344 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



sour and acrid juices of the green 

 <"ruit to the ripe melting sweetness of 

 'the same fruit when ripened would 

 fee impossible. Overloaded grape 

 vines often suffer from lack of avail- 

 able potash, when the grapes hang 

 ■for days and weeks without change 

 upon the vines. 



It should be remembered that 

 years ago, when the soil was rich 

 and insect enemies were unknown, 

 apples were the most easily culti- 

 vated of all fruits and the surest to 

 produce a crop. They ought to be 

 and may be made so again. With 

 the right proportions of various plant 

 foods properly administered, apple 

 growing ought to be the most certain 

 and successhd business known, in- 

 stead of being, as it has become, the 

 most uncertain. We know now how 

 to destroy or guard against insect 

 enemies, and it only requires the 

 same untiring vigilance which farm- 

 ers have long learned to use in keep- 

 ing down noxious weeds to make 

 destructive insects a blessing rather 

 than a disadvantage. — American 

 Cultivator. 



The Switzer Apple. 



The American Garden says this 

 apple is the best in quality, as well 

 as one of the most beautiful of the 

 Russians, and the tree is perfection 

 as a grower and bearer. Its " out " 

 is in dropping its fruit permaturely ; 

 but this fault has not been noticed 

 this season. It is described as 

 larger than the Fameuse, a bright 

 rose color, free from spotting, and of 

 a Fameuse flavor, corresponding 

 also in season with that apple. 



The Value of Fruit Trees. 



" A GOOD fruit tree is worth fifty 

 dollars," we heard an old farmer say 

 recentl}'. If this is true, an orchard 

 of one acre containing fifty trees 

 should increase the value of the farm 

 upon which it is situated by the 

 pleasant sum of $2,500 — less, of 



course, the original value of that in- 

 dividual acre. W'hile it might be 

 difficult to find a purchaser who 

 would accept this valuation, my own 

 experience inclines me to the belief 

 that the farmer's assertion was not 

 far from right. A money yield of 

 three dollars per annum from each 

 tree would give six per cent, upon 

 this capitalized value. It is a poor 

 tree that will not average this, even 

 allowing for off yekrs, and off years 

 are not so frequent as to alternate 

 regularly with the beari'ig ones. A 

 healthy tree, properly cared for, will 

 give a crop two years out of three 

 that will pay for harvestmg. Oc- 

 casionally a tree will give a crop that 

 will pay the interest for many years 

 in one. 



An Early Richmond cherry tree 

 paid me last year eight dollars, be- 

 sides the fruit used at home, which 

 was sufficient to pay entire cost of 

 gathering. From a sweet cherry 

 tree this year I sold three-and-one- 

 half bushels at two dollars per 

 bushel. 



Two Chickasaw plum trees, grow- 

 mg so closel}' together that their 

 branches intertwine as if they were 

 one tree, the two covering a space of 

 about five hundred square feet, fre- 

 quently pay ten dollars in a season, 

 which would be at the rate of over 

 $800 per acre. A pear tree near by 

 yields ten bushels in a good season, 

 and one dollar per bushel is not an 

 unusual price. Three early apple 

 trees this season gave over fifty 

 bushels, which sold at from eighty 

 cents to $1.20 per bushel. The trees 

 were so full that I had to commence 

 picking while yet very green, 

 to save the limbs from breaking. 

 Yet the same trees last year gave a 

 crop that paid more than six per 

 cent, upon a value of fifty dollars 

 each. — American Agriculturist. 



Winter Care of Apple Orchards. 



No doubt the most successful and 

 profitable orchards in Ohio are those 



