292 



THE CANADIAN H0RTICULTURIS2 



Good Results from Japanese Plums 



W. D. A. ROSS, CHATHAM, ONT. 



1HAVE tried a good many varieties of 

 plums in a small way, and each season 

 confirms my good opinion of the Japanese 

 varieties. The Burbank, Abundance, Wick- 

 son, Red June and Climax are my favorites 

 thus far. 



In some districts there is a prejudice 

 against the Japanese varieties for two or 

 three reasons ; early blossoming perhaps be- 

 ing the principal, but in this section they 

 give two or three times the crop the Euro- 

 pean sorts of the same age do. 



I esteem the Burbank very highly. It is 

 a steady and heavy cropper, good shipper 

 and good seller. The buyer asks for it the 

 following season too, which is a very good 

 sign. Abundance, when fully ripe, for 

 near market is also an excellent plum ; 

 Wickson and Red June are good, and CH- 

 max, which has only fruited one season, has 

 done well. 



The blossoms of these varieties are scarce- 

 ly ever injured here by late frosts. The 

 trees seem perfectly Jiardy, are good thrifty 

 growers, and come into bearing at a very 

 early age. The quality of the fruit quite 

 equals that of most European sorts. 



Among the older varieties, Reine Claude, 

 Imperial Gage, Yellow Egg, Niagara and 

 Guii are favorites. If I were confined to 

 two varieties for general use and market 

 they would be Burbank and Reine Claude. 

 The very early varieties have not proved as 

 profitable as the mid-season and late ones, 

 as the demand early in the season is limited. 



As to fertilizers, I have never used any- 

 thing but stable manure, which with clean 

 cultivation seems to produce good strong 

 growth and abundant crops. 



The plum rot has proved a much more 

 difficult thing to combat than the curculio. 

 Last season the curculio did little damage, 

 at least the crop set so heavily that there 

 were plenty left after they had destroyed 



their share, but rot developed badly, es- 

 pecially in the Lombards. Bordeaux mix- 

 ture was used as a preventive, but even 

 with this it was a very difficult matter to 

 keep it in check. 



In this respect too the Japan varieties 

 have a great advantage, as they do not seem 

 to be affected with rot nearly as badly as 

 European sorts. There are decided profits 

 in Japan plums. Europeans are question- 

 able, at least with the varieties which go to 

 make up the average orchard. 



Manac^ement of Small Pear Orchard 



Frank j. barber, ge;orgetown, ont. 



MY pear orchard is small, containing 

 some 50 trees in all, so I look to 

 our home markets for the disposal of my 

 fruit. For this reason, when starting, I 

 selected varieties of superior quality, such 

 as Clapp's Favorite, Sheldon, Seckel and 

 Flemish Beauty. 



The Flemish Beauty has done particu- 

 larly well, and finds a ready sale as a can- 

 ning or pickling pear. For eating out of 

 hand the little Seckel comes first for quality, 

 with Flemish Beauty a good second. 



I spray three times with Bordeaux mix- 

 ture and paris green; first, just when the 

 leaves are coming out; second, before the 

 blossoms open, and third, just after the blos- 

 some fall. The Flemish Beauty trees are 

 sprayed once or twice more at intervals of 

 10 to 12' days with Bordeaux to keep the 

 pear scab from developing. For pear 

 psylla and aphis I spray with whale oil soap 

 solution, I pound to 7 gallons of water, as 

 soon as they appear. 



The orchard is not cultivated. It has 

 been seeded down to Lucerne clover for 

 eight years. In the spring a limited 

 amount of well rotted manure is spread 

 around the trees to act as a mulch. Since 

 adopting this method there has not been the 

 least sign of pear blight. This is probably 

 due to the fact that plenty of the Bordeaux 

 mixture has been used every year. 



