i68 



TJie Canadian HortiailUirist. 



tree. The important point to be no- 

 ticed in all this is that the curculio 

 begins its work long before it stings 

 the young fruit, and therefore the 

 wisdom of the advice which we have 

 frequently tried to impress upon our 

 readers to spray the plum trees very 

 early with Paris green, even before 

 the blossoms are fully expanded. 



It has also been found that spray- 

 ing the peach with Paris green of 



the ordinary strength will kill the 

 peach leaves, but that an application 

 of the poison in a more dilute form 

 is sufficient to destroy the curculio. 

 In an experiment tried in the early 

 part of May of the present year, out 

 of a cheque lot of twelve curculios 

 fed on peach leaves without poison, 

 only one died ; but out of twelve fed 

 upon leaves sprayed with Paris green, 

 all died in ten days. 



QUESTION DRAW^ER 



The Saunders Plum. 



43. — There has been a person around here 

 selling plum trees, which he calls " The 

 Saunders," for the moderate price of #2. 

 Please give the merits and demerits of this 

 new claimant for public fa\-or through that 

 very valuable paper, " The Horticul- 

 turist," the exposer of humbug and fraud. 

 — R. Trotter, Owen Sound. 



The Saunders Plum is no fraud, 

 but was brought before the notice of 

 the Fruit Growers' Association of 

 Ontario at their Autumn meeting in 

 Barrie, in the year 1884, and was 

 named after the then President, Mr. 

 Wm. Saunders, now director of the 

 Central Experimental Farm. It was 

 sent in by Mr. John Arris, of Belle- 

 ville, as a seedling which had at- 

 tracted no small attention among 

 fruit growers in that vicinity. It 

 was then described as follows : — 

 Tree, a good spreading grower ; 

 foliage, of a bright green color, holds 

 on well to the end of the season ; 

 a very valuable point. It bears an 

 immense crop every year, the limbs 

 this year (1884) were just bending 

 under the weight of fruit. The fruit 

 is above medium in size ; form, long- 

 ish oval with a distinct suture; stem, 

 one half an inch long ; color, bright 

 yellow with a slight blush where 

 exposed to the sun ; flesh, melting, 

 sweet and good ; free stone ; flesh, 

 yellow. This plum, on account of 

 its hardiness, productive habit, good 



growth and freedom from black knot, 

 will stand in the front rank as one of 

 the best market plums, k is one of 

 the first to ripen, being several days 

 earlier than the Green Gage. 



Of course the price is extrava- 

 gantly high, and is asked onl}- on the 

 ground that the variety is compara- 

 tively new, and difficult to bu}- except 

 from an agent. Probably the nur- 

 ser}^ represented by the agent has 

 secured a monopoly of the stock, and 

 so controls the market for a time. 

 We suppose that no one of our 

 readers would pay any such price for 

 a plum tree, except as a luxury ; trees 

 for a commercial orchard can usually 

 be purchased direct from the nursery 

 much cheaper than through an agent. 



Apple Evapopatop. 



44. — Is there a sheet iron apple drier made 

 in Canada to set on the stove for family use ? 

 — Thos. Rickard, Alvinston. 



We do not at present know of any 

 such dryer made in Canada, but R. • 

 Ferris, of Essex Co., N. Y., describes 

 a Home Made Evaporator in the 

 Farm and Home, which might suit 

 the requirements of our correspon- 

 dent. He describes it thus : — 



A HOME-M.^DE EVAPOR.A.TOR. 



I secured a box two feet long, 18 

 inches deep and two feet high. The 



