EDITORIAL NOTES. 



99 



otherwise, when the rush of spring work 

 comes on it is apt to be neglected. 



SettIvE at once upon the varieties you 

 wish to plant or to top graft, and order in 

 good time, lest you be obliged to accept sub- 

 stitutes or do without for. a year. The re- 

 ports of the Ontario Fruit Stations are of 

 great value to intending planters, because 

 the information given is entirely in the in- 

 terest of fruit growers, and not of the nur- 

 sery men. 



3j< ^ jf: 



Dwarf pears should be well cut back. 

 The pyramidal form is the ideal for them, 

 but is scarcely practicable unless begun with 

 the first year's growth. In any case the 

 young growth should be cut back about one- 

 third, or, if very vigorous, one-half. 



.Cherry trees need very little pruning, 

 and no large cuts should be made. Simply 

 thin out the small branches where they over- 

 crowd, and cut back the top if inclined to 

 reach up too high. 



* * * 



The Burbank plum tree is one of the 

 ugliest of growing trees, and only by con- 

 stant attention can it be made presentable. 

 Perhaps its sprawHng. drooping habit has 

 something to do with its wonderful produc- 

 tivity. The Wickson, on the other hand, is 

 an upright grower of thin willowy branches, 

 and we fear will never be fruitful enough to 



be profitable. 



* * * 



Peach trees should be gone over with 

 the pruning shears and the over-vigorous 

 upper and outer branches well shortened in, 

 and the interior of the tree well cleared of its 

 dead and feeble wood. 



All pruning should be completed before 

 spraying time, so that the poisons will not be 

 wasted upon useless wood. 



A Grade for No. 2 Apples 



AT a meeting of the American apple 

 shippers in St. Louis last November, 

 it was agreed that a No. 2 apple may be one- 

 fourth of an inch less in diameter than No. 

 I ; not over 20 per cent, affected by deface- 

 ment, scab, dry rot, worms or other defects ; 

 hand picked, not bruised, of bright color and 

 shapely. We in Canada have not yet defined 

 our No. 2 grade, but the results of having a 

 No. I or XXX grade has been so excellent 

 during the past season that no doubt our 

 growers are quite prepared and indeed anx- 

 ious to have the No. 2 or XX grade defined 

 also. Anything that will facilitate sales of 

 dur fruit f. o. b. is decidedly in the interest 

 of the growers. 



Kieffer Trees as Stock for Bosc 



PERHAPS no variety of pear has been 

 so widely planted in Ontario pear or- 

 chards as the Kieffer. Its wonderful vigor, 

 its amazing productiveness, and its fair ap- 

 pearance gave it great popularity for a time, 

 until alas ! it met universal condemnation for 

 quality. Now there is little sale for the 

 fruit except to canning factories, and many 

 growers are asking whether it makes a good 

 stock for top grafting other varieties upon. 

 At Maplehurst we have been putting Anjou 

 and Bosc upon it, and the growth is encour- 

 aging. Powell, of Washington, D. C, has 

 observed a " nice balance between the roots, 

 the body, and the top of the tree, and that 

 each part has a strong influence upon the 

 vigor of the other two;" that "pears are 

 invigorated when worked on stronger grow- 

 ing bodies ; and that it is a practice with 

 some nurseries to double work slender grow- 

 ing varieties, like Bosc, on strong growing 

 bodies like Kieffer or Bartlett." 



Since the Bosc is one of our best export 

 pears, combining good size, fine appearance, 

 and good quality, and, being withal an excel- 

 lent shipper, our pear growers need not re- 



