EDITORIAL NOTES. 



65 



THE NEW SOIL GOSPEL. 



Vanslyke, of Cornell, called attention to 

 Bulletin 22, recently issued by the Bureau of 

 Soils, in which it is claimed that nearly all 

 soils contain sufficient plant food for all pur- 

 poses and for all time to come ; that, there- 

 fore, the addition of fertilizers is not so 

 much required as such physical conditions 

 as shall make available the plant food al- 

 ready in the soil. The great object of the 

 orchardist, therefore, should be to so control 

 the soil moisture by careful cultivation and 

 otherwise, that it shall be in a condition to 

 nourish the plant. It is claimed that the 

 effect of such cultivation is more effective in 

 the growth and fruitfulness of orchards 

 than the application of fertilizers. 



Prof. Vanslyke was not prepared to ac- 

 cept this teaching, neither was Mr. Jordan, 

 director of Geneva Exper. Station. It was 

 entirely too revolutionary. 



PRIZES FOR BEST FRUIT FARMS. 



Over ten years ago Mr. Geo. B. Ellwan- 

 ger had made a gift to the society of $1,000, 

 the interest to be used in giving prizes for 

 the best kept orchards in New York State. 

 The committee reported having visited the 

 orchards in competition, and had decided 

 upon giving the first prize of $40 to Mr. 

 Woodward Hopkins, near Lewiston, and 

 the second of $20 to Mr. N. Cook, of South 

 Byron, N. Y. 



Mr. Hopkins' case was remarkable. He 

 already had a bearing orchard, when he 

 bought this lOO-acre farm to grow grain and 

 cattle upon and to furnish manure for his 

 fruit farm. He paid $36 an acre for it. 

 Then wishing to interest his son in fruit 

 growing and farming, he had set out on it 

 16,000 pear trees. Last year these had 

 given him 35,000 baskets of fruit, and had 

 been the means of convincing the son that 

 farming and fruit growing was the best 

 business in which he could engage. 



Fig. 2730. W. A. McKi.nnon. 



Mr. W. A. McKinnon, B. A., Toronto Univer- 

 sity, Graduate-in-Iaw at Osgoode Hall, Chief 

 of the Fruit Division, Dominion Department of 

 Agriculture, has in charge the working out of 

 the Fruit Marks Act. He was at our meeting 

 at Leamington, where his experience gained 

 by a prolonged stay among the great apple 

 markets of Great Britain was of especial ser- 

 vice in our discussions. In an excellent paper 

 recently contributed by him to the Farmers' 

 Advocate. London, he gives the following : 



Three Essential Conditions of 

 Success in Fruit Growing 



(i) Such orchard management as will 

 yield the maximum of clean fruit of good 

 quality, and such handling as will reduce to 

 a minimum the damage to mature fruit. 



(2) Such a system of storage as will 

 enable us to tide over short seasons of con- 

 gestion, and to slightly lengthen the selling 

 season for tender fruits. 



(3) Such packing as will enable us to put 

 up our fruit in handsome and attractive 

 form, and to offer it for sale in uniform sub- 

 stantial packages, of known capacity, each 

 package containing only one grade of fruit. 



