282 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURISi. 



picking cherries. From the appearance of 

 the fruit when it reaches us it would seem 

 as ii these growers had simply grabbed the 

 cherries from the trees, and I believe this is 

 what some of them do. This treatment 

 wounds the fruit and decay sets in inside of 

 three hours. 



" When fruit that has been picked in this 

 way reaches us it is generally practically 

 worthless. Cherries should always be 

 picked by the stem, the cherry itself not be- 

 ing touched. The same care should be 

 exercised in picking all kinds of fruit. 



" Some of the 24-quart crates have a han- 



dle which has many strong points. A hole is 

 simply cut into the ends of the crate, large 

 enough for the insertion of a man's fingers. 

 This kind of a handle is never in the way, 

 and does not take up any room. Another 

 good kind of a handle is a wire one, which 

 drops onto the top of the box when not in 

 use. 



" The wooden handles, which are used so 

 extensively on 24-quart crates, often break. 

 This makes it not only difficult to handle the 

 boxes conveniently, but affects the appear- 

 ance of the package. These handles are 

 good except for this drawback." 



SPECIAL CARE NEEDED THIS SUMMER 



HAROLD JONES, MAITLAND, ONT. 



OWING to the severe injury received 

 by fruit trees, as a result of the cold 

 weather last winter, which resulted in the 

 rupturing of the wood cells in the trees, i)t 

 is necessary for us to pay particular atten- 

 tion this summer to the cultivation andl fer- 

 tilization of our orchards that as rapid a 

 growth as possible may be brought about to 

 cover the defective wood with' new tissue. 

 If this is not done there is danger that the 

 trees will not recover their accustomed vigor 

 and that they will go into next winter in a 

 weakened state. In such a case conditions 

 will possibly be worse a year from now than 

 they are to-day. 



During July I intend to follow up the 

 thorough sysstem of cultivation started in 

 May and June, with the object in view of 

 building up a good covering of new tissue 



for the wood in the trees that were injured 

 last year.- Not later than the first of 

 August I purpose sowing a heavy cover 

 crop to ripen up this new wood growth and 

 prepare the trees for the coming winter. 

 There is nothing better for this than clover, 

 either the common red or mammoth red ;^ 

 crimson clover is not hardy. 



It is necessary to have the land in as fine 

 tilth as possible, so as to ensure the germi- 

 nation of the seed and give vigorous growth. 

 It has often been the case that where a 

 heavy cover crop exists in the fall, serious 

 injury is caused during the winter by field 

 mice. To prevent this the trees can be 

 easily and cheaply protected by wrapping 

 them with building paper; not tar paper, 

 which causes injury to the trunks of the 

 trees. 



Plums being so low in price, farmers are Nine-tenths of our trees are not trimmed 



cutting many of their trees down. Black 

 knot is a great drawback to plums. Many 

 growers do not keep it down, and the law is 

 not put in force. — (Henry Wiggins, Not- 

 tawa, Ont. 



enough. I believe that if we would all trim 

 trees more closely and head in or shorten 

 the branches that this is the cheaper and 

 most practical way to thin fruit. — (Robert 

 Thompson, St. Catharines, Ont. 



