May, 1910 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



123 



dearth of information about this horticul- 

 turist although he left us such a fine apple. 

 A biographical sketch of Mr. Arnold ap- 

 peared in an appendix to the 1906 report 

 of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association 

 but not much information is given about the 

 origin of the Ontario apple. Can any of 

 our readers answer the question? 



PUBLISHERS' DESK 



Selection of Nursery Stock 



The illustration on the cover of this is- 

 sue shows cherrv trees in blossom in an or- 

 chard at Kelowna. B. C. High class pho- 

 tographs showing fruit and garden scenes m 

 all the provinces are wanted for pubhcation 

 The best of them will be used on the front 

 cover and others that are good will be pub- 

 lished on the inside pages. Send the best 

 photographs that you have. If you want 

 bhem returned, write the word "return on 

 the back of them and also your name and 



address. . 



The annual meeting of the Horticultural 

 Publishing Company, Limited was held in 

 Toronto, March 29, 1910. The financial 

 statement for the year ending December 61, 

 1909 showed a considerable improvement 

 as compared with that of the previous year 

 The company anticipates that the ye^r lyiU 

 will be the mo.st successful in its history. 

 The following officers were elected: Pres., 

 W H. Bunting, St. Catharines; vice-pres., 

 J H Dunlop, Toronto ; sec-treas. and man- 

 aging director, H. B. Cowan, Peterboro; 

 directors, A. W. Peart, Burlington; Harold 

 Jones. Maitland; Hermann Simmers and P. 

 W. Hodgetts, Toronto. 



The April issue of The Canadian Horti- 

 culturist was another record breaker from 

 an advertising standpoint. In spite of the 

 fact that over two pages of advertising 

 reached us too late for insertion, the value 

 of the advertising carried again broke all 

 records. This shows that the record made 

 bv the March issue was not just an "acci- 

 dent." Advertisers spend their money 

 where they find they get results. Are you 

 using The Canadian Horticulturist? It 

 not, give it a trial. You will find that it 

 reaches people who will buy your goods and 

 who will pay for them. Last forms for June 

 close May 20th. 



Almost every month we are obliged to dis- 

 appoint some of our advertisers whose copy 

 does not reach us in time for insertion. The 

 interests of our readers and advertisers de- 

 mand that the paper shall bo out on time, 

 and it is not fair to keep 80 or 90 adver- 

 tisers and 10,000 readers waiting because 

 two or three advertisers are late in send- 

 ing us their copy. Then, too, it is neces- 

 sary that we fix the size of the next month's 

 issue a week or ten days before it comes out. 

 This limits the space that we can devote to 

 advertising, and it frequently occurs that 

 copy reaches us before the last form goes 

 to press, but there is no room for it and 

 we have to leave it out ; or, copy reaches us 

 when there are only two or three pages open, 

 and we have to place the advertisement on 

 one of these pages, whereas it might be much 

 better displayed in another part of the pa- 

 l)er if received earlier. 



Will our advertisers boar the above in 

 mind when sending copy each month, and 

 let us have same early? It will assist us, 

 and also be to the advertisers' own best in- 

 terests. All our pages, with the exception 

 of the cover, are open till the 12th of the 

 month. Positions on the middle sixteen 

 pages are not available after that date. 



'Every fruit grower should be able to tell 

 at a glance what age a tree is when it comes 

 to him from the nursery," said Prof. J. W. 

 Crow, when discussing the above subject at 

 the short course in fruit growing at Guelph. 

 "Every tree has on it marks which show 

 plainly how old the tree is. The terminal 

 bud o"f a branch is always protected during 

 winter by a number of scales. In the spring 

 the buds continue the growth of the tree 

 and the scales drop off, but the scars re- 

 main and form a distinct ring around the 

 limb or trunk, marking each year s growth 

 quite plainly unless removed by cutting. 

 Thus a tree one-year-old will show no rmg 

 of scars; a two-year-old tree will show one 

 ring of scars at the junction of the one and 

 two-year-old wood ; a three-year-old-tree will 

 show two rings; and so on." 



\t the beginning of the second year the 

 nurserv-man cuts back his apple trees and 

 trims them to the desired height to form the 

 head. If he sells the tree at two years old 

 well and good ; if not, he may let it grow but 

 more likely he will cut it back again to keep 

 the head from getting too big. This means 

 that he will remove practically all the last 

 year's growth. Thus a year can be added 

 to the age of the tree for every time the 

 knife has been applied. The marks of the 

 knife are alwavs evident. A tree that has 

 stood continuously in the nursery row for 

 three to five years, as not unfrequently 

 happens with certain varieties or when trade 

 is slow, does not transplant with such cer- 

 taintv of success as does a one or two-year- 

 old tree. 



One-vear-old, well grown apple trees are 

 preferable for planting. In the first place 

 they must be sturdy stock m order to at- 

 tain the right size in a year. Then it is 

 much easier to head a one-year-old tree low 

 down than it is a two or three-year-old. 

 These older trees are usually headed about 

 three feet from the ground which is too 

 high. A low-headed tree is preferable be- 

 cause the limbs tend to a more upright hab- 

 it of growth, sun-scald is almost entirely 

 confined to high, open-headed trees; it is 

 much more economical to prune, spray and 

 pick the fruit from such trees. 



Before planting a considerable number of 

 trees it will pay well, if convenient, to visit 

 the nursery and choose your own stock. 

 Choose one-year-old trees not less than 30 

 inches high. If you insist on having one- 

 year-old trees you will get them. They will 

 probably cost a little more because they 

 have to" be dug by hand as there will not be 

 more than 50 per cent, of the trees in the 

 nursery row fit for your purpose. Do not 

 buy poor one-year-olds, as it is necessary 

 with these to cut them off nearly at the 

 ground in order to stimulate strong growth 

 after they are planted. 



Peach ' trees are nearly all sold at one 

 year old. It does not pay to buy big No. 

 '1 stock. Medium-sized No. 2 is better, as it 

 transplants with greater safety and makes 

 a bettor tree for low heading. If possible, 

 buy peach trees with all their branches on 

 them. Thus vou will be able to head your 

 tree just where you like. This will probably 

 mean giving the nurseryman instructions a 

 year ahead but it will pay. 



It is good practice to grow your own nur- 

 sery stock. Grow your seedlings or procure 

 them from a nursery. Plant them in the 

 spring in rows and cultivate as you wou d 

 potatoes. In July bud these with buds tak- 

 en from the very best bearing trees of the 

 very best varieties in your locality. A very 

 little practice will make any intelligent man 

 a competent hand at budding as the pro- 

 cess is simple. If you do not care to grow 

 your own gtock.buy trees that will make good 



stock for grafting, such as Tolman or Mc- 

 Mahon; after these have been set two or 

 three years top graft with scions from the 

 very best bearing trees of the desired vari- 

 ety to be found in your locality. There is 

 as much individuality in a tree as there is 

 in a dairy cow. Select your trees as you 

 would select your dairy cows by breeding 

 from the very best individuals you can find. 

 The nurseryman cannot do this as he must 

 select his scions wherever he can get them ; 

 but the fruit grower can easily mark the 

 trees in his own or his neighbor's orchard 

 that are giving extra big returns and can 

 secure scions from these trees. — D.S. 



Re Failure in Asters 



The article in the April issue of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist, in which Mr. G. 

 A. Chase of Toronto tells about having trou- 

 ble with asters, has resulted in various re- 

 medial suggestions being offered by readers 

 of this magazine. The following was re- 

 ceived from Mrs. R. J. Ella Baines, lo- 



'^°"In your April issue, page 90, Mr. Chase 

 writes concerning an unknown cause of fail- 

 ure in his asters. As he has already hunted 

 for root aphis and in his examination of the 

 plants would have seen any other insect vis- 

 ible to the naked eye, may it not be that 

 eel worm is the cause? These eel worms are 

 an acknowledged enemy of the aster. Ihey 

 are microscopic; therefore not easily detect- 

 ed, and unfortunately they live in the sOil^ 

 "Mr Pearson, in his work upon plant pests 

 says of these worms : 'They live in the soil 

 and first attack the roots of a p ant, after- 

 ward living in the tissues. A bad attack 

 can always be determined by an examina- 

 tion of the rootlets, which will be found to 

 be knotty, or bearing small wart-like ex- 

 crescences.' . , , . , . 



"A plant so affected is considered incurable. 

 The cure must be applied to the soil itself, 

 in order to prevent further mischief Would 

 it not, then, be better this year to disinfect 

 the soil in which the plants are to be placed? 

 This can now be so easily and completely 

 done by the use of Cooper's Apterite. It 

 was recommended to me last year by a hor- 

 ticulturist from Ireland and seems to be ab- 

 solutely successful as a soil disinfectant, act- 

 ing without any injurious effects, rather as 

 a fertilizer. I have obtained mine this year 

 from Messrs. Cooper's agency in Torbnto, 

 152 Bay street.^ Perhaps Mr. Chase would 

 care to try it." , 



The trouble with Mr. Chase's asters and 

 the suggestion that it may be due to eel 

 worms was brought to the attention of Mr. 

 L Caesar, demonstrator in fungous diseases, 

 O' A C Guelph, who replied as follows: 



'"I am inclined to believe that Mr. Chase 

 is quite right about the trouble being due 

 to a fungous, or else bactenaj, disease at- 

 tacking the stem near the ground where it 

 evidently interferes with the flow of sap 

 from the roots. I have seen one case ot a 

 similar disease to that to which Mr. Chase 

 refers Without examining plants, as in Mr. 

 Chase's case, one does not care to recom- 

 mend any special treatment. The treat- 

 ment that ho has been giving— that is, en- 

 deavoring to change the soil— would natur- 

 ally appeal to one as the most intelligent 

 under the circumstances. It is not likely 

 there is any disease in the seed; otherwise, 

 everybody who had this kind of seed would 

 have the same trouble. As for the eel 

 worms, so far as I know they are not at 

 present a troublesome pest in Ontario. 



From Mr. C. M. Bezzo of Berlin, Ont., 

 comes a suggestion that may hell) to solve 

 the problem. It is as follows : 



"I believe the disease to bo what is com- 

 monly called 'stem-rot.' It is » fungous 



