%&.xt0xml '^oUs nuB. Comments 



A Happy and Prosperous New Year to 

 all the readers of the Canadian Horticultur- 

 ist. 



* * * 



A CONTENTED MIND may conduce to hap- 

 piness, but both enterprise and industry are 

 essential to prosperity. 



* * * 



Cold Storage of some kind is almost a ne- 

 cessity both on the farm and in the orchard, 

 and no enterprising farmer or fruit grower 

 will neglect to provide this convenience if he 

 can at all afford the expense. 



* * * 



Ice should be cut and stored early in the 

 winter when at its best. Only ice from pure 

 water should be stored for house uses ; but 

 for producing cold air of course this point is 

 less important. 



* * * 



An ice house may be built of old lumber 

 and at a trifling cost, according to directions 

 given elsewhere in this number. 



* * * 



Pruning of the apple, pear and plum 

 trees may be done in mild days through the 

 winter, and is labor well applied. The fruit 

 grower is too busy in spring to give the work 

 the time needed to make a good job. 



* * * 



Avoid large cuts in pruning the apple if 

 possible, and then thin out the young wood 

 from the outside instead of beginning at the 

 trunk. 



packages eor next season. 



WINTER is a good season for laying 

 in baskets, barrels, boxes, etc., for 

 next season's crop. Boxes can often be 

 purchased in knock down shape at a low 



rate, and carried for very little freight in. 

 car lots ; the nailing up can be quickly done 

 in a shop or cellar during the winter if a 

 form is provided for holding the ends up- 

 right. 



winter treatment OE PEAR BLIGHT. 



EVERY pear grower should be on the 

 alert against this terrible destroyer 

 of his finest trees, and now is the time to 

 prevent its ravages. The blight does not 

 spread in winter, but the tiny organisms 

 which cause this fatal disease lie dormant 

 but alive in the blighted branches until 

 spring. Then, as soon as the sap begins to 

 move, these bacilli become active and find 

 their way to the exterior of the infected 

 branches either through the exuding sap, or, 

 later, through the opening blossoms and 

 are carried to other trees by wind or bees. 



Clearly then the only safe thing to do is 

 carefully to cut off in winter every branch 

 which shows indications of the presence of 

 blight. 



BITTER ROT AND APPLE CANKER. 



THE Bitter Rot, which a short time ago 

 was unknown in Ontario, has now 

 become widely spread among our apple or- 

 chards, and every year the damage seems to 

 be greater than it was the previous year. 

 Fine apples, which show very faint 

 spots under the skin when harvested, 

 after being stored sometimes become pitted 

 as if attacked by smallpox and become 

 unsalable. Bui. 44, U. S. Plant Indus- 

 try, estimates the loss to the apple 

 crop of the United States in 1900 at 

 $10,000,000! It has been shown that this 

 fungus is related to the apple canker, the 

 spores of which will produce it. and vice 

 versa, the spores of the bitter rot will pro- 



