204: 



THE CANADIAN HOBTICULTUKIST. 



very peculiar habit of producing some 

 branches which ripen ranch later, thus 

 protractins; for a long period the season in 

 which its fruit is in use. I picked a large 

 quantity about the beginning of July, 

 and have picked fine fruit oflf the same 

 tree on the 22nd and sold them for a 

 larger price than what I got for the first 

 crop. It is a splendid cooking and 

 desert cherry, and ought to be culti- 

 vated by any person who has room for a 

 tree. 



American Heart. — This is a beautiful 

 cherry, which comes in nest. It is pink 

 or red in color, and not so good a mar- 

 ket cherry as the black varieties. This 

 tree looks a handsome sight both in 

 blossom and fruit, but of late years it 

 has had a tendency to rot, which has 

 been a great drawback in cultivating it. 

 I shall speak further on in reference to 

 the cherry rotting before it is ripe. This 

 will apply to all varieties of that fruit, 

 and I will suggest remedies. 



Governor Wood is a fine light cherry, 

 of the size and shape of the Napoleon 

 Biggareau. Formerly it was one of the 

 most useful trees I had. Last year the 

 entire crop of some bushels all rotted — 

 could not pick a quart of good ones off. 

 This year there was scarcely a pint of 

 bad ones ; the whole crop was marketed 

 very satisfactorily. 



Black Tartarian — This cherry has 

 been to me a fruit of great profit. It is 

 undoubtedly a superb fruit, and in size, 

 flavor and productiveness it has no .su- 

 perior. Year after year I have had 

 enormous crops of excellent fruit. They 

 commence to ripen with me about the 

 first week in July, and, if the weather 

 is not very hot, the picking will extend 

 over three weeks, and the further you 

 go the better they come. Of late yeiirs 

 there has been a great drawback in culti- 

 vating this fruit by its having the rot. 

 I would advise those who have a tree 

 full of Black Tartarians to begin to pick 

 early. Do not wait till the crop gets 



ripe, for then you may find as many rot- 

 ten as otherwise. When the cherries 

 are the color of the May Duke begin to 

 thin them out ; you can get good prices 

 for them, and those that are left on the 

 tree will be benefited by their removal. 

 I will give your readers the remain- 

 ing varieties, and also will suggest reme- 

 dies for their growth, in the next num- 

 ber of the Horticulturist. E. C. F. 



EXPERIENCE IN STARTING A FRUIT 

 FARM. 



Dear Sir. — I beg to give my ex- 

 perience in trying to start a small fruit 

 farm, and in doing so I .suppose I had bet- 

 ter start at the beginning, which is that 

 last April twelvemonth I bought 25 

 acres of land, most of which was in sod, 

 and of course should have been well 

 summer-fallowed before planting fruit in 

 it, but I was in too great a hurry to wait 

 a year for that, and, as I was assui*ed by 

 the person I bought from that there was 

 no scutch grass in the land, I ordered 

 about SlOO worth of plants and trees. 

 Of strawberries I set out the Wilson, 

 Crescent Seedling, Bidwell, Charles 

 Downing, Captnin Jack, Sharpless, and 

 the Early Canada, and a few each of the 

 Manchester and Big Bob, and let me say 

 that Little Bobbie wonld be a more ap- 

 propriate name for the latter, if I got the 

 true thinir. The Manchester did so 

 well both in standing the drought and 

 the size, «fcc., of the fruit, that I let all 

 the runners grow. The Early Canada 

 set more fruit than any one I have, but 

 a drought set in just as the fruit was 

 changing color, and in consequence I 

 did not get any fruit. In short, out of 

 nearly 20,000 plants I set out the spring 

 previous, I did not pick ten quarts of 

 berries, and these were all from the 

 Crescent Seedling and what came to me 

 labeled Manchester, and I hope in future 

 to pinnt largely of the two latter kinds 

 with the Early Canada and the Sharp- 

 less to fertilize them. 



