THE CANADIAN H0BTTCULTUEI8T. 



65 



thorougUy had they, with their power- 

 ful beaks, sheared off leaf and fruit 

 buds alike. The hardines.s of the bird 

 seems truly wonderful ; during the 

 fiercest blizzard I have observed them 

 eating the beech buds in soine sheltei'ed 

 hollow. Yours truly, 



James Bis.'^ell. 

 Thedforfl. 



APPLES FOR THE COLD XORTH. 



The followinor letter wa,s written by 

 -Mr. Cha.s. Gibb, of Abbottsford, Que., 

 to the Deputy Minister of Agricultui-e 

 for Manitoba, bnt the information given 

 is equally valuable to our readers who 

 reside in the colder parts of Ontario : — 



Dear Sir, — When j)assing through 

 Minnesota in Aiigu.st last, I tried to gather 

 some facts wliich might tlu^ow Ught upon 

 the question of apple growing in Mani- 

 toba. The experience of ^linnesota is the 

 most valuable that can be had, the truest 

 guide to experimental work in our North- 

 west. 



^linnesota s largest experimenter in 

 producing new varieties from seed, is ^Ir. 

 Peter M Gideon, of Excelsior, abnut 

 twenty-five miles west of St. Paid. It* 

 was he who uriginafced the Wealthy. 



I asKed Mr. Gideon what five varieties 



he would select for jjlanting in Manitoba 



-in fact, what are the hardiest trees he 



knew (jf. After some debate he answered : 



Martha, from one-half larger to double 

 size of Transcendant, better for cooking, 

 season October and November. 



Florence, a pink striped fruit of fair 

 quality, better than Transcendant, season 

 Sept. 1 to 30. 



September, from seed of cherry crab, 

 size of medium sized apple, of good 

 quality. 



October, also from seed of cherry crab, 

 pretty, size of September, sub-acid, not 

 astringent, and very pr<jductive. 



These four varieties he considers the 



hardiest he knows of except the cherry 



crab, and considers tliem all ahead of the 



Transcendant in hardiness and quaUt^', 



2 



and hardier than the Red Siberian. I 

 must add that these varieties have had 

 only a limited trial, and that mainly in 

 Mr. Gideon's own giounds. 



-Mr. E. S. Spaulding, of MinneapoUs, an 

 old propagator, suggests for trial Flor- 

 ence, Martha, Duchess, Wealthy and 

 Tetofsky. Transcendant crab he woidd 

 add certainly if likely to be free from 

 blight. Blight is a serious trouble, espe- 

 cially with crabs, in IMinnesota. We 

 hardly know what it is at Abbottsford. 

 The cause is a mystery, yet several in 

 Minnesota associated it with the intense 

 summer heat, which is not likely to be 

 the case in Manitoba. Of the Hybrid 

 crabs, Mr. .Spaulding finds Meeder s Win- 

 ter not hardy It is a fine qualitied little 

 crab which I would have supposed extra 

 hardy. Early Strawberry (a verj' early 

 crab of fine quality) he finds hardy on clay 

 soil — not on black soils Orange (a thin- 

 skinned, sub-acid crab of good quaHty) 

 fairly hardy but a little apt to blight. 

 General Grant (a medium sized apple of 

 only fair quality, but a most profuse bear- 

 er, j ]Mr. Spaulding considers the hardiest, 

 though the worst for blight . 



Mr. A. W. Latham, of Excelsior, would 

 recommend Transcendant, Whitney s No. 

 20, and Virginia Crab. The Tetofsky he 

 considers not hardj- enough. 



Wliitney's No. 20 Crab is a Uttle apple 

 of really good quality, wliich I am very 

 glad indeed to see proving so hardy at the 

 north. Virginia Crab I find various opin- 

 ions of. Mr. Peter Gideon says of it : 

 " as hardy as Transcendant, and the same 

 size ; hardly equal in quaUty, but keeps 

 later." Some say not as productive ; 

 others say hardy, but not valuable. 



Another Minneapolis opinion, I think 

 that of Mr. Wyman EUiott, gave Trans- 

 cendant, Hyslop, Tetofsky, Whitney's 

 No. 20, Large Red and Yellow Siberian 

 and Virginia. 



Mr. Ohver Gibbs, of Lake City, Secre- 

 tary of the Minnesota State Horticultural 

 Society, suggests Transcendant, Earlj- 

 Strawberry, Virginia and Beeches Sweet. 

 Also, Whitney's No. 20 for trial. Beeches 

 Sweet he finds the hardiest of the hybrids. 



It is a sweet crab of good size and good 

 quality. 



