298 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURJST 



Care of the Strawberry Patch 



J. H. DAVISON, MT. FOREIST, ONT. 



'^ I "■ HE soil in which my strawberries are 

 A grown is number 1 clay loam, very 

 dark, with marl and gravelly subsoil. This 

 is thoroughly tile drained every two rods, 

 and the land has a good fall. 



The ground I purpose planting to straw- 

 berries in 1905 is planted to celery this sea- 

 son, and on this ground no weeds are al- 

 lowed to seed and very few to grow. It is 

 plowed in the fall and again in the spring, 

 and worked thoroughly. As soon as land 

 is fit it is marked off 4 feet apart, across lot 

 in rows 30 rods long. Runners from last 

 season's growth are planted fourteen to 

 eighteen inches apart in the rows. 



The land being rich and clean, they grow 

 rapidly, and if the season is at all favorable 

 they matt pretty thoroughly about 2^ feet. 

 This gives an excellent crop of vecy large 

 berries if a good dressing of unleached 

 hardwood ashes is given. 



As soon as the crop is picked all vines, 

 weeds, straw, etc., are plowed under and 

 the ground sown with rye (fall rye) for fall 

 feed for cattle, and also for feed the follow- 

 ing spring. In this way only one crop is 

 picked from each planting. It is cheaper 

 and better to plant every year than to try 

 and clean up an old patch. I plant only one 

 variety, the Williams. 



Success With Black Cherries. — " 1 ! :i\e 

 1,000 black currant bushes in bearing. 

 They are a good paying crop when given 

 good cultivation. Part of my plantation 

 has been in bearing for about 15 years, and 

 is not doing as well as formerly. Every 

 spring I trim each bush to four or six stalks, 

 keeping the old wood well cut out and leav- 

 ing at least two new stalks every season. 



My soil is heavy clay. The ' varieties 

 grown are Lee's Prolific, Black Naples and 

 Black Champion." — George Stevenson, 

 Freelton, Ont. 



Grapes That Turn Black 



PROP. H. L. HUTT, ONT. AGRI. COLIvEGE, 

 GUEIvPH. 



Some of my grapes turned black in the 

 bunches last year. Can you give me a cure ? 

 — (James Symington, Port Dover, Ont. 



This information is not sufficient to enable 

 me to reach a satisfactory conclusion as to 

 what the trouble is. It is quite likely that 

 the disease may be the grape rot, which is a 

 very difficult disease to combat successfully. 

 Spraying with Bordeaux mixture* is one of 

 the best preventives. Where the disease 

 becomes serious the diseased berries should 

 be gathered and burned to prevent its 

 spreading. 



Landscape Gardening in Cities 



p. G. KEYES, OTTAWA. 



PEOPLE who are compelled to reside in 

 the city upon lots of small dimensions 

 cannot undertake a system of landscape 

 gardening in its broadest scope; neverthe- 

 less, there are a few rules and fundamental 

 principles that are quite as applicable to the 

 small lot as to the great estate. 



Of the two kinds of landscape gardening, 

 the natural and the formal, I prefer the first 

 mentioned. This consists in re-arranging 

 existing natural forms with a desire to 

 create new beauties, to combine flowers; 

 shrubs and trees so as to produce an aesthetic 

 effect. In the first place it is necessary to 

 avoid straight lines. 



It is a mistake to fill every available space 

 with trees and plants, but instead, try tq 

 create a picture, using the green lawn for 

 your canvass and framing the whole by a 

 well massed border, planting tall shrubs or 

 trees to screen objectionable features near 

 by, and low planlts so as to appropriate to 

 your view some desirable feature of the sur- 

 roundings. Use hardy plants and shrubs 

 for the borders and plant groups, not indi- 

 viduals. Nature rarely scatters her plants. 



