342 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Picking and Handling Apples 



\V. H. DEMPSEY, TRENTON, 0\T. 



The picking should be done only by very 

 «areftil hands. No apple, no matter how 

 firm, has been found that will not show 

 marks of rough handling, revealing brown 

 spots and giving it the appearance of a 

 windfall. The baskets should be lined with 

 heavy burlap to keep the fruit from bruis- 

 ing against the sides, and if the fruit is to 

 be kept by the grower until shipped to mar- 

 ket I find it better to place them in barrels 

 in a cool place the same day they are picked. 

 They should not be touched until ready to 

 pack for shipping. 



A great deal of choice fruit is destroyed 

 by too much handling, placing them on the 

 packing table, putting in baskets, then into 

 the barrel where they are allowed to remain 

 in the orchard until cold weather, then 

 placed in the storage building, emptied on 

 the packing table, sorted and packed for 

 shipping. They are more or less damaged 

 by so much handling. 



Wood Ashes in the Orchard 



PROF. R. HARCOURT, O. A. C, GUELPH. 



How heavily should wood ashes be sown In 

 orchards ? — (R. Robinson, St. Catharines. 



It is estimated that 20 crops of apples will 

 remo,ve more than twice as much nitro- 

 gen, one and a half times as much phos- 

 phoric acid, and nearly three times as much 

 potash as 20 erops of wheat. A crop of 

 wheat will remove about 40 pounds of pot- 

 ash per acre, therefore a crop of apples will 

 take 100 to 120 pounds of potash per acre 

 from the soil. As ashes contain five per 

 cent, of potash, it would require one ton of 

 ashes to supply that amount of potash re- 

 moved from the soil by one crop of apples. 

 This may be looked on as the minimum 

 amount of ashes for an orchard in bearing. 

 The best time for the ashes to be applied is 

 in the early spring or summer. The potash 



in them is immediately available and may 

 be taken up by the plants at once. 



As to whether they will hurt a growing 

 crop, such as vetches or crimson clover, if 

 applied when the leaves of these crops are 

 dry, ashes might sift through to the ground 

 readily and no harm might be done. If 

 they are applied while the leaves are wet 

 they would seriously burn and destroy the 

 leaves. If the cover crop is plowed down 

 in the spring the wood ashes might very 

 conveniently be plowed down with them. 

 A good plan is to cultivate the ashes into 

 the soil and not plow them under. Al- 

 though the potash of wood ashes is soluble 

 and immediately available to the plant, there 

 is not much fear of serious leaching of this 

 constituent from the soil. Nature has pro- 

 vided means by which it is held in the soil, 

 and, therefore, not subject to loss by leach- 

 ing, as is nitrogen. 



Planting Peach Trees 



( fc IT OW far apart do you plant your 

 A A peach trees?" was asked Mr. 

 Adolphus Pettit, of Grimsby, recently by an 

 editorial representative of The Horticultur- 

 ist. " In the past," replied Mr. Pettit, " I 

 have planted them 18 to 20 feet apart, but I 

 find that rather close on my soil which tends 

 to luxuriant growth. 



" Were I setting out an orchard now I 

 would set the trees 25 feet apart to allow a 

 free circulation of air and plenty of sunlight. 

 This would also allow lower headed trees. 

 Where trees are planted too close together 

 they grow high and the lower branches die. 

 When planted 25 feet apart berry bushes 

 can be grown in between, which I have 

 found is advantageous." 



In this part of the township apples are the 

 main fruit crop, and the price has been so 

 low that some are cutting down their or- 

 chards. — (N. B. Hagar, Allanburg, Ont. 



