NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



Seedling Cherry. — Mr. John Gorm- 

 ley, of Pickering, sends samples of a 

 wonderfully firm cherry, that would be 

 of great value for distant shipments. 

 The form and color is about that of the 

 Wragg, or English Morello, but the 

 flavor is very superior, being like that of 

 a Bigarreau, which it also resembles in 

 texture of flesh. It appears to be su- 

 perior to the Bigarreau in its resistance of 

 decay, these samples keeping a week 

 in perfect condition. We would like 

 to hear more of this variety. 



The Peach crop in the Niagara dis- 

 trict as far as Hamilton is very heavy, 

 many growers are for the first time thin- 

 ning their trees to prevent their breaking 

 down with their load of fruit. Advices 

 from Chicago indicate that the western 

 crop is very light and that the prices of 

 peaches in that market will be very 

 high. This will afford a fair exchange 

 of shipments, for in previous years 

 Michigan peaches have flooded our 

 Canadian markets. 



Returns from Chicago for currants 

 were not very satisfactory owing to the 

 high express charges of $1.50 per 100 

 lbs. The first shipment of currants sold 

 for about 6j-4 cents a quart, leaving a 

 net return of about 3 cents ; and the 

 second sold at about 4c., leaving a 

 net return of about i^ cents. A duty 

 of 2 cents a pound- has since been put 

 on currants by the U. S., which will shut 

 out our shipments. Possibly we can 

 export them in cold storage to Great 

 Britain. 



The Leaf Curl has been fairly well 

 prevented in the Michigan peach orch- 

 ards on the trees which were sprayed 

 with Bordeaux mixture both before and 

 after the buds opened. 



Child's Rur.v and Wilder Cur- 

 rants have come to hand from B. F.Clos- 



som, Highland Creek. In size of berry 

 both are about equal to the Cherry, but 

 the bunches of both, like those of Fay's 

 are larger. Of the two, Wilder appears to 

 be the morecompact in bunch. Mr. Clos- 

 som says the bushes are strong, upright 

 and vigorous, not sprawling like Fay. 



The Wragg and the English 

 Morello are ripening about the same 

 time (July 20th) and show very Uttle 

 distinction. The latter is a trifle the 

 larger as grown at " -Maplehurst," but 

 which is the most productive must be 

 decided later. 



Of the Sour or Kentish Cherries, 

 the most satisfactory thus far with us is 

 the large Montmorency. The old Pie 

 cherry, or late Kentish, has long been 

 grown in Canada, but is subject to cur- 

 culioand black knot. In flavor it is very 

 acid, as is also the Montmorency Ordin- 

 aire, which much resembles it ; but the 

 large Montmorency is a mild tart, a 

 larger size, and a good bearer. 



Mr. W. M. Orr, Provincial Super- 

 intendent of Spraying, called on the 

 23rd July. He is engaged under the 

 Department of Agriculture, inspecting 

 orchards for San Jose Scale, and brought 

 specimens of plums and apples from an 

 orchard near the border of New York 

 State which were literally swarming with 

 San Jose Scale. They clustered in great 

 numbers about the stalk, and caused a 

 reddish hue, which would puzzle the un- 

 initiated. The trees were alive with the 

 terrible pest, which had been imported on 

 a lot of 800 trees from a nursery in New 

 Jersey, and fifty trees of this lot were in 

 the orchard referred to. Inspector Orr 

 states that the owners of infected orch- 

 ards demands unreasonable compensa- 

 tion for the destruction of infested trees. 

 Our government needs to take the most 

 decided and determined action in this 

 matter, or our business of fruit growing 



3'7 



