The Canadian Ilorticnltnyist. 



"3 



the disease. Fumigation, spraying, 

 or washing the trees with various 

 known fungicides, notably sulphur 

 and lime, have given no positive 

 results. As the disease is local and 

 spreads tlirough the tissue slowly, it 

 is possible, as has long been known, 

 to effectually check its progress 

 b}' amputation. The smaller limbs 

 should be cut off a foot or two be- 

 low the lowest manifestation of the 

 disease, and the spots on the trunk 

 and larger limbs should be shaven 

 out, cutting deep enough to remove 

 all discoloration. The instrument 

 for cutting should be kept disinfected 

 with carbolic acid or otherwise, to 

 guard against conveying the disease 

 to freshly cut surfaces. The exposed 

 and newly cut surfaces ought to be at 

 once painted over in order to exclude 

 the germs that might reach through 

 the atmosphere. 



Pruning: Plums. 



31. I have over 1 00 pi urn trees planted, some 

 of them one year, some two years, and some 

 three years 'I'hey f^row two and three feet, 

 and some of them four feet, in one year. Is 

 it best to cut last years growth back one- . 

 half, or let it grow as it will ? Or would it 

 be better to nip the growth in midsummer ? — 

 Wii-LiAM SwiTZKK, Kirkton I' O , Ont 



Plum trees, as a rule, need very 

 little pruning, except an annual thin- 

 ning out where the heads are too 

 close. Clipping back, or nipping in 

 midsummer, would cause the produc- 

 tion of more numerous side branches. 



Cutting: Scions. 



32. Will scions, taken from a tree that never 

 bore fruit, bear fruit as well as scions taken 

 from a tree that has borne fruit ? Please 

 answer in your next issue. — Geo. Hanna- 

 FORi), Pevensey, Muskoka. 



Yes ; and tliey are generally used 

 by nurserymen. 



OPEN LETTERS 



The Hamilton Meeting. 



Sir, — I am a new member of the Fruit 

 Growers' Association, and I was present at 

 the Hamilton meeting. I now write to 

 express my surprise that the meeting was 

 not crowded with farmers and citizens of the 

 locality. It may be that the public consider 

 it a private meeting of the Association, like 

 that of any other corporation, and of interest 

 to none but those specially in the business. 

 Though no way concerned in nursery or fruit 

 business, except as far as my own grounds 

 extend, I found the whole proceedings both 

 interesting and instructive. The argument 

 ran principally on the export apple trade, in 

 which I am not concerned, and which would 

 not be generally interesting to ladies or 

 amateurs; but at all times I felt that by ask- 

 ing a question quietly on a little slip of 

 paper. I could call out plenty of discussion on 

 any branch of horticulture or floriculture, 

 and hear the subject worked out fully by a 



dozen speakers who knew all about the 

 business. I do not care to hear long speeches 

 on what might be done in raising fruit, 

 flowers or forests, such as were too fre- 

 quently given by a certain professor who 

 has lately left the scene, but I do take an 

 interest in a man who can tell promptly 

 what he has done, and knows others can 

 do, in any department It is a perfect 

 satisfaction to me to hear certain members, 

 in a perfectly unassuming way, tell us all we 

 need to know, both practically and scien- 

 tifically, on any point to which we call their 

 attention. I think such observing men as 

 Mr. P. C. Dempsey, Mr. A. M. Allan, Prof. 

 Saunders, L. Woolverton or E. D. Smith, 

 would make a success of any calling; and 

 what I have heard from them seems worth 

 years of experience to me, and would tend to 

 increase the interest in all branches of horti- 

 culture in every one who listens to them 



I have a great respect for certain .American 

 writers on the same subjects, among them 



