THE CANADIAN HOR'lICULTURIST. 



201 



ately cool weather and occasioDal rain 

 showers favored continuous growth and 

 healthy maturity, and the grain is an 

 excellent sample, being plump, hard and 

 bright. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



DOES FRUIT GROWING PAY. 



Dear Sib, — With pleasure I pur- 

 pose writing a series of contributions 

 to the Horticulturist, embracing my 

 observations and mv experience in the 

 culture of wheat and that of small 

 fruits, shewing their relative cash re- 

 turns per acre to the cultuiist. First 

 I will take wheat vs. strav, bei-ries, the 

 gi'ound to be rich and in good heart. 

 Very well, take wheat, rent per acre, 

 $12 ; fallow, ploughing twice, S5 ; roll- 

 ing, cultivating and harrowing, $3 ; 

 seed and drilling, §3 ; harA^esting and 

 threshing, $5 ; total cost per acre, $28; 

 product per acre, 40 bushels, 840 : net 

 proceeds, $12. Strawberries, rent per 

 acre, $12; fallow^ ploughing twice, $5; 

 rolling, cultivating and harrowing, $3 ; 

 marking and planting, $4 ; plants, 

 5,000 at $4, $20 ; cultivating and hoe- 

 ing, $7; baskets, 6,000 at $5, $30; 

 crates, $30 ; picking, .$60 ; freight to 

 Toronto, $30 : commission on sales at 

 8 cents pei- quart, $48 ; total cost per 

 acre, $250 ; product per acre, 6,000 

 baskets at 8 cents, $480 ; net proceeds 

 per acre, $230. Then I have the next 

 year less the cost of production, save 

 baskets and picking. If some deem 

 this too high, leave production of wheat 

 at 40 bushels, and cut strawberries to 

 5,000 baskets, I still net 8150 per acre. 

 I may say sti-awberries yielded in this 

 neighborhood, in several instances, 

 8,000 quarts per acre. 



Yours respectfully, 



Geo. Walkkr. 

 Beamsville, Ont., -21 st .July, ]8S4. 



DISCOLORING OF THE GREENING 

 APPLE. 

 For many years we were troubled 

 with the skin on our Greening apples 

 turning black, and the whole apple 

 a.ssuming the appearance of having been 

 either badly bruised, or being affected 

 with a sort of dry rot. They were in- 

 variably kept in barrels properly headed 

 up and along .side of Baldwin's, Russets, 

 &c., but none of these varieties were 

 ever affected in this way. They invari- 

 ably preserved their natural color until 

 about the beginning of February, when 

 the discoloring woiild begin, and theii- 

 sale would be very materially affected. 

 The fruit, although badly discolored, 

 was not rotten, for on cutting it, it 

 would open up perfectly sound and 

 fresh. Its appearance, however, was 

 such as to mf«.teria!ly affect its sale, and 

 consequently we invai-iably endeavored 

 to disi)ose of our Greening's early in the 

 season, and retain our other varieties 

 for selliuir later on. This season we 

 left one of the barrels open to see what 

 effect it would have, and we find, as a 

 result, that the fruit has largely retained 

 its original color, and is consequently 

 much more saleable than those left 

 enclosed in the original packages. 

 From this we infer that Greenings 

 should invariably be kept in a cool 

 ]jlace, either on shelves or in an open 

 bin, where they may be subjected to 

 the free action of the air. 



A. A. Wright. 



Renfrew. 



POULTRY. 

 Mr. Editor, — Although many 

 months have passed since I left your 

 county I still have interest there, and 

 write to tell your readers how to make 

 poultry raising a pi'ofitable business. 

 The demand for early chicks, when 

 from 8 to 10 weeks old, is very great, 

 and in lai'ge cities like New York, New 

 (Jrleans, Chicago, St. Louis and Den- 



