The Canadian Horticulturist. 153 



Irrig^ation. 



{Reply to Question 6gy.) 



Prof. Taft, of the Michigan Agricultural College writes : " Answering your 

 correspondent, I would say that if only a small amount of water is required and 

 if the conditions are suitable, the simplest and least expensive method of Hfting 

 the water to the height mentioned, will be by means of a ram. As next to this 

 I would place the gasoline and hot air pumping engines, but if a large area is to 

 be irrigated there is nothing that I know of that will approach, in efficiency and 

 cost for the work preformed, a good steam pump." 



Fall vs. Spring Planting in the North-West. 



(Question answered by Mr. John Craig, Ottazva.) 



Replying to your letter of the 8th inst. regarding the advantages of fall and 

 spring planting of small fruits in the North-West Territories, I may say that 

 our experience at Indian Head and Brandon has been entirely against fall 

 planting of small fruits, as well as all other fruit and forest trees. One of the 

 difficulties that a planter has to contend with in the North- West lies in the fact 

 that there is in the autumn a very slight amount of moisture in the soil, and if 

 the trees and plants are not injured by winter — as they usually are — they suffer 

 from drought and the drying- out effect of the winds. There is not sufficient 

 moisture in the soil to start the initial processes of growth in roots of even 

 currants or gooseberries, and in the North-West there is usually not enough 

 snow to protect them from cold, unless well rooted. It is very much safer and 

 altogether more advisable, the plants having been secured in the fall, to bury 

 them completely in the soil, and plant in the spring upon summer-fallowed 

 ground. 



^ ©per? Letterc?. % 



Experimental Work. 



Sir. — I have a small experiment station on a private scale in my owm garden, consist- 

 ing of 28 varieties of plums, 12 of pears, 12 of apples, 4 of peaches, 4 of gooseberries, 

 several strawberries and a few currants and raspberries, planted from ene to three years. 

 You will hear from me occasionally when they come into bearing, whether of success or 

 failure, by the way, I might mention last year's success with 12 Lombard plums, planted 

 May, 1891. I picked 5^ bushels of beautiful fruit, and 107 quarts of Dowing gooseberries 

 from 13 bushes planted same time, sprayed twice during the seetson, which I believe saved 

 my fruit entirely from rot, and partially from the little Turks ravages. 



Wm. Jddgk, Orangeville. 



