254 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



head. He also had to check off each bar- 

 rel and record the name of the owner, the 

 variety and the grade as it was loaded on the 

 dray for the car. The manager assisted in 

 every department and was in a position to 

 know exactly the quality of fruit packed in 

 each grade. 



The culls were sent to an evaporator, and 

 the money receivetl from this source was 

 used to pay general expenses such as the 

 cost of packing, which amounted to about 

 seven cents per barrel. This may not soem 

 fair to the man with many low grade apples, 

 but when we consider that it costs more to 

 pack i)oor apples than good ones it cannot 

 be considered an injustice. 



The central packing house is perhaps 



more expensive than the old system of al- 

 lowing each member to pack his own fruit 

 under inspection, but as dealers have long 

 desired such a system w^e expect the greater 

 uniformity will cause them to pay enough 

 more to meet the extra expense twice over. 



The Forest association has been compli- 

 mented many times on the good quality of 

 its fruit and on the packing done last sea- 

 son. Our members realize the benefit of 

 spraying, and to ensure a high class fruit 

 this season are spraying at least four times- 

 — tw'ice before and twice after blossoming. 

 We expect our output this fall will be ahead 

 of that of last year, and feel sure that the 

 better quality will be appreciated to its pro- 

 per value by riie trade. 



Top Grafting the Pewaukee 



PROF. ir. L. IIUTT, O. A. C, GUELPH, OXT. 



I have about 40 trees of Pewaukee apples 

 which Ibear heavily each year, but before ma- 

 turity a hi'g-h 'Wind removes fully two-thirds of 

 the fruit. I have been told that as the trees 

 get older they hold their fruit better, but if it 

 drops as badly as it does now I wish to graft 

 them to Ontario, Spy or King. Which of these 

 would you advise me to use ? What is j'our 

 opinion of the Baxter a-pple ? — (J. B., St. George. 



The characteristic you describe in the Pe- 

 waukee of dropping from the tree is one of 

 the worst features of this variety, and as 

 the fruit itself is not of the best quality I 

 certainly would recommend in a section, 

 such as yours, where better varieties can be 

 grown, that such trees be grafted over. All 

 of the varieties you mention are excellent, 

 but of the three I would prefer the King, 

 although this too is liable to drop during 

 heavy winds. This variety is about the 

 same in rate of growth as the Pewaukee, 

 and should work well upon it, and, no doubt, 

 the productiveness of the Pewaukee would 

 help to make up this defect in the King. 

 The Ontario is hardly equal to the Pewau- 

 kee in rate of growth, while the Northern 

 Spy is much stronger, but any of these 

 should do well on Pewaukee stock. The 

 Baxter is a large, shoAvy red apple, which 



originated near Kingston, and is well 

 adapted to that section of the country. It 

 is, however, quite subject to scab, and I 

 W'Ould not recommend it for your -section of 

 the country, where apples of better quality 

 may be grown. 



Cultivation and Cover Crop 



W. H. DEMPSEY, TRENTON, ONT, 



CULTIVATION should be commenced 

 as early in the spring as possible, 

 w'ith disc cultivation or gang plow not more 

 than four or five inches, and continued each 

 w^eek or lo days with a light harrow 

 through July till the middle of August. 

 Then a cover crop may be sown of red 

 clover, barley, oats or peas, which will aid 

 the trees in ripening, and by holding the 

 leaves and snow prevent alternate thawing 

 and freezing and lessen the depth to which 

 the frost penetrates, thus carrying trees 

 through the winter uninjured which might 

 otherwise be killed. If the season is dry and 

 trees heavily loaded it would be better to de- 

 lay sowing the cover crop, as it w^ould take 

 too much moisture from the trees and cause 

 the fruit to cease growing and prevent its 

 development to fair size. 



