NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



the prices of Canadian fruit productb. 

 The import of the banana will, no doubt, 

 be lessened by it, and this fruit, so 

 cheap and so popular, has done more 

 than anything else toward lowering the 

 price of our native fruits. This, coupled 

 with the unfortunate frosts above re 

 ferred to, may cause a sharp advance 

 this season in the values of our native 

 fruits. 



Frost Bitten Fruits. — According 

 to the California Fruit Grower, a storm 

 of frost and snow, about the middle of 

 April, has swept not only through Cali- 

 fornia, but also northward and eastward 

 from Northern Texas, virtually ruining 

 the fruit crop in Arkansas, Missouri, 

 Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, 

 Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Mary- 

 land, Delaware, New Jersey and Con- 

 necticut. Peaches have suffered most, 

 but cherries, pears and even apples have 

 suffered more or less. Fruit on the 

 Pacific Coast has suffered more than 

 almost ever before, peaches and apples 

 being the principal sufferers, while nearly 

 all classes of fruit will be reduced one- 

 half. 



growers in all the fruit districts, where 

 tender fruits are grown for export. We 

 have the fullest confidence in this build- 

 ing, and invite inspection of it by any 

 growers interested. It is situated at the 

 G. T. R. depot, at Grimsby. 



Mr. R. Trotter, a prominent fruit 

 grower at Owen Sound, died Tuesday, 

 loth May, at Owen Sound. He was a 

 pnme mover in the formation of the 

 local Horticultural Society of that place. 



The Virginia Creeper has for two 

 years been subject to the thrip which 

 has become so numerous, and so an- 

 noying when one passes by, that we are 

 questioning the wisdom of continuing 

 the use of this old and useful climber 

 for the porch of a house. We will faith- 

 fully spray it with kerosene emulsion, 

 and, if successful in destroying it, we 

 will report later on. 



The Cold Storage for Fruit at 

 Grimsby has just been completely re- 

 modeled, under the direction of Mr. 

 MacFarlane, cold storage inspector, for 

 the Department. The accommodation 

 has been doubled, and instead of cool- 

 ing the store rooms by means of direct 

 currents of air from the ice room as last 

 year, the air will be cooled by means of 

 a double row of large galvanized iron 

 cylinders, each about a foot in diameter, 

 which rest in a trough below, and are 

 to be kept full of ice and salt, shovelled in 

 from the smashing floor above. This build- 

 ing is now, in our opinion, a model refrig- 

 erator building for fruit storage, and will 

 no doubt be the kind erected by fruit 



3 24 



Alvssum Saxatile and A. S. Com- 

 pacta are just now (May 15) in full 

 bloom in our garden at Maplehurst. 

 Everyone is familiar with the common 

 Sweet Alyssum, but this is far more 

 showy, with its corymbs of bright yellow 

 flowers, not much larger than those of the 

 Forget-me-not, which are in bloom at 

 the same time. This species was intro- 

 duced from eastern Europe in 17 10, 

 and Compacta is a new and valuable 

 variety. 



The plants and trees sent out by 

 the Association to its members this 

 spring have given unusually good satis- 

 faction, and numerous have been the 

 complimentary letters received from 

 Secretaries of Societies and others, con- 

 cerning them. 



Never before has so large a list been 

 sent out, amounting in all to 3729 pack- 



7 



