NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



that enough growers in the Grimsby, 

 Winona and Burlington district can be 

 induced to combine upon this experi- 

 mental work, so that it may be thor- 

 oughly tested for the general good. 



Wismer's Dessert Apple— On Jan- 

 uary 7, we received from J. W. Wismer, 

 Port Elgin, a sample of his new winter 

 dessert apple. It is medium in size, 

 beautifully colored, with flesh of such 

 fine grain and buttery character thatone 

 might easily take it for a pear if one's 

 eyes were closed. The flavor is excel- 

 lent, and judging by the sample it is un- 

 surpassed for the dessert table. 



Errata. — We regret the accidental 

 transposition of tides on pages 8 and ii, 

 the former being the Hospital for the 

 Insane, and the latter the Art Building 

 of Queen's University. 



Decease of one of our Direc- 

 tors. — Mr. A. McD. Allan writes to 

 acquaint us of the death of Jno. Stewart, 

 of Benmiller, on the 12th of January, at 

 the age of sixty-two. Mr. Stewart was 

 with us at Kingston, and seemed in 

 good health, taking a deep interest in 

 our proceedings ; and we grieve to hear 

 of this sudden and unexpected loss. 

 Mr. Allan writes " He was a quiet man, 

 who never pushed himself into office of 

 any kind, and yet, in his career in Huron, 

 his name has for many years been 

 uppermost when the people desired to 

 fill any public position of trust. In his 

 own business he enjoyed to a full degree 

 the confidence of the people, as his word 

 was always a guarantee of truth and 

 uprightness. For over a quarter of a 

 century he belonged to the Goderich 

 Horticultural Society, of which he was 

 for some time president. He had been 

 an active worker on the Board of the 

 \Vest Riding Agricultural Society, the 



Township of Colborne Society, and in 

 later years of the North-Western Exhi- 

 bition. We all miss him ; we have lost 

 a friend, a horticulturist of the truest 

 stamp, who read in all his studies of 

 Nature, the hand of the Great Creator. 

 It can be truly said the world is better 

 because he lived in it." 



The Next Meeiing of the O. F. 

 G. A., will be held in the town of Water- 

 loo, in December. Invitations have 

 been received from St. Catharines, from 

 the Whitby Horticultural Society, and 

 the South Essex Horticultural Society 

 at Kingsville, and no doubt these places 

 will all be visited in course of time. 

 It is urged by the latter that Essex is 

 a very important fruit growing county, 

 for peaches, grapes and small fruits, one 

 grower alone having about forty acres of 

 peaches in bearing, a single raspberry 

 plantation has yielded over 1800 baskets 

 in a single day, and one grower ofstra^^- 

 berries in 1896, has picked and packed 

 one hundred and twenty-four qt crates 

 of these berries in a half day. 



Soil Too Poor. — It is a common 

 complaint this season that fruit does 

 not pay as well as it usually does, and 

 many are discouraged. Now we are 

 convinced that much of the failure is due 

 to poverty of soil. Many of our fore- 

 most fruit growers apply little or no ferti- 

 lizers to their orchard and garden ; all 

 the manure goes to the corn or turnip 

 fields. Now such treatment will not 

 produce good fruit, and good fruit is the 

 thing wanted now a days, while second 

 class stuff goes begging at any price. 



Every apple tree when it has reach- 

 ed bearing age should receive about 

 50 lbs. of stable manure, 10 lbs. of 

 bone meal, or superphosphate, and 20 

 or 30 lbs. of wood ashes every year, 

 and we would like to know how many 



78 



