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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



ley crop, and many other things 

 they were accused of doing, and I 

 thought " Well, poor sparrow, what a 

 shame it was to bring you to this 

 country, and to so reduce you with 

 hunger that you had to eat either oats 

 or barley, neither of which you ever 

 touched in your native home." But 

 suppose he has all the faults some say 

 he has in eating oats, barley, ifec, why 

 can't fruit growers leave him alone 

 until he has exterminated the tent 

 caterpillars and a many other enemies 

 the fruit grower has to contend with. 

 They do not eat fruit, at least they 

 never ate any in my grounds, and I 

 have grown cherries, grapes, goose- 

 berries, red, white, and black currants ; 

 raspberries, both black, red, and white, 

 several kinds of strawberries and 

 plums, — quite an assortment — so that 

 if they had any taste for fruit they 

 would have tried their beaks on some 

 of them, but not one variety did they 

 ever try on my ])lace, and I have seen 

 hundreds of them at a time. In con- 

 clusion, Mr. Editor, let me urge it 

 upon the fruit growers of Ontario to 

 leave 'the poor sparrow alone, and if he 

 is to be exterminated let it be for some 

 harm he does, but never accuse him of 

 eating fruit, for he eats none of the 

 varieties I have enumerated, and I 

 might add apples and pears to the list, 

 and even peaches, unless he has ac- 

 quired a taste for them since he has 

 been brought to Canada, and I am will- 

 ing to admit that he may even eat 

 barley in this country, but I never saw 

 him so doing. 



Geo. Mitch kll. 

 Perth, Feb. 2, 1884. 



Good Lettuce. — A writer in the Rural 

 Neio Yorker says : — The Salamander Let- 

 tuce forms a large, compact head, with- 

 .stands heat and drought, is crisp and ten- 

 der, and remains in edible condition 

 longer than any variety I have ever raised. 

 It is an ac(iuisition. 



KEPORT ON PLANTS RECEIVED. 



As I understand you want reports of 

 premium plants and trees sent out by 

 the association, I may say my Burnet 

 grape was bearing quite a few bunches 

 this year, but was killed by frost before 

 the fruit began to colour. Moore's Early 

 does not grow very strong. The 

 Wealthy apple is doing well. Saunder's 

 raspberry bears well. Niagara has 

 made a fair start. The Ontario apple 

 is a failure with me. The crab apple 

 trees here were attacked by a blight in 

 the spring of last year, about the fall of 

 the blossom. I have six trees which 

 wei'e covered with blossoms at the time, 

 but it all fell off and the fruit with it, 

 and many of the leaves also fell, those 

 remaining looking withered. Towai'ds 

 fall the ti-ees seemed to freshen up a 

 little ; they did not blossom at all this 

 year, but appear to be all right other 

 ways. My trees were not the only ones 

 affected. Some think it was a fly and 

 some think it was frost which caused 

 the yoimg fruit to fall. I think it was 

 the blight. 



Yours respectfully, 



HopeviUe. RoBERT ScoTT, 



HARDY SMALL FRUITS. 

 Now that the importance of the sub- 

 ject of im{)orting scions, seeds and 

 plants of hardy fruits of all varieties 

 from colder climates than ouis, for the 

 purpose of finding some varieties better 

 suited to our climatic conditions, or 

 varieties more suitable than any we 

 now have to contribute their hardiness 

 or other desirable peculiarities through 

 hybridizing, or, as more hardy stocks 

 for grafting or budding purposes, is 

 becoming better understood, and is 

 being acted upon by the Fruit Grower's 

 Association, it may be well to give some 

 attention to the fruits of cold countries 

 other than Russia. Judging from the 

 following extracts from a pajjer read 

 belore the Royal Society, England, by 



