168 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



MAKCH WIND. 



A squirrel heard against his door 



The noisy March wind tap ; 

 He scanned the whitened wnoaland o'er, 

 And chattered : "Dears, 

 I've many fears ; 

 We'll take another nap." 



A tiny spear of grass peeped out 

 And heard the wind so shrill ; 

 It paused a while, in fear and doubt. 

 Then seemed to say : 

 " I'll go away 

 Till skies are not so chill." 



A little bird, all pinched with cold, 



Sat muffled in a tree ; 

 It tried to sing, its heart was bold. 

 And feebly cheeped, 

 " The snow is heaped ; 

 Sad weather this for me." 



A pretty rill crept from the ice, 



To tinkle down the hill ; 

 It glanced in sunshine warm and nice, 

 Then quiet grew, 

 Ah ! well it knew 

 The frost would linger still. 



A Snowdrop looked up at the sky. 



With baby face so dear ! 

 It thrived, though sleet and wind went by. 

 And smiled : " I'll stay, 

 Please, if I may, 

 Some weary heart to cheer !" 

 -Independent. 



The Apple Trade. — The exports of 

 apples from the United States and Canada 

 from 1882-3 were 365,107 barrels. A 

 larger quantity could have been absorbed 

 by the foreign demand but for the scarcity 

 in the home markets. 



Dried Apples. — Last year over three 

 million pounds of dried apples were ex- 

 ported from the United States to the mar- 

 kets of China, India, Egypt, Southern 

 Africa, Australia, and also to England and 

 Scotland . Four-fifths of this amount was 

 exported from the port of New York. The 

 exporters gather them up from all portions 

 of the country, the best, it is said, coming 

 from North Carolina . The cores and par- 

 ings are shipped to France, where they 

 are used in changing the flavors of various 

 brands of wine . 



Asparagus Culture. — How is it that 

 most writers on asparagus culture recom- 

 mend planting about a foot apart in the 

 rows ? I think this is a mistake ; the best 

 shoots can be obtained only by giving 

 plenty of room to the plants ; four feet 

 between the rows and three feet in the 

 rows is near enough. Crowd the plants 



and Conover's Colossal or any other giant 

 asparagus cannot be produced, let the 

 other treatment be ever so liberal. On 

 the other hand give plenty of room and 

 plenty of manure in good sandy loam, and 

 giant shoots are produced every time. The 

 roots require plenty of room to ramify in 

 before large, well developed crowns can 

 be secured, without which strong shoots 

 cannot grow. When selecting asparagus 

 roots to force, I always used to select the 

 strongest and best ripened crowns I could 

 get ; unless such were brought into heat 

 good shoots could not be produced. Like 

 the strawberry, this year's treatment is 

 what forms the crops for next season, and 

 if this is not attended to poor results may 

 be expected the following season. Aspa- 

 ragus beds are often destroyed by not al- 

 lowing enough of foliage to mature the 

 crowns for producing next season's crops. 

 M. Milton. Mahoning Co., O. — Country 

 Gentleman. 



The Switzbr Apple. — The SAvitzer is 

 one of the apples imported from Russia 

 by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture in 1869-70. The tree is a vigor- 

 ous grower, upright and spreading, and an 

 early and abundant bearer. The young 

 shoots are dark brown (black walnut color) 

 with not many, but very distinct white 

 dots . Fruit medium to large, very smooth 

 and fair, roundish-conical. Skin almost 

 covered with bright, broad splashes of 

 diflferent shades of crimson, somewhat 

 after the style of the St. Lawrence, but 

 not so dark . No bloom. Stalk medium 

 in size and length, rather deeply inserted. 

 Calyx partially closed, in a shallow, smooth 

 basin. Flesh white, soft, juicy, and of re- 

 markably fine, rich flavor for a Russian 

 apple. Very good to best. Ripens in 

 Northern Vermont from first to middle of 

 September, or with Red Astrachan, but 

 much more simultaneously. In quality it 

 is the best of the Russian early sorts, be- 

 ing far better for eating uncooked than 

 Red Astrachan, quite as beautiful, equal 

 in size, and of about the same season. It 

 will push the Red Astrachan hard as a 

 market apple if introduced to general cul- 

 tivation. The tree is considerably hardier 

 than Astrachan, and bears very much 

 younger. T. H. H. — Rural New Yorker. 



PRINTED AT THE STEAM PRESS ESTABLISHMENT OF COPP, CLARK ft CO., COLBORNE STREET, TORONTO. 



