242 



THK CANADIAN HORTICULTDKIST. 



tinned consumption of coarse food, as 

 pork and potatoes, gives a coarseness 

 to our natures, while on the other hand 

 the daily use of these fine vegetables 

 tends to human refinement and eleva- 

 tion. We are inclined to believe there 

 is much of truth in this opinion ; at 

 least we do find that men of refined 

 minds and tastes very generally culti- 

 vate these fine vegetables and make them 

 a very considerable portion of their 

 daily food. Again, as refined taste 

 pervades society, our vegetables are not 

 estimated in proportion to their bulk. 

 It is no longer the largest possible size 

 without reference to fineness of grain, 

 and delicacy of structure that now re- 

 ceives the prizes at the exhibitions of 

 horticultural productions. These mon- 

 strous growths, with their coarse fibre 

 and coarse flavors, are turned over to 

 the exhibitions of stock feeding roots, 

 where, if anywhere, they belong. Horses 

 and cattle may be able to masticate 

 and digest them. 



,In the cultivation then of our vege- 

 tables for table use we will aim at the 

 production of fine grain combined with 

 tenderness and flavor. To this end we 

 will use fertilizers that have been pro- 

 perly prepared by composting until 

 they are no longer rank and coarse, 

 and in such quantity as experience has 

 taught us will, in our soil, produce 

 quick growth without coarseness. Fre- 

 quent stirring of the soil by means of 

 hoe or cultivator greatly conduces to 

 this result, and a mellow surface is of 

 as much, if not of more importance 

 than the application of fertilizers. 



EXPERIMENTS IN TREE GROWING. 



BY P. E. BUCKE, OTTAWA. 



In the autumn of l^'72 I procured 

 from the woods near by some butter- 

 nuts (juglans cinerea) which I imme- 

 diately planted. T wish here to state 

 that all tree seeds and nuts should be 

 planted so soon as ripe, whenever that 

 may be; if not, their vitality is either 

 altogether destroyed or much impaired. 

 They all came up in the spring of 1<573. 

 One of these, which has been twice 

 xiransplanted, is now, at ten years of 

 age, two feet three inches in cicumfer- 

 ence at one and a half feet from the 

 ground, and is thirty-four feet high. 

 It began to bear nuts at seven years 

 of age. Had this tree been grown 

 in a grove for timber, instead of 

 for ornament, it would have been 

 much taller, as the branches would 

 have been trimmed ofl" higher up the 

 stem, and the trunk would have been 

 drawn more to the light. These butter- 

 nuts are the oldest lot of trees I have 

 on my place grown from the seed. 

 Maples of the same age are not half so 

 thick through, though nearly as high. 

 The butternut is a very quick growing 

 tree, and well repays by its thick and 

 graceful foliage any care that may be 

 bestowed upon it. The timber and 

 nuts are both valuable, and considering 

 the ease with which they may be obtain- 

 ed, it is certainly most extraordinary 

 that they are now becoming so scarce. 

 A few acres of these trees in rows ten 

 or twelve feet apart would be a magnifi- 

 cent sight. 



Whilst in Toronto in the autumn of 

 1876, 1 procured some horse chestnuts 

 {^cBsculus hippocastanum). The trees 

 are now seven years old, and are ten 

 inches in girth and twelve feet high, 

 having been twice transplanted. They 

 do not grow nearly so fast as the butter- 

 nut, and are not very satisfactory in 

 this cold climate. 



