The Canadian Horticulturist. 



139 



towns, can avoid for us the gluts and 

 consequent ruinous sales such as 

 were made of our apples last Decem- 

 ber in Liverpool and London. Mr. 

 Mr. A. McD. Allan, the President of 

 our Association, who has already 

 had such large experience in this very 

 line, will probably be the represent- 

 ative of tlie company in England. 



We have also had much dissatis- 

 faction with the sales of our fruit in 

 Toronto by dealers who sell privately, 

 but make returns to us growers at 

 a nominal wholesale price, less com- 

 mission. This company, by selling 

 fruit in open competition to the high- 

 est bidder, will also be to our 

 interest. 



Varieties of Strawberries. 



The sixth annual report of the 

 Ohio Experiment Station contains 

 the report of the horticulturist, Mr. 

 W. J. Green, upon small fruits. 



.\mong a very large number of 

 strawberries tested we notice the fol- 

 lowing results: — Alpha, not worth 

 retaining, because little earlier than 

 the Crescent, no larger berries, and 

 much less productive. Bidu'cll, un- 

 worthy of cultivation, because it 

 overbears, matures its fruit badly, 

 which also colors slowly, and often 

 rots before it ripens. D iibach ,\\e7\\ihy , 

 vigorous, prolific, fruit of good form 

 and color, but of medium quality ; a 

 promising variety for commercial 

 growers. Cuniherlaud, a most satis- 

 factory kind for amateurs, but 

 yielding only about one-quarter the 

 amount the Crescent does. Crescent, 

 very valuable, and takes the lead as 

 a market berry where berries of 

 second rate quality are still in de- 

 mand. Itasca, productive, fruit 

 small but of excellent quality. Jessie, 

 one of the most satisfactory varieties 

 of recent origin ; plants vigorous, 

 healthy and productive, while the 

 fruit is large and showv. May Kiiii^, 

 an established standard variety ; not 

 equal to Crescent in productiveness. 

 Ontario, differs little from the Sharp- 

 less. Shnrpless, profitable in but 



few sections, owing to comparative 

 unproductiveness and tender blos- 

 soms ; requires good soil and extra 

 attention. Wilson, valuable in some 

 sections, but less planted than for- 

 merly owing to rust of foliage. 



The Black Knot. 



This troublesome fungus is be- 

 coming very common in southern 

 Ontario, and by the majority of farm- 

 ers is so much neglected that careful 

 growers are much discouraged about 

 the ultimate riddance of it. From 

 the plums it has spread to the Ken- 

 tish Cherry trees, which are rapidly 

 being destroyed wherever left in 

 neglect. The writer has tried as 

 faithfully as possibly to keep the 

 knot cut off, going over the trees 

 with a water tree-pruner and after- 

 wards burning all the trimmings. 

 But this method is very hard upon 

 the trees, and if the application of 

 any liquid to the parts affected would 

 work a cure, we who are engaged in 

 plum and cherry culture would be 

 verv glad to know it. 



With this end in view the horti- 

 culturist at the Massachusetts Ex- 

 perimental Station has been testing 

 three substances, viz.: linseed oil, 

 turpentine and kerosene, with con- 

 siderable appearance of success. The 

 applications were made with a brush 

 three different times during the Sum- 

 mer, and in tiie Autumn microscopic 

 examinations were made, and it was 

 found not only that there were no 

 spores in the warts, but in fact that 

 the sacs {pcrithccia) were not de- 

 veloped enough to produce sphores 

 before the warts were destroyed by 

 the remedies. The linseed oil is 

 counted the best because it is not inju- 

 rious to the healthy bark of the trees 

 when it runs over upon it, while 

 both the turpentine and the kerosene 

 were destructive to the branch wher- 

 ever thev came in contact with it. 



Judgingr Fruits. 



At the late exhibition in Ocata. 

 Florida, a scale of loo points was 



