The CanadiuN IJorticnliiirist. 



43 



the soil every alternate day. A man 

 and horse can cultivate two and a 

 half acres per day, eciual to five acres 

 every alternate day. If by cultiva- 

 tion one inch of water per month can 

 be saved from evaporation, there 

 need be no fear of drought except at 

 one or two periods like the strawberry 

 season. 



Reports on ^rapc s^ro2oin<r for profit 

 were very discouraging. The crop 

 east of Cleveland was about five 

 hundred carloads, and Concords 

 realized only about i^ cents per 

 pound. Among strawberries the 

 general opinion was that Bubach 

 should head the list. 



The " Relation of Refrigeration to 

 Horticulture and its Importance in 

 Connnercial Fruit Grou'in<{," embo- 

 died the observations made by the 

 essajist, Mr. Cushman, in a visit to 

 the cold storage warehouse of the 

 Cleveland Automatic Refrigerator 

 Company. The fine fruits ^een there 

 leave but little doubt that in the 

 future cold storage is going to play a 

 prominent part in horticultural in- 

 dustry. It is well known that if the 

 spores of rot can be kept from devel- 

 oping, organic bodies may be pre- 

 served for long periods. The main 

 factors in doing this are coldness, 

 absence of light, and dryness, the 

 last of which has caused most diffi- 

 culty in all systems where ice is used. 

 The system practiced in Cleveland 

 is briefly as follows : Aqua ammonia 

 is reduced to an anhydrous condition ; 

 a,nd this gas is reduced by steam pres- 

 sure to a liquid state. It is then passed 

 through pipes in the chambers, which 

 are surrounded by dead air spaces, 

 where it volatilizes and thus produces 

 a low temperature. It then returns to 

 the condenser and is used again. A 

 very low temperature may thus be 

 produced and maintained. Damp- 

 ness, instead of causing deca}', be- 

 comes condensed on the pipes. The 

 system is probably the nearest to 

 perfection of any yet introduced. 



The " Chemical Composition of 

 Fruit," was the topic of a suggestive 

 paper by Professor Lazenby, of the 



Ohio StateUniversity. In thispaper it 

 was shown that the art of horticulture 

 consists in transforming, by means 

 of cultivation, crude and worthless 

 materials into substances mainly 

 useful and wholesome fruit products. 

 Progress in horticulture means an 

 ever increasing insight into and a 

 better understanding of the laws which 

 govern the desired transformations. 

 It means a better knowledge of how 

 plants grow and how they feed. 



The sciences of botany, chemistry, 

 and geology have all contributed 

 much toward this end. Of the three 

 sciences named perhaps chemistry 

 plays the most important part, being 

 most intimately connected with and 

 concerned in their changes in material 

 substances which the horticulturist is 

 constantl}' endeavoring to effect. 



One of the lessons to be derived 

 from chemistry is the needs of the soil 

 for profitable fruit production. 



It is well known that every plant, 

 large or small, herbaceous or woody, 

 is composed of certain elements, 

 whereof by far the larger portion 

 comes from the atmosphere, a much 

 smaller, though constant and no less 

 essential part coming from the soil. 

 The elements which are absorbed 

 from the atmosphere are usually found 

 in abundance and are yielded freely 

 to all growiiTg plants. If the roots 

 are duly supplied with mineral and 

 nitrogenous substances, together with 

 a sufficiency of moisture, the rapid 

 and perfect development of leaves, 

 the organs of atmospheric absorption 

 will secure whatever can be obtained 

 and is needed from the air. 



The really important question, 

 therefore, is this : " Are the necessarv 

 elements that are furnished by the 

 soil usually present in such quantities 

 and under such conditions that the 

 wants of the plant are fully supplied ?" 



In answer to this it can be safely 

 asserted that there is scarcely a 

 single square rod of land within the 

 borders of our country so rich in all 

 the elements of available plant food 

 that the production therefrom of fruit 

 or vegetables could not be increased 



