THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



January, 1910 



thus threatening to crowd out the more 

 valuable evergreens or rob other neigh- 

 boring plants of food and moisture. 



Planting on Pacific Coast 



W. J. L. Hamilton, South Salt Spring, B.C. 



Whilst apple trees will i^row well un- 

 der almost any conditions in British 

 Columbia, it pays to plant them in 

 properly prepared soil. Land cannot be 

 plowed or subsoiled too deeply for the 

 apple. The best conditions are probably 



Preparing Land for Planting 



In the November Canadian Horti- 

 ci'LTURiST Mr. W. E. Corman of 

 Stoney Creek, Ont., contributed a few 

 notes on this subject. Mr. Corman 

 gives further information in the follow- 

 ing: "Subsoiling fifteen inches deep 

 allows the roots to spread out at a 

 depth that the frost will not penetrate 

 to injure the trees and it allows the 

 feed, that goes down, to be more even- 

 ly distributed to the roots and the 



One of Britiih Columbia's Di«play» at the National^Apple Show, Spokane, Waihington, in November 



obtained by deeply plowing, breaking 

 up, and thoroughly cultivating a good 

 thrifty two year's red clover sod. 



Thus prepared in the fall, the trees, 

 always yearlings for choice, can be set 

 out about November on the Pacific 

 coast, and will be well established by 

 next spring, when the slowly decaying 

 clover will supply the nitrogen needed to 

 start thrifty growth. 



Grafting Fruit Trees 



Please give some information about top 

 grafting fruit trees. Tell how to select 

 and when to get the scions, and how to 

 keep them. I understand the fitting fairly 

 well. Give also formula for a good grafting 

 wax. — J. S., Egmondville, Ont. 



Take the scions from one year's 

 growth on trees of the variety that is to 

 be propagated. It is best to take them 

 before real cold weather sets in, but 

 they may be taken at any time. Keep 

 them in the cellar buried in the sand. 

 Select scions from trees of known worth. 

 The ingredients for a good grafting 

 wax are: Resin, four parts; beeswax, 

 two parts ; tallow, one part ; by weight. 

 Watch The Canadian Horticulturist 

 for an article on this subject that will 

 appear soon. 



drought does not have the same effect 

 on the fruit in a dry season. Plant the 

 trees twenty feet apart each way, which 

 allows the roots to spread and not run 

 into the roots of other trees. 



"Sow buckwheat about the first of 

 June and disc it down about the first 

 of August and let it go until the follow- 

 ing spring and repeat the same. This 

 buckwheat forms a blanket for the roots 

 and keeps the ground from freezing to 

 any great depth and it holds the buds 

 back in the spring until all danger of 

 frost is over." 



From six to eight tons of straw are 

 required to mulch an acre of strawber- 

 ries properly. 



Protection of Roses 



A. H. Ewint, Woodttock, Ont. 



There is a great deal of common sense 

 in what "Amateur" says on this sub- 

 ject in the November Canadian Horti- 

 culturist. I have never done more than 

 put branches in amongst the roses (hy- 

 brid perpetuals) in order to rat!-er the 

 snow over them and, though the growth 

 always gets frozen back more or less ac- 

 cording to the severity of the winter or 

 the amount of snow that falls, they have 

 never been frozen back lower down than 

 was necessary to trim them in the spring. 



I can't quite agree with "Amateur" 

 with regard to soil. Roses will do very 

 much better and produce much finer 

 bloom in a clayey soil than in a sandy 

 soil and the deeper the soil is the better ; 



in fact, I have heard, though I cannot 

 quite vouch for the truth of it, that roses 

 are so much hardier the deeper their 

 roots go. The ho.se will keep off all kinds 

 of bugs better than insecticides, and I ee-) 

 the bushes jft the same time, fresh, grejn 

 and healthy. Some kinds of h. p. roses 

 do better than others in different .soils 

 and situations but these the grower will 

 have to find out for himself. 



Plants are like children. They are 

 very responsive to proper treatment ; if 

 you love them, love them practically 

 and naturally, not in a sickly, senti- 

 mental sort of way, and you will have 

 your e.spectations more closely realized. 



Wall Flowers 



I have had some wall flowers since the 

 summer of 1908 but they do not Lloom. I 

 put them out last summer. They were 

 healthy but produced no flowers. Please 

 give some information about wall flowers. — ■ 

 S.P., Stayner, Ont. 



It is very difficult to keep wall flow- 

 ers over for a winter and flower them 

 successfully the following season. If 

 the plants were healthy and vigorous 

 last spring when you planted them out, 

 they should have flowered towards the 

 end of summer. I have succeeded best 

 with wall flowers by sowing the seed 

 indoors early in February or March, 

 growing the plants on inside in small 

 pots or boxes and planting them out 

 about the middle of May. If the plants 

 were not in flower in the fall before 

 frost, they could be dug then, put into 

 pots or boxes where they will flower dur- 

 ing earlv winter in the window. I have 

 wintered old plants over in a cold frame 

 by covering them with leaves and put- 

 ting some boards over the leaves, and 

 planting them out the following spring. 

 Much def)ends upon how they come 

 through the winter. — Wm. Hunt. 



Treatment of Phlox 



I have several clumps of phlox which come 

 up nicely in the spring but when the buds 

 come the plants seem to dry up and the 

 flowers never open. The s'^dl is rather sandy 

 but we always dig in plenty of well rotted 

 manure and we keep the plants watered. 

 How should these plants bf grown? — Mrs. 

 ly.G.K., Owen Sound, Ont. 



It is quite possible that the soil the 

 phlox is in is too sandy. A clay loam 

 suits phlox best. If the clumps spoken 

 of have not been divided recently, I 

 should recommend dividing them early 

 next spring and planting them in a fresh 

 place. A clump or division having ten or 

 twelve shoots of growth would do well 

 for transplanting. The end of April or 

 earlv in May is the best time for this. 

 If the leaves turn yellow in the summer 

 it is likely caused by an attack of red 

 spider, a small insect which attacks the 

 under side of the leaves. A good spray- 

 ing with cold water every day in very 

 hot weather will prevent attacks of red 

 snider and materially help the plants. — 

 Wm, Hunt, 



