114 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



May, igio 



panized bodies of farmers and fruit grow- 

 ers. These organizations to be success- 

 ful require at their head a man who un- 

 derstands these principles in respect to 

 farming and fruit growing and knows 



Apple Bloisomi on Prince Edward Island 



how to make use of tinem. If every fruit 

 grower would educate himself along the 

 same line with reference to his own busi- 

 ness, it would not only be profitable to 

 him but would increase greatly the suc- 

 cess of the organization of which he may 

 be a member. It will be a good thing for 

 fruit growing in Ontario when every 

 fruit grower does some figuring for him- 

 self. 



An Experience with Cranberries 



J. W. Ackerman, Delhi, Ont. 



I Started to experiment with cranber- 

 ries in the spring of 1908. I have about 

 seven acres of bog and on this there is 

 about one acre of native plants that grow 

 there naturally. I have been picking 

 berries off these plants for several years. 

 These plants are slowly spreading over 

 the bog, but on account of the weeds 

 their spread has been retarded. 



Mr. A. McMeans of the Ontario Agri- 

 cultural College heard of my cranberry 

 bog, and wrote me in regard to it. He 

 later came and saw me and had a look 

 at the bog. He advised me to do some 

 experimenting, and I decided to do so. 

 I prepared a small piece of ground and 

 planted it with Cape Cod plants which 

 Mr. McMeans sent to me in the 

 spring of 1908. They grew very nicely. 

 Last spring I planted a quarter of an 

 acre of Cape Cod and Wigconsin plants 

 and they have done well. 



When preparing the ground I first 

 take the sod off, cutting it with straw 

 knives. I cut about two and a half 

 inches deep. The sod is wheeled off in 

 a wheelbarrow. I then spade the ground 

 and level it. My ground is laid out in 

 lots about three rods wide, which is sur- 

 rounded by a ditch about one foot deep. 

 The ground is prepared in the fall. 



I plant the plants about one foot apart 

 each way. I allow ten or twelve vines to 

 a hill. For planting I use a narrow piece 

 of board pointed at one end. I lay the 

 vine on the ground and place the point- 

 ed end of the board about the centre of 

 the vine and push the vine into the 

 ground, leaving about three or four 

 inches of the top of the vines above the 

 ground. 



My bog floods naturally each winter. 

 I have a dam at the head of my ditch. It 

 is closed in the fall, and thus the water 

 is held on the bog until the latter part of 

 May or the first of June. My object in 

 keeping the water until that season of 

 the year is to keep the plants from start- 

 ing to grow too soon, because if the 

 plants start too early in the spring .they 

 come out in blossom too soon, and are 

 liable to injury by frost. While the 

 water is on them, they won't start to 

 grow. 



My experience with cranberries has 

 been very short, but I believe that cran- 

 berries can be grown successfully in On- 

 tario. Canada ought to be a good mar- 

 ket for the berries, as thousands of bush- 

 els are shipped in from the United 

 States. I have another quarter acre 

 ready to plant next spring. I also plant- 

 ed a small piece of ground last fall, in 

 order to compare fall planting with 

 spring planting. In a later issue of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist I will tell 

 how the fall planting turns out. 



Give commercial lime-sulphur a trial 

 this year. It has come to stay. 



Fungus on Maple 



I am in trouble about a lovely maple tree. 

 For the past throe years we have noticed 

 that its leaves turn red about August — 

 much earlier than any of the other maple 

 trees. The past two years a fungus has 

 formed on the trunk of the tree and last 

 fall it spread from the base of the tree up 

 to its first branch. The leaves turned red 

 very much earlier than they should, and 

 they dropped off much earlier, leaving the 

 tree gaunt and bare, while the others had 

 not shed a leaf. I am afraid that I am go- 

 ing to lose it unless I can do something 

 for it. It is in a place that I cannot very 

 well spare it. Can anything be done to save 

 it.»— L. M., Cobourg, Ont. 



It is difficult to diagnose the exact 

 disea.se from the description given. I 

 am of the opinion, however, that noth- 

 ing can be done to save the tree at this 

 stage since the fungus has got posses- 

 sion. From the fact that the fungus ha"; 

 appeared on the trunk, it seems likely 

 that the tree was inoculated many years 

 ago by the spores of this fungus prob- 

 ably gaining access through a wound. 

 During all these years the fungus has 

 been growing and spreading within the 

 tree, and now it has sapped its vitality 

 to such an extent that it ceases to per- 

 form its usual functions. As a rule, the « 

 formation of the fruiting body of the J 

 fungus on the trunk is one of the final 

 stages of the disease. The tree will prob- 

 ably live but a short time, and the t)est 

 thing to do is to cut down the tree be- 

 fore it becomes unsightly and before it 

 has an opportunity to infect other trees 

 by the annual crop of spores produced by 

 the fruiting body on the trunk. — Prof. W. 

 Lochhead. 



Public Demonttrations in Orchardi are Becoming a Valuable Factor in the Profreu of Fruit Growinf 



The Connecticut Agricultural College lias started several demonstration orchards in Connecti- 

 cut, under the direction of Prof. C. D. Jarvis, and has given several public demonstrations. The 

 illustration shows one of the latter. The chief aim of this work is to give the grower an idea 

 of the best methods for reclaiming neglected apple orchards, tor which New England is noted. 

 The results so far have been very encouraging. The farmers in the respective neighborhoods are 

 very enthusiastic in the work, and many of them have started the renovation of their orchards. 



