86 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



April igio 



trees, and we have never yet had an 

 apple tree fail to grow. If every farmer 

 in Prince Edward Island could be in- 

 duced to plant five acres of orchard the 

 exodus would stop and we would double 

 our population in fifteen years. 



The Stark Apple 



1. Kindly inform me regarding the 

 suitability of the Stark apple for planting 

 on a clay loam soil in the central part of 

 Oxford county. 



2. Is it long in coming into bearing? 



3. Is the tree productive? 



4. Is the fruit of good appearance and 

 quality ? 



5. Are the tree and fruit specially sub- 

 ject to scab or any other disease? 



6. Would you advise planting the Stark 



A Golden Crab Tree in Alberta 



A Siberian crab planted nine years ago. is fliteen feet high, and 

 yielded a full crop last season. It was planted on the east side of a 

 close board fence and has received no special care. The tree came 

 from the Experimental Farm at Indian Head, Sask., and was planted 

 in Calgary by its present owner, Mr. J. C. Linton, of that city. 



or any other apple with the Baldwin, or 

 would you plant the Baldwin alone in an 

 orchard of four acres? 



7. If some other variety would be bet- 

 ter as a winter apple, please name it. 



8. Would 170 trees be too many on four 

 acres? — W. H. C, Sweaburg, Ont. 



1. As far as soil and climate is con- 

 cerned I would not hesitate to plant 

 Stark on clay loam soil in Oxford 

 county. 



2. In our experience it begins to bear 

 profitable crops in eight or nine years. 



3. It is not one of the heaviest bear- 

 ers but is nevertheless decidedly pro- 

 ductive. 



4. The fruit is fairly good in appear- 



ance and quality, not so highly colored 

 as Ben Davis but somewhat better in 

 quality, although it does not keep so 

 long. 



5. The tree and fruit are not specially 

 subject, as far as I am aware, to scab 

 or any other di.sease. 



6. I should prefer planting some other 

 variety with the Baldwin in an orchard 

 of four acres, although I believe Bald- 

 wins are to a large extent self-fertile. 



7. Other varieties which might be 

 planted instead of Stark are Greening 

 and Northern Spy. As a long-time prop- 

 osition the Spy would probably pay as 

 well as Stark, but the difficulty is that it 

 is very late in coming into bearing. 



Stark would bear earlier 

 but it is doubtful if it 

 would pay any better in 

 the long run. 



8. Placing 170 trees 

 on four acres would 

 mean a distance of thir- 

 ty-two feet from tree to 

 tree. I should consider 

 thirty-eight feet close 

 enough and forty feet 

 would be still better. — 

 I. W. Crow. 



The Brugmansia 



Daniel B. Hoover, Almir*, Ont. 



The Brugmansia is 

 one of the greatest flow- 

 ers I ever saw, but, like 

 all pets, it requires nurs- 

 ing and training. The 

 shrub is very sensitive 

 to frost. Years ago I 

 tried the plan of Mr. 

 Jackman (in January is- 

 sue) to winter my Burg- 

 mansia in the cellar, but 

 never had any luck. In 

 the spring its tender 

 wood always came out 

 dead and soft to the 

 ground. I cannot ac- 

 count for the cause of 

 my misfortune, as my 

 cellar is very dry and 

 frost-proof. Bulbs such 

 as cannas, dahlias, glad- 

 ioli, also potatoes and vegetables, keep 

 well in the cellar, but the Brugmansia 

 does not. The safest winter quarters 

 for my shrub that I have found yet is 

 the conservatory. In this place my 

 shrub keeps perfectly, excepting that 

 everlasting trouble, green aphis, a for- 

 midable pest which try their best to 

 destroy the tree. They cannot do it if 

 kept well brushed off. After the shrub 

 has shed all its leaves, the lice will dis- 

 appear. 



The tree will then be partly dormant 

 until near spring, when a new growth 

 of wood will start. Mr. Jackman's shrub 

 is nine feet high. I prefer a lower one. 



Mine is about five feet high and bore 

 about forty of those mammoth flowers 

 last year. At one time I had a shrub 

 six feet high by eight feet across the top 

 which bore ninety-three flowers. They 

 all opened at the same time, and it was 

 the grandest sight I ever looked at. The 

 Ijest time to look at the flow^ers is after 

 dark in the evening by placing a bright 

 lamp to one side of the tree. The flow- 

 ers are the best at this time, though they 

 are open during the day, but a little 

 slack. 



By cutting back well in the spring the 

 best crop of flowers generally come 

 about the first of September. In March 

 last year I cut back all the year's growth 

 with the exception of three buds. Of 

 these I allow the best one to take the 

 lead. The remaining ones will soon 

 make a stout, thrifty branch, which will 

 fork perhaps two or three times before 

 flower buds will appear. 



If a higher tree is required, cut off 

 above the first fork. This will give -the 

 tree about a foot of growth. This plan 

 should only be taken while the shrub is 

 young, say until two or three years old, 

 according to the thriftiness. The shrub 

 should be turned out of the tub every 

 few years to clean off the binding soil 

 around the roots. Replace it in the tub 

 with a good packing of rotten cow ma- 

 nure and earth well mixed. The flowers 

 should not be sprinkled at all, but the 

 roots require plenty of water during 

 flowering season. 



The Brugmansia is naturally an ever- 

 green, if its leaves are not destroyed by 

 insects. Occasionally it will bear a few 

 flowers any time of the year. I have had 

 a few flowers on my tree in the fall and 

 also a few in the spring on twigs not 

 cut back. The flowers generally will 

 stay open for a week, if weather is not 

 too hot. I have had Brugmansias for 

 about twenty years, but could never find 

 the seed capsules on any of the trees I 

 have grown. I grow my trees from cut- 

 tings of last year's growth. 



Strawberries are a safe crop to grow 

 in young orchards. 



Several methods of setting orchards 

 may be seen in British Columbia, most 

 of them providing for "fillers" to be re- 

 moved when crowding begins. The 

 western men seem to have faith in their 

 ability to sacrifice beautiful, bearing 

 trees in time to save crowding and con- 

 sequent injury to the permanent trees. 

 It reauires grit to give the George 

 Washington touch to fillers just in their 

 prime, when "another crop or so" seems 

 not to spell doom for the permanents. 

 Quincunx planting is a favorite method ; 

 apples, for instance, are set thirty feet 

 each way in squares and a "filler," an 

 early bearing kind, is set in the centre 

 of each square. 



