June, igi2 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



139 



in the early months of the season and 

 then by smothering it in the fall by t"he 

 use of a cover crop such as rape or hairy 

 vetch, which makes a rank, dense 

 growth during the fall months. 



CULTIVATION THE BEST 



In regard to sod versus cultivated or- 

 chards the advantages that the cultivateu 

 orchard has are pretty well understood. 

 The great majority of profitable orchards 

 are cultivated. The best advice to follow 

 if one has a good, profitable, bearing or- 

 chard in sod is to leave it as it is, for 

 there would be no good reason in chang- 

 ing to cultivation, and in changing from 

 sod to cultivation one might easily lose 

 one or two seasons' crops. If the sou 

 orchard is unprofitable and not in a good, 

 thrifty condition, change to cultivation, 

 and by the use of manure and cover crops 

 it can soon be brought into a profitable 

 condition. It is safe to say that in future 



plantings that are properly handled, the 

 method followed will be cultivation righi 

 through the life of the orchard. Were 

 cultivation systematically followed from 

 the beginning of the orchard we would 

 have a much larger number of annual 

 l>earing orchards. It has been amply 

 demonstrated in the west by many grow- 

 ers, and also in the' east, particularly in 

 the orchards of Mr. B. J. Cast, of New- 

 York State, that orchards should bear 

 annually profitable crops, and these crops 

 are secured chiefly by the methods of 

 good cultivation adopted. 



Some growers are often discouraged, 

 for after giving one season's good man- 

 agement in this respect they do not get 

 the results they anticipate the following 

 year ; but this is not to be expected, for 

 it usually takes from two to three or 

 more years of good cultivation to get 

 the orchard into good bearing. 



The Value of Bees in the Orchard 



Morley Pettit, Provincial 



THOSE who have driven a horse and 

 cultivator close to the hives in the 

 orchard may say their value is 

 negative. Nervous fruit pickers wish 

 them on the other side of the fence ; but 

 the observant grower considers bees a 

 necessity in the orchard during the 

 blooming period, even if the hives are 

 placed elsewhere. 



15y persons of a poetic turn, bees have 

 been called the "Marriage Priests of the 

 Plowers," because they bring together 

 those opposing elements which produce 

 fruit and do it more effectively than any 

 other agency. 



There are three media by which pollen 

 is carried from flower to flower. Water 

 operates in the case of certain aquatic 

 plants . Wind does duty for such trees 

 as pines. Animal life, principally insects, 

 do this work for the flowers which pro- 

 duce the orchard fruits. Take a simple 

 illustration : At the Maryland Experi- 

 ment Station, a Grimm's Golden apple 

 tree of medium size and very symmet- 

 rical was taken just before the blooming 

 period and divided into three equal por- 

 tions. One-third of the tree was cover- 



Apiarist, Guelph, Ont. 



cd with muslin to exclude all insects and 

 wind ; one-third was covered with mos- 

 quito netting to keep out insects and ad- 



*i>]»t4 



■■*£*■ 



Comet Red Currant — Fig. 1 



Note absence of fruit. 



An Unprotected Bush— Fig. 2 



This bush produced an excellent crop of fruit. 



mit wind ; the remaining one-third was 

 left open to admit both wind and insects. 

 The tree was kept covered in this man- 

 ner during the entire blooming period . 

 The part covered with netting set one 

 apple. The part left open set nine apples. 

 The observer did not report on the part 

 covered with muslin ; but from our own 

 and other experiments, we should judge 

 that it was barren. 



Each fruit blossom offers a double in- 

 vitation to the insect. Showy petals at- 

 tract the eye, and aromatic nectar in- 

 vites the appetite. Honey bees accept 

 most readily and are most welcome. They 

 are more valuable than others for several 

 reasons : 



First, nature compels them to seek food 

 in the hearts of flowers, because they 

 cannot secure it elsewhere. Besides 

 water and a little salt they eat nothing 

 but honey and pollen. Even when other 

 sweets are offered them they only eat it 

 when no nectar is to Ix; found in the 

 flowers. 



Cox's Pomona — Fig. 3 



Insects were excluded from the branch to the 

 right and it bore no fruit. 



Second, their bodies and legs are com- 

 paratively large, and thickly covered 

 with branched hairs, making it impos- 

 sible for them to reach the nectar of the 

 blossoms, without carrying away on their 

 persons the pollen which \v\U be distri- 

 buted on the next blossom they visit. 



Third, their numbers in the orchard 

 can be controlled. Wild bees and other 

 insects may or may not visit the orchard, 

 depending on the season and the wea- 

 ther. Bees can be protected through a 

 severe winter and they can be hived in 

 sufficient numbers where they will do 

 I heir work. In catchy weather wild in- 

 sects seldom visit the orchard, but one 

 hour of sunshine brings out the bees and 

 sets them buzzing thickly on the nearest 

 flowers. 



WHAT INSECTS BO 



To show the value in the orchard of 

 insects, of which I have shown that hivv., 

 bees are chief, I cannot do better than 

 tell the story of the accompanying illus- 

 trations, taken from the British Journal 

 of the Board of Agriculture, March, 

 191 1. Professor W. B. Little, instruc- 

 tor in horticulture, Armstrong College, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, tried the experiment 

 on two Comet red currant bushes, which 

 were alike in every respect, except that 

 he covered number one with netting dur- 

 ing the blooming period to exclude in- 

 sects ; and left number two exposed. In- 

 sects worked freely on the blossoms of 



Early Victoria — Fig. 4 



'ITie middle branch was not protected from in- 

 sects until after pollination had tjiken place, and 

 thia branch produced well-developed apples. 



