•02 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



cause the fruit to ripen quickly during tlie de- 

 lay between the orchard and the storage house 

 are also most favorable to the development of 

 fruit diseases. It is therefore of the greatest 

 importance that the fruit be saored immediate- 

 ly after picking, if the weather is warm, in or- 

 der to insure it against the unusual develop- 

 ment of the fungous rots. 



Grafting the Cherry on the Plum 



A SUBSCRIBER wants to know 

 whether it would be possible and pro- 

 fitable to top-graft cherries on his plum 

 trees. It is not strange he should ask the 

 question in view of the immense crop of 

 plums, and the wretched prices offered for 

 them in 1903 ; yet we believe that if it were 

 possible for plum growers to change all 

 their plums to cherries it would be a very 

 unwise procedure, based on experience of a 

 single season. A few years ago everybody 

 wanted to root out his apple trees, and' now 

 everybody wants to plant them. Four or 

 five years ago raspberries were unprofitable, 

 now they are counted one of the most profit- 

 able of small fruit crops. 



We do not think, however, that it is possi- 

 ble to successfully top-work the cherry on 

 plum stock. We have never tried it our- 

 selves, but we know of no data encouraging 

 it. Macoun, horticulturist C. E. F., Otta- 

 wa, gives his opinion adversely. He says : 



"In my experience and to my knowledge it 

 is not possible to successfully top-graft the 

 cviltivated cherry on the plum. If a union 

 takes place at all it will only be temporary 

 and the result quite unsatisfactory." 



Peerless, Star and Trenton Apples 



MR. R. T. ERASER, of Vernon, B.C., 

 asks for a description of these three 

 varieties. It is a little premature possibly 

 for us to attempt a complete description of 

 these apples because they have not yet been 

 widely tested in Ontario, but we give a few 

 points concerning each : 



Peerless: A fall apple of about the 

 ^ame season as Colvert, as grown at our Bay 



of Quinte Station ; size, large, even, oblate ; 

 color^ greenish, splashed with dull red; 

 cavity, wide ; stem, short ; skin, clean ; good 

 for dessert or cooking, and should export 

 well ; originated in Minnesota, and said to be 

 a seedling of Duchess. 



Star : Originated in New Jersey ; a 

 good summer apple, ripening in August and 

 keeping until November ; color, yellowisfi 

 pale green ; flavor, pleasant sub-acid ; tree 

 productive; at our East Central Station a 

 twenty-two year old tree yielded 16 bushels 

 of apples. 



Trenton : Origin, by the late P. C. 

 Dempsey, of Trenton, Ont, a cross between 

 Golden Russet and Spy ; fruit 2 x 2^ inches 

 in size; form, round oblate; color, yellow, 

 -covered with red, splashed and streaked with 

 dark red, and with numerous white dots ; 

 flesh, yellowish, tender, crisp, pleasant, sub- 

 acid ; season, autumn. 



New York State Fruit Growers 



APPLE GROWING PAYS. 



A T the recent meeting of the Western 

 Jr\. New York Horticultural Society at 

 Rochester a very interesting address was 

 given by Dr. Bailey, of Cornell University, 

 on New York State as an apple growing re- 

 gion. He showed that this state had been 

 the leading state in the production of apples, 

 but that in the last decade there had been a 

 falling ofif in apple production here, while in 

 many other states, particularly the western, 

 there had been very rapid increase. No 

 doubt the explanation was found in the 

 greater attention given to plums, peaches, 

 grapes and small fruits, but he urged that it 

 was a mistake to neglect the planting of ap- 

 ple orchards. These other fruits were now 

 meeting glutted markets, while for the apple 

 new markets were constantly opening up. 

 True, it needs courage to plant an apple or- 

 chard, knowing that twenty years perhaps 

 will elapse before any adequate returns can 



