164 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



July, 1912 



^t^&':Mi£M£. 



The Three Year Old Peach Orchard of A. Baker, Niagara Peninsula 



(Note how low these trees are headed). 



ent occasions, in comparing field peas 

 and buckwheat as green manures, it was 

 found that the former surpased the latter 

 by twenty-two per cent, as shown by the 

 crops which followed. 



In many instances, fruit growers de- 

 sire to sow their cover crops in the middle 

 of summer and to leave the crops on the 

 land until the following spring. In that 

 way, greater advantages are usually ob- 

 tained. If suitable crops are used, there 

 is frequently a good growth in the early 

 spring, which can be plowed under and 

 incorporated in the soil. For this pur- 

 pose, such crops as the Hairy Vetches, 

 Ck)'mmon Red clover. Mammoth Red 

 clover. Alfalfa, and Winter rye form a 

 list from which a selection can be made. 

 These are all leguminous crops with the 

 exception of Winter rye. 



About ten years ago, the writer sug- 

 gested the use of the Hairy Vetches s-s 

 a cover crop for orchards in the fruit- 

 growing district in the Niagara penin- 

 sula. Seed of the Hairy Vetches was 

 furnished by the College for the purpose 

 of experimenting. A number of the fruit 

 men have used the Hairy Vetches with 

 a good deal of satisfaction. They usu- 

 ally form an excellent matting over the 

 ground in the autumn which, in nearly all 

 cases, survive the winter and the growth 

 in the following spring is fairly rapid. 



There is probably no crop which adds 

 a larger amount of rich vegetable matter 

 to the soil than the Hairy Vetches. Un- 

 fortunately, the seed being mostly im- 

 ported from Europe is rather expensive. 

 As the seed is now grown in Ontario, 

 however, to a limited extent, this diffi- 

 culty will be partly overcome through 

 a supply of seed which might be obtained 

 at a less cost per bushel. 



Alfalfa usually makes a good growth 

 when sown on well cultivated land about 

 the middle of July. It is a rich legu- 

 minous crop, but does not obtain its full 

 growth until the third year ; hence, when 

 plowed in the following spring after it 



has been sown, both the tops and the 

 roots are rather slender and there is 

 not apt to be as large an amount of vege- 

 table growth as is obtained from the 

 Hairy Vetches. 



As the Alfalfa is a very deeply rooted 

 plant, it would not be wise to allow it 

 to grow in the orchard much beyond the 

 following spring after it has been sown, 

 as there would be a danger of the Alfalfa 

 roots taking the moisture from the soil, 

 which should be available to the trees. 

 The Common Red and the Mammoth 

 clovers are well known in Ontario, and 

 both have given good satisfaction as 

 cover crops. These and the Hairy 

 Vetches fill in an important place where 

 hardy leguminous plants are required as 

 cover crops. 



Handling the Berry Crop 



Grant S. Peart, Borlingtoa, Ont. 



If some berry growers were to make 

 a thorough study as to what class of 

 berry fruit was mostly demanded 5y 

 the Ontario consumer, they would at 

 once and forever be relieved of the old- 

 fashioned idea, "that fruit being fruit, 

 would sell as fruit, no matter what sort, 

 or how it was packed." Now we admit 

 that the consumer is sadly in need of 

 further enlightenment with regard to se- 

 lecting the better varieties from poorer 

 ones, but he is wideawake when called 

 upon to choose between poor and taste- 

 fully packed fruit. It is then an ad- 

 vantage to every shipper's repfutatdon 

 when their berries appear on the mar- 

 ket looking fresh and attractive. 



In order that berries may arrive on 

 the market in prime condition, they 

 should not be packed when wet with dew 

 or rain. Many growers claim, however, 

 that they cannot afford to discontinue 

 picking until the dew is off in the morn- 

 ing. It is important, nevertheless, that 

 dampness be avoided when handling the 

 berry crop. Shippers in the Burlington 

 and Oakville districts would probably 

 take keen exception to postponing the 



picking on account of dew, for it is an 

 advantage to be proud of, that owing to 

 direct train service, Toronto citizens are 

 provided with morning picked strawber- 

 ries and raspberries for breakfast. 



A bruised berry will commence to de- 

 cay very quickly. Consequently they 

 should receive as careful handling as pos- 

 sible. Sometimes damage is done by 

 overfilling the boxes. It is a good pla.i 

 when packing each box to shake down 

 gently and fill to approximately one- 

 quarter inch above level. This prevents 

 further settling in the boxes and also does 

 away with crushing the berries. 



The common and I believe the most 

 practical way to pick gooseberries is 

 with leather gloves. Strip the fruit and 

 leaves into baskets and pass through a 

 fanning mill. The berries are firm and 

 will not suffer. It is also claimed that 

 no harm is done to the bushes because 

 the leaves have passed their usefulness 

 to the bushes before picking commences. 



Sumn:\er Pruning 



Prof. L M. Streigkt, Macdonald Colleje, Que. 



Pinching or stopping is a method of 

 summer pruning whereby robust shoots 

 are checked at any desired height by re- 

 moving their extreme points with a pinch 

 between the finger and thumb. This pro- 

 cess retards for a time the extension of 

 such shoots and induces the more active 

 growth of laterals. For the control of 

 some plant diseases pruning is effective. 

 Fire blight of apple trees may be con- 

 trolled by cutting out diseased branches 

 and cannot be done in any other way. 



THE TOOLS TO USE 



Only a few tools are necesasry for 

 pruning. A knife makes a nice smooth 

 wound, which heals readily, but may be 

 used only on very small limbs. A pair 

 of pruning shears is a necessity for small 

 branches, and a pair of lopping shears 

 for larger branches is equally necessary. 

 One or more saws, fine toothed and of 

 such construction that they may be work- 

 ed to advantage among the branches, will 

 be found essential. The numerous prun- 

 ing devices worked by compound levers 

 which are found on the market, are fail- 

 ures for the most part. Better let them 

 strictly alone. 



Judicious pruning facilitates the work 

 of cultivation and spraying and deter- 

 mines to a large extent the fruiting habit 

 of the tree, by making annual bearers of 

 trees which formerly bore once in two 

 years. The grower has everything to 

 gain and nothing to lose, yet he should 

 become acquainted with the habit of 

 growth of different varieties, so that he 

 may work more intelligently. The up- 

 right varieties may be spread somewhat 

 by pruning to the outside laterals, and 

 the spreading kinds may be contracted 

 by cutting to those which have an inward 

 direction. 



