138 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



June, 1910 



Cherries on the British Columbia Coast 



W. J. L. Hamilton, 



IN the island district of British Colum- 

 bia, cherry growing is likely to prove 



a profitable industry, as the climate is 

 suitable, the crops heavy and the prices 

 good. Cherries can be divided roughly 

 into two classes, the sweet and the sour. 



The sweet cherry is the descendant 

 from the European Prunus Avium, and 

 is characterized by white birch-like bark, 

 erect growth, large leaves and flowers 

 opening in clusters, whilst the tree is 

 green. It is, on the coast, much sub- 

 ject to the cherry aphis, the cherry slug 

 (saw-fly) and also to gummosis. 



The sour cherry, derived from the Eu- 

 ropean Prunus Cerasus, is low growing 

 and spreading, has small leaves, and the 

 flowers open before these develop. It is 

 little subject to diseases or pests, and is 

 altogether the more satisfactory to 

 grow. 



The cherry aphis, a pest of the sweet 

 cherry, and very closely allied to the 

 peach aphis, is black in color, and gen- 

 erally appears on the leaves in May or 

 early June. It causes the leaves to curl 

 up and eventually die, and, naturally, 

 the curling of the leaves makes it very 

 difficult to kill by spraying, as it is al- 

 most impossible for the spray to reach 

 the insects safely protected by the in- 

 curving leaves. Fortunately the larvae 

 of the lace-wing fly, of the syrphus fly, 

 of the various lady birds, and some small 

 parasites, all feed on these pests, and 

 are often numerous enough to practical- 

 ly clean the tree. 



In winter, these aphids are found on 

 the tree roots, where they are, some- 

 times at any rate, carried by the ants, 

 who regard these insects as their milk 

 cows, since they secrete honey dew, 

 and, like provident husbandmen, the 

 ants remove their cattle to winter quar- 

 ters. 



The cherry tree slugs, the larvae of 

 the cherry saw-fly, can be killed by sum- 

 mer strength lime-sulphur solution, or 

 by an arsenical spray, whilst the gum- 

 mosis, caused by the rapid expansion of 

 the cambium, due to sudden sap flow, 

 and consequent exudations, owing to the 

 lack of elasticity of the outer bark, can 

 best be overcome by making a longi- 

 tudinal cut, with a sharp knife, down 

 the stem and main branches, taking care 

 to cut only through the outer bark, 

 thereby releasing the bonds of the inner 

 layers, and keeping the sap in its proper 

 channels. 



As, however, the sour cherry is free 

 from these troubles, and as it brings as 

 good a price, these are mostly grown, 

 and prove very profitable. I have a sour 

 cherry seedling which ripens in Septem- 

 ber, is of large size, prolific, and brings 

 twelve and one-half cents a pound. Be- 

 sides this, the Early Richmond for early 



South Salt Spring 



use, the Morello and Olivet are good 

 value. 



Other profitable cherries are Ostheim, 

 RiTig, and, for shorter distances, Royal 

 Ann, but these being sweet cherries, 

 need more care. 



Sour cherries may be set twenty feet 

 apart, and sweet ones twenty-five to thir- 

 ty feet. They are not hard to please as 

 regards soil, but it can be too rich and 

 too moist; a good, somewhat sandy 

 loam, suits them well. 



Clean cultivation, disking for choice, 

 is necessary and must be constantly re- 

 peated during the dry season to ensure 

 good crops of fruit.' 



Pruned in the low-headed vase form, 

 after about four years this form should 

 be established, ;ind after this as little 

 pruning as possible should be attempted. 



All fruit should be picked with the 

 stem on, and carefully packed and faced 

 to secure best prices. 



The Grape Growing Business 



In last November Canadian Horti- 

 culturist, a portion of an address on 

 grape culture in the Chautauqua grape 

 belt was published. This address was 

 given by Mr. D. K. Falvay of Westfield, 

 N. Y., at the convention of the Ontario 

 Fruit Growers' Association. His re- 

 marks on the cost of producing grapes 

 are published herewith : 



"The cost of production varies some- 

 what, taken individually, but as a whole, 

 may be conservatively figured as fol- 

 lows, on vineyards producing an average 

 of 900 eight-pound baskets or three 

 tons per acre : Labor and ex- 

 pense to time of harvesting, $13; 

 baskets, $18; harvesting, $18; interest 

 and taxes on investment at $200 an acre, 

 which is low value in New York, $14; 

 total, $63 an acre. If grapes sell at ten 

 cents a basket net, they would bring 

 $90, which would leave a net profit per 

 acre of $27 above interest on invest- 

 ment. If an average yield of 600 bask- 

 ets or two tons an acre be figured it 

 would be as follows : Labor and ex- 

 penses to time of harvesting, $13; bask- 

 ets, $12; harvesting, $12; interest and 

 taxes on $200 an acre, $14; total, $51. 

 If the grapes sell at ten cents they would 

 bring $60, leaving but $9 profit above 

 interest and taxes.. 



"Not taking the value of the invest- 

 ment into consideration it costs the av- 

 erage Chautauqua grape grower to put 

 an eight-pound basket of grapes on the 

 cars as follows : Labor to time of har- 

 vesting, two cents ; package, two cents ; 

 harvesting, two cents; total, six cents. 

 It is easy to figure the profits or losses if 

 you know the size of the yield per acre. 



"Treating the subject in ton lots, we 

 must figure the cost per acre to time of 



harvest the same as in baskets, namely, 

 Si 3. Picking a ton of grapes in trays 

 at three cents a tray and sixty trays to 

 the ton costs $1.80; delivering with team 

 and extra man, labor in vineyard, $2 a 

 ton; total, S3. 80. It requires an extra 

 good vineyard to produce three tons an 

 acre, the average with us being two 

 tons. On a three-ton basis per acre, it 

 costs $11.40 for harvesting and $13 for 

 expenses up to beginning of harvest, or 

 a total of $24.40 an acre, without inter- 

 est on investment included. It will be 

 readily seen that the grower will have 

 nothing left after paying interest and 

 taxes with grapes selling at $11 and $12 

 a ton. VVe make no charge for pack- 

 ages as the buyer pays for the package 

 after deducting its weight." 



Planting Blackberries 



Jolin FergntoD, Marches, N.B. 

 To best understand blackberry culture, 

 it must be known in the first place that 

 the canes of blackberries are only bien- 

 nial ; that is, canes are produced one year, 

 bear fruit the next and then die. There 

 is no such thing as two-year-old plants 

 (as with trees and vines) when we refer 

 to the stems, though the roots may remain 

 alive and growing for several years. 

 One-year-old plants are used for trans- 

 planting in all cases. 



It is considered best to plant in rows 

 and then restrict the plants to hills. The 

 rows should be four or five feet apart ac- 

 cording to the variety to be cultivated, 

 and the plants two feet apart in the rows. 

 Be sure that the plants have small fibrous 

 roots and do not set them any deeper 

 than they were before removal. Cut the 

 canes of these plants down nearly to the 

 surface of the soil, because if not cut they 

 will take away from the strength of the 

 root in forcing growth. The whole 

 strength of the root is required the first 

 season to produce canes, as upon this 

 growth will depend the fruit of the next 

 year. 



The weeds should be kept down and the 

 soil level, as the blackberry plant should 

 never be banked up. There must be clean 

 cultivation or the fruit-bearing canes and 

 those for the following season will suffer 

 from lack of moisture. 



Two years ago Dr. Wm. Saunders of 

 Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, 

 sent out a few specimens of two new 

 standard apples; viz., "Charles" and 

 "Tony." I received two young trees. 

 They have grown rapidly, and though 

 the winter of 1908-og was extraordinarily 

 severe, the trees have shown no signs of 

 injury from the weather. — Brenda E. 

 Neville, Cottonwood, Sask. 



Do not apply nitrogenous manures 

 too liberally on a blackberry patch, as 

 they induce a rank growth of canes at 

 the expense of fruit. 



