^52 



The Canadian HorticuUurist. 



mate purpose (the production of fruit) 

 we will raise on that acre, say 600 bush- 

 els of good apples, worth $1 50 or up- 

 wards. Many farmers, not satisfied 

 with this, attempt a system of double 

 cropping, and sowing wheat among 

 the trees, use up half of the plant food 

 in the production of fifteen bushels of 

 wheat, worth not over $15, thus leaving 

 only raw material enough for half a 

 crop of apples. 



In the spring the trees had made all 

 preparations for a full crop, setting fruit 

 freely, and this fruit, for the want of the 

 needed supply of food which the wheat 

 has consumed meanwhile, remains part- 

 ly undeveloped and undersized, so that 

 the market value of even that half crop 

 grown is greatly impaired. The half 

 crop will certainly not be worth half the 

 money, and the 300 bushels are much 

 more liable to bring less than $60 than 

 to bring more. Now let us compare 

 results. The apples grown without 

 grain gave us $150. From the grain 

 and fruit combination we receive $60 

 for fruit and $15 for grain, an aggregate 

 of $75. This amounts to a loss of $75 

 per acre ; and it is a loss plainly tra- 



ceable to double cropping. In other 

 words, the cost of production of every 

 bushel of wheat grown in a bearing 

 orchard is not less than $5. I think 

 this is a plain statement, and should 

 convince every grower the extreme folly 

 of the practice. Now I might follow 

 up this line of inquiry, and also call at- 

 tention to the sickly look, the yellowish 

 leaves, and the feeble growth generally 

 found in orchards habitually cropped 

 with grain. The loss, figured out, is 

 not a temporary one. The injury to 

 the trees themselves is still more serious, 

 as it is permanent and in a measure ir- 

 reparable. Robbed of the mineral 

 plant food, the trees are stunted, and 

 forever incapable of producing first- 

 class fruit, unless, perhaps, by the most 

 careful nursing afterwards. 



The best treatment that could be 

 given to an orchard injudiciously put in 

 grain last spring, is to let stock tramp 

 down or eat up the halms before the 

 grain is formed, or to mow it at this pe- 

 riod and leave it right on the ground 

 where it fell as a mulch. — T. G. R., in 

 American Garden. 



CAUTION IN THE USE OF POISON. 



AT tlie latest meeting of the 

 Social Science Association, 

 reports proved that not one New 

 England homestead out of twenty is 

 conducted on correct sanitary princi- 

 ples. The cellar, as 3'et built and 

 used, is still almost invariably a 

 pestilential adjunct to homes. Pro- 

 bably the only means of avoiding the 

 danger arising from these dug-outs, 

 will be to dispense with them alto- 

 gether. In their place we should 

 build underground storehouses sepa- 

 rate from the houses. 



Certainly it has become a criminal 

 affair to reside and rear children 

 above damp rooms in which are 

 stored large quantities of vegetables 



and fruits undergoing a slow process 

 of decomposition. The most care- 

 ful attention to ventilation and re- 

 moval of waste will not keep such 

 apartments safe when located under 

 our living and sleeping rooms. Re- 

 cent scientific investigation has 

 shown it to be beyond question that 

 the typhoid fevers and diphtherias, 

 with a thousand minor forms of 

 disease, are traceable to precisely 

 these causes. The skilled physician 

 finding the disease, immediately 

 searches for a neglected cellar, or 

 sewer, or poison-infested well. 



But I desire to call attention to 

 some other sources of danger. 



At this moment I am suffering 



