TJie Cniiadian Horticultitrist. 



281 



leaves serve a very good purpose if 

 evergreen boughs cannot be had. 



Grape vines must be buried or a 

 large percentage will freeze out. 



The two-arm s\stem of training is 

 preferred to the fan-tail by those who 

 have tried both. The renewal system 

 is spoken of by some, but I know of 

 none that have yet practiced it. 



But how to protect my Russian 

 Apricots, and Lombard Plums is 

 the burden of my enquiries at 

 present. I have thought of a wrap 

 of twisted straw, with a fold of tarred 

 paper over that, painted white to 

 resist mice and reflect off the sun's 

 rays ; also have been advised to use 

 a thin board casing around each tree, 

 and I think I will try both to test 

 which is best. Hardy apple trees 

 such as Tetofsky, Wealthy, Duchess, 

 Alexander, Scott's Winter, Yellow 

 Transparent, and a very few others, 

 go through our long hard winters 

 with encouragement, but a dozen 

 varieties of the apple, except the 

 hardy crabs, is enough to venture 

 upon even by the most sanguine 

 fruit-grower. Small fruits may be 

 gone into with a certainty of success. 



The tests on the Experimental 

 Farm in currants, gooseberries, rasp- 

 berries, blackberries, and straw- 

 berries, show a marked encourage- 

 ment, and anyone visiting the 

 " Farm " and noting the result of the 

 tests can go away with the assurance 

 that in small fruits at least, he may 

 venture with perfect impunity in this 

 climate. 



Of strawberries, I am testing about 

 fifteen varieties, quite enough for the 

 average fruit-grower, either for 

 market or home use. Amontr them 



are Wilson, Crescent, Sharpless, 

 Cumberland, Triumph Dan Boone, 

 Captain Jack, Maggie, Jessie, 

 Hubach, Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Man- 

 chester, Charles Downing and 

 Seneca Queen, all of which are a 

 success. Last winter was a hard 

 one on any damp ground owing to 

 much rain falling and freezing, and 

 many lost their strawberries, or a 

 large percentage of them from this 

 cause. 



Taking all tilings into account, 

 there is much to encourage the fruit- 

 grower even here, where often five 

 months of the year snow lies from 

 two to five feet deep over the land. 

 Apples grown here are of a good 

 quality as a rule, being firm, juicy, 

 and of a bright appearance, and good 

 keepers if picked carefully. And now 

 with reference to the sanitary need 

 of fruit-growing and its more ex- 

 tended use through this country and 

 I will close. It is a general practice 

 with those pursuing the farming in- 

 dustry in the Ottawa Valley, to go 

 to the lumber shanties in the winter, 

 a practice which has greatly retarded 

 the growth of farming interests. 

 Life in the shanty is of a demoral- 

 ising tendenc}- to a great degree, both 

 to bod}' and soul. Strong tea, fat 

 pork without fruit or vegetables, and 

 tliat three times a day with dry 

 bread, with a mixture of beans 

 baked in grease, form the average 

 diet of the shanty men. The result 

 is : dyspepsia is quite a common com- 

 plaint through the country. The 

 practice of drinking a swallow of hot 

 tea with every mouthful of food is 

 very prevalent and correspondingly 

 injurious. A free use of fruit is an 



