Clapp's Favorite 

 and Flemish Beauty, sent out by the 

 F. G. A. some years ago are growing 

 fine. Thej are very hardy, the coldest 

 winters here have not injured them. 

 This winter is being a severe one, and I 

 was looking over my pear trees to-day, 

 February 8th, and I find these two all 

 right, and the other varieties winter- 

 killed. I can tell the trees that are 

 killed by shaving off a piece of bark 

 from the young shoots ; if the wood 

 looks fresh and green it is all right, if 

 it is black it is winter killed. I have 

 some pear trees at this date black as ink 

 under the outside bark, they will never 

 sprout a bud next spring. 



Some people think the killing is done 

 in the spring, but I am satisfied it is 

 the hard freezing that does the mischief. 

 Ever since I have had fruit trees I have 

 made a practice of examining them the 

 last of this month, and if they have not 

 turned black under the bark they ai'e 

 sui'e to leaf out in the spring. The two 

 pear trees above mentioned have borne 

 no fruit yet, although they have been 

 in full bloom every spring for three 

 years ; I am living in hopes that they 

 will bear when they get older. I am 

 at a loss to know the reason that fruit 

 trees and bushes will blossom year after 

 year and not bear fruit. I had as fine 

 a lot of black Naples currant bushes as 

 could be found anywhere, and they 

 blossomed profusely every year for ten 



years and bore no fruit, except a few 

 scattered bei-ries here and there. At 

 the end of ten years I dug them up and 

 threw them away, leaving one bush only 

 to see if it would ever bear. Last year 

 that one bush bore a good crop of ber- 

 ries. The first year that Mr. Leslie 

 advertised Lee's Prolific, I remitted him 

 fifty cents for one of that variety ; it 

 acted the same as the other, in fact I 

 could see no diflference in the two vari- 

 eties, and came to the conclusion that 

 they were the same kind that I already 

 had. I had a lot of an English variety 

 of gooseberries that acted the same as 

 the currants. I bore with their con- 

 duct for seven years and then dug them 

 all up and threw them away ; at the 

 same time the Downing Gooseberry was 

 bearing large crops of berries every 

 year on the same ground. 1 would say 

 here that the Downing is giving the 

 best of satisfaction in this vicinity. 

 My bush, received from the Fruit 

 Gi'owers' A ssociation, some eight or ten 

 years ago, has never missed bearing a 

 good crop any year. I have raised 

 quite a number of bushes from it. 

 Some I planted, some I sold, and some 

 I gave away. The Burnet Grape will 

 bear no fruit for me. It is £ri"owinc( on 

 the same ground with other varieties 

 that bear every year. I have laid it on 

 the ground every winter, and covered 

 it with cornstalks. I have covered it 

 with earth this Avinter. I have two 

 varieties of grapes, one called the Caro- 

 line and the other the Chippawa. They 

 are the earliest grapes that I have ever 

 seen. They have ripened with me two 

 seasons in succession on the 20th of 

 August, and I have seen some whole 

 bunches ripe on the 10th of August. 

 Last year they did not ripen until Sep- 

 tember 2nd. They will remain on the 

 trellis all winter, but will bear better 

 when laid down. The snow is the only 

 covering they ever get. They grow 

 from eight to twelve feet every season, 



