QUESTION DRAWER. 



Haverland, Bubach, Clyde and Green- 

 ville are excellent varieties. Usually the 

 kinds that succeed with us in the south, 

 do equally well in Simcoe ; for the snow 

 protects them so well in northern sec- 

 tions. 



PoUenizeF for Northern Spy 

 Apples. 



916> Sir, — Please tell us what variety of 

 apple would be best to furnish pollen for a 

 Nofthern Spy orchard, and how many trees 

 would it be necessary to graft in an orchard 

 containing 9 dozen trees ? 



MORLEY HaWKESWORTH, 



Medina, Ont. 



Reply by Mr. John Craig, Ottawa. 



So far as I am aware it has not been 

 satisfactorily proved that Northern Spy 

 is partially or wholly self-sterile. It is, 

 however, true — and this truth has been 

 widely and thoroughly demonstrated by 

 the observations of practical fruit grow- 

 ers — that Northern Spy, in common 

 with the principal leading commercial 

 varieties of apples, will bear fuller crops 

 of fruit when the mixed system of plant- 

 ing is practiced. The truth of this as- 

 sertion was well borne out last spring 

 when visiting the apple growing section 

 of Grand Island County, Vermont. In 

 one orchard I saw large blocks of Green- 

 ings, Spys and Russets growing alongside 

 of each other. In every instance the 

 contiguous rows of Greenings and Rus- 

 sets, or Greenings and Spys, as the case 

 might be, were much more heavily laden 

 than were the rows of these varieties in 

 the centre of each block, where they 

 were probably not affected by other pol- 

 len than their own. In the case of 

 Northern Spy, a fair proportion of any 

 other variety, would be two rows of 

 Northern Spy and as in the case of 

 strawberries one row of the pollenizer. 

 Among varieties which blossomed last 



year at or nearly with Northern Spy 

 w£re : Alexander, Maidens Blush, Ribs- 

 ton Pippin, Roxbury Russet and Talman 

 Sweet. 



Ventilation and Heating of Green- 

 house. 



917. Sir, — 1. Ventilation. How beat 

 arranged, the conservatory being a lean-to, 

 eight feet wide and thirteen feet long, brick 

 foundation and wood up to the benches, and 

 on southeast side of mj' house. 



2. Heating. I wish to use hot water, to 

 be connected with my wood furnace which 

 heats the house, having a firebox 20 inches 

 square and four feet long, (a) Will four rows 

 of two inch pipe around the conservatory, 

 two sides and one end, give sufficient radiat- 

 ing surface, the glass being about l.'iO square 

 feet ? (/)) How many lengths of two inch 

 pipe should pass through the furnace firebox 

 from end to end above the fire to sufficiently 

 heat the water ? (<■) Should there be any 

 difficulty in heating as contemplated, the 

 furnace being within ten feet from where the 

 pipes would enter the conservatory, and being 

 one which holds the fire all night ? 



C. E. German, Slrathroy. 



Reply by Prof. L. R. Taft, Michigan 

 Agrictiltural College. ^ 



1. Ventilation can be secured by 

 means of two sash, each four or five 

 feet long, running lengthwise of the 

 roof at the ridge. They can be hinged 

 at the upper edge and raised and 

 lowered by hand, using skylight lifters. 



2. {a) Four would be ample and 

 three would probably answer if the coil 

 is at least thirty feet long, provided the 

 temperature does not fall below 25 

 degrees, {b) Four or five lengths three 

 or four feet long should supply sufficient 

 fire surface, (f) If properly arranged 

 the pipes should work all right, as the 

 entire circuit will not'be more than fifty 

 or sixty feet. 



How to Kill Poplar Suckers. 



918. Sir, — I notice in the .Tanuary 

 number of the Canai>ian Horticulturist an 

 enquiry as to how to destroy the vitality of 

 " I'oplar Roots." Knowing from experience 



