THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Winter Protection. 



1032. Sib,— Will you kindly tell me 

 how to protect a third year Purple Barbary, 

 also a Hydrangia ? What covering will be 

 beat for pansies and roses ! Is the last of 

 Octoler the best covering time ? 



Emma Corse Mills, Iroquois. 



Reply by Prof. H. L. Hutt, O. A. C, 

 Guelph. 

 The purple-leaved Barbary is very 

 hardy and should require no protection 

 in Ontario. It has never been injured 

 at Guelph during the coldest winters. 

 One of the most satisfactory coverings 

 for shrubs, roses, or even pansies, is 

 cedar or spruce boughs. For shrubs 

 and rows the boughs should be sharp- 

 ened and stuck into the ground and 

 tied closely about the bushes. On the 

 pansies they should be placed thick 

 enough to hold the snow, which is the 

 best covering. It is well to keep the 

 protection ofT as late as possible to allow 

 the wood to harden. We do not put 

 on covering before the end of November. 



In Re Plums. 



1033. SiRj — I am sending herewith by 

 mail, a parcel containing three samples of 

 plums. Numbers 1 and 2 I am sending for 

 correct names, and number 3 to ask your 

 opinion as to what has caused them to wrin- 

 kle up as they have done. I hope I am not 

 asking too much, and will feel greatly obliged 

 if you will kindly give it your attention. 



My plums are a very heavy crop this year, 

 too heavy in fact, especially the Lombards, — 

 which are breaking the branches badly, from 

 over-loading. 



Hoping to hear from you at your conve- 

 nience. D. S. MacDonald, 



Glendyer, G. B., Nova Scotia. 



Reply by J. K. Gordon, Whitby. 



Having carefully examined the three 

 varieties of plums referred to by Mr. 

 MacDonald, my opinion thereof is as 

 follows : — The round oval green variety 

 is unknown to me, and I think that it 

 is not grown in Ontario. In appear- 

 ance it resembles the Reine Claude de 

 Bavay, and at first sight it would be 

 pronounced that variety ; but the pit is 

 much larger and of a lunate form, and 



differs widely in these respects from the 

 Reine Claude. I think, however, that 

 it is a plum of much value. 



The other green variety is of oval 

 form and resembles closely Coe's Gold- 

 en Drop, but is not it, and though I 

 have grown it for a number of years 

 past, I do not know its correct name. 

 It is, so far as I know, grown in Onta- 

 rio only about Whitby and Oshawa, and 

 is known under the name of Vail's 

 Seedling. It was discovered in the fol- 

 lowing manner : a plant of it, a few 

 inches high, was found among the straw 

 packing in a bundle of fruit trees re- 

 ceived from Nova Scotia, about fifteen 

 years ago, by a gentleman named Ashe, 

 residing at Oshawa, and it was planted 

 by Mr. Ashe as a matter of curiosity, 

 and Mr. Vail having afterwards procured 

 a tree of it, named the plant Vail's Seed- 

 ling. 



This so-called seedling is identical with 

 Mr. MacDonald's, and differs from Coe's 

 Golden Drop in the pit, in the insertion 

 of the stem, in the growth of the tree 

 and in the foliage — inasmuch as the pit 

 is of lunate form and larger, and the 

 stem is placed a little to one side of the 

 plum. While the tree is more robust 

 in growth and attains a larger size than 

 the Golden Drop, and its foliage is 

 larger and with a glossy waxen looking 

 surface, somewhat like that of the Quack- 

 enbos or Glass' Seedling. It is equally 

 fruitful and of as good size and quality 

 and of the same season of ripening as 

 the Golden Drop. 



Then as to the small wrinkled variety, 

 I cannot name it. It appears to be 

 either a Damson, or a dwarfed specimen 

 — through disease — of the Lombard, or 

 some other variety. The pit and the 

 stem end somewhat resembles the Lom- 

 bard ; but I think it has been submitted 

 by Mr. MacDonald by way of a conun- 

 drum, as it appears to be of little or no 

 value. 



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