OPEN LETTERS. 



half as many more not bearing. The 

 yield of apples last year was about twenty 

 million barrels. 



Self-sterile Apples.— The following 

 varieties of apples are more or less self- 

 sterile, that is, to be comparatively un- 

 fruitful when planted in blocks by them- 

 selves, without having other varieties 

 near, from which their blossoms may be 

 pollinated, viz.: — Bellefieur, Chenango, 

 Gravenstein, King, Spy, Red Astrachan, 

 Roxbury Russet, Spitzenburg, Talman 

 Sweet. 



RoBT. JToGG, LL.D., author of "Fruit 

 Manual " (English) and of " British Po- 

 mology," Secretary of the British Pomo- 

 logical Society, and of the Fruit Com- 

 mitteeof the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 died on the 14th of March last. Since 

 1886 Dr. Hogg has been editor of the 

 Journal of Horticulture, which work is 

 now in the hands of his son. 



Mr. Alex. McNeill's lecture before 

 the Waterloo Horticultural Society on 

 the 23rd of March, was on "The Horti- 

 cultural Possibilities of a Town Lot." 

 There were about one hundred present, 

 and the lecture much appreciated. 



Past Experiences and Future Pros- 

 pects of Fruit Growing in the Canadian 

 North-West, is the subject of a paper 

 read before the Royal Society of Canada, 

 by Dr. William Saunders. 



The Cold Storage Warehouse for 

 experimental shipments, which has been 

 located at Grimsby, was completed 

 and iced by about April 15th. It is 

 just large enough to hold about one car- 

 load of fruit at a time. The first ship, 

 ments will be made early in August, and 



kept up weekly until the scheme has 

 been well tested. Tomatoes, early ap- 

 ples, and peaches will probably consti- 

 tute the first cargo. 



The Japan Chestnuts promise to 

 be profitable in Delaware, possibly they 

 would also succeed in Southern Onta- 

 rio, and it is quite worth while that our 

 experiment stations should test them 

 and report. One good point about 

 them is their early and abundant bear- 

 ing, but the quality is not equal to 

 the American chestnut. 



There are also several varieties of 

 European chestnuts, e.g.. Paragon, Ridge- 

 ley, etc. Of these, the Paragon is 

 counted the finest. A writer in R. N. 

 Y., speaking from experience, says it 

 is a healthy, robust grower, very prolific, 

 and usually produces from three to 

 seven nuts to the burr. 



Cold Storage. — The Hon. Minister 

 of Agriculture has made arrangements 

 with the following lines of steamers for 

 cold storage service, viz. : — The Elder, 

 Dempster Co., Montreal to Avonmouth; 

 Allan and Thompson lines, weekly, 

 Montreal to London ; Allan and Dom- 

 inion lines, weekly, Montreal to Liver- 

 pool ; and, possibly, Allan and Thomp- 

 son lines, Montreal to Glasgow ; also 

 the Furness line, from St. John, N.B., 

 and Halifax, N.S , to either Liverpool 

 or London, fortnightly. 



A special service of refrigerator cars 

 will also be furnished on the leading 

 railway lines. The Dominion will have 

 an officer in Montreal to supervise the 

 transference of the perishable products 

 from car to boat, or if necessary to place 

 them in a cold storage warehouse until 

 the ship is ready. Another officer will 

 no doubt be placed in England to give 

 us shippers all needed information. 



19S 



