THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



27 



trains ai^ laden with this cherry for 

 the different markets. The climate 

 here is as cold as that of Moscow, where 

 the theremometer falls to 40° and 44° 

 below zero, Fahrenheit. 



On the west bank of the Volga, south 

 of Kazan, but seven hundred miles 

 farther north than the city of Montreal, 

 are, he says, twelve villages where 

 apples are grown in large quantities, 

 sometimes to the amount of fifty thou- 

 sand dollars in value, for the markets 

 of Nijni, Novgorod and Kazan. He 

 believes this to be the coldest orchard 

 region in the world, where the apple 

 trees are mere bushes grown in clumps 

 of two or three together, and the clumps 

 twelve feet apart each way. He found 

 these orchards heavily laden with fruit, 

 notwithstanding that the theremometer 

 fell last winter to 40° Fahrenheit, below 

 eero; and in the winter of 1877 stood 

 for a day and a half at Ji/ty-eight below 

 aero. He remarks that the trees are 

 slow, crooked growers, such as our 

 nurserymen hate to gi'ow, and would 

 hardly be able to sell in Canada after 

 they had grown them, but they begin 

 to bear young, and bear abundant crops 

 of fair sized fruit of really fine quality 

 and that keeps at least until mid- win- 

 ter. These trees are hardier than 

 Duchess of Oldenburg or Alexander 

 and should succeed on Pembino moun- 

 tain in Manitoba. 



At Simbirsk, further south, in lati- 

 tude 54°, where the wintei-s are quite 

 as cold as at Quebec, he found the same 

 varieties of apples grown in quantity, 

 and also many thousand pear trees, a 

 large number of which are unfit for 

 eating either raw or cooked, yet several 

 varieties of the Bergamot and other 

 types are sweet, free from astringeiicy, 

 and worthy of introduction. 



The plums he fouftd in those northern 

 regions were to hira quite a new race, 

 were bushes also, bearing profusely, 

 some red plums, some white, but mostly 



blue plums, the best of which he con- 

 sidered to be very nearly if not quite 

 equal to our Lombard plum. Yet he 

 inclines to the opinion that the improved 

 varieties of the wild plum of the north 

 western states are the best for the colder 

 sections of Canada. 



At Seratov, in latitude 51 J°, he found 

 an orchard of twelve thousand trees, 

 employing three hundred pickers, and 

 eighty-five packers, which had shortly 

 before sent one thousand tons of apples 

 to the Moscow market. He also found 

 at this place a pear orchard of five 

 hundred trees. And yet, he adds, there 

 are times here when the mercury be- 

 comes solid. 



Turning westward into Central Rus- 

 sia he finds new varieties of the apple. 

 Here, at Voronesh, the apple grown on 

 the Volga from Seratov to Kazan, called 

 the Annis, is not known, and the variety 

 called the Antonowka takes its place. 

 He does not give any description of the 

 tree or fruit of this Antonowka variety, 

 nor compare it in any way with the 

 Annis race which "he found so abundant 

 on the Volga, but remarks that fortun- 

 ately the best varieties of the Russian 

 fruits have been included in the col- 

 lections sent from Moscow to the Iowa 

 Agricultural College. 



He speaks frequently of the kindness 

 he experienced during his travels in 

 Russia and the interest taken by the 

 gentlemen he met in the object of his 

 researches and the facilities afforded 

 him for pursuing his inquiries. At our 

 latest advices he was in England, having 

 reached that far on his return homs. 



Grapes at Orillia. — Mr. William 

 Gillett, who is a member of the Ontario 

 Fruit Growers' Association, raised over 

 five hundred pounds of fine grapes the 

 past season. Mr. Gillett is thoroughly 

 conversant with the subject of fruit grow- 

 ing, and experiments largely in new 

 varieties. — What we want is more men of 

 this stamp. — Orillia Packet. 



