102 



THE CANADIAN HORTICUr.TURIST 



a pool', starved look, at which, as we 

 looked at the soil, we did not wonder. 

 Of the business done here there is 

 but little to be said. "We were told 

 there was no business in summer ; in 

 winter the business was to entertain 

 strangers. To-morrow we return to 

 Tocoi, and take the steamboat for a 

 further trip up the St. John's River. 



KEEPINCI APPLES. 



Mr. Editor, — I send you today 

 four specimens of Greenings, two of 

 wliich were kept in the ordinary way 

 in closed barrels. You will notice how 

 badly they are discoloured. One might 

 ahnost imagine they had been design- 

 edly bruised all over. The other two 

 bi'ight fresh -looking ones were kept in 

 what are known as the " Cochrane 

 Cases." Had our cellar been suffi- 

 ciently cool they would have been 

 firmer than they now are. 



These cases are made of slats of 

 wood nailed together in box form, 

 being about 21 inches square on the 

 top and 12 inches high. They are 

 made of slats placed about half an inch 

 apart, so as to allow the free admission 

 of air to the inside. Their interior is 

 filled with pasteboard compartments 

 arranged in a manner similar to an 

 ordinary egg cas5, with the exception 

 that each s'-ction has a small notch cut 

 out of each side, thus enabling the air 

 to have free access to every part of the 

 case. These small compartments are 

 made of various sizes to suit any sized 

 fruit that it may be required to pack 

 in them, and as each specimen of fruit 

 occupies a separate jiaper compartment 

 they do not toucli each other. 



Consequently, should any one of the 

 specimens packed chance by any means 

 to decay, it will not spread the con- 

 tagion to any other portion of the case. 

 Should any of your readers desire to 

 prolong the keeping season of any par- 



ticular variety of fruit, I know of no 

 way so calculated to assist him as the 

 use of these " Cochrane Cases." T this 

 year experimented with them in en- 

 deavouring to keep the Large Red 

 Wethei'sfield Onion, but, owing to our 

 cellar being a little too warm, it was 

 not a complete success ; yet still it was 

 by no means a failure. I purpose, 

 however, making a more careful test 

 next season, which I trust will meet 

 with gratifying results. I shall re- 

 port in due course as to my success 

 or failure. It is perhaps pertinent to 

 add that the principal drawback to the 

 employment of these cases to a very 

 large extent is their cost, seventy-five 

 cents being the price asked for each in 

 Montreal. It must, however, be re- 

 membered that vvith careful manage- 

 ment they will last for several years, 

 so that in the end they will not prove 

 so expensive as one might at first 

 imagine. 



A. A. WlUGHT. 



Renfrew, April 3rd, 1884. 



EARLY-PaSIXa SAP. 



To THB Editor of The Canadian HoiiTicuLTnaisT: 



Sir, — In the March numbet- your 

 Muskoka correspondent, T. A. H., says 

 that a friend of his is of the opinion 

 " that it is not altogether the hard 

 winter's frost that damages the fruit 

 trees here in the north so much, as that 

 the ground here seldom freezes hard on 

 account of the heavy snows, causing 

 the sap to start too early and thei-eby 

 get a severe check." 



To his friend's opinion I can add a 

 friend's observation. On a village lot, 

 undraiued, and of heavy clay, this friend 

 has had very fair success in growing 

 apple trees. He mulches heavily, and 

 to this, in talking to him last sum- 

 mer, I attributed his success. " Yes," 

 said he, " and I believe that the mulch- 

 insr has an effect which I have never 



