August, 1916. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



iflS 



Thinning Fruit 



THOSE fruit growers who have uat 

 yet attended to the thinning of 

 their fruit should not neglect it 

 longer. To do so, where heavy crops 

 are promised, may mean broken limbs, 

 split trunks and weakened trees. Vig- 

 orous thinning should be begun before 

 the fruits attain size and weiglit 

 enough to begin bearing down the 

 limbs of the trees. 



A.S regards the number to be left 

 eh depends on the stiength of tree 

 i...:[ branch. As a general rule, how- 

 ever, even the most perfect fruits 

 should not be too closely packed, as 

 one nice specimen is preferable to six 

 half grown. Apples may be left near- 

 er than pears, cherries nearer than 

 plums, while for the best i-esults 

 peaches should not be nearer than six 

 inches to one another. Apples should 

 be thinned, leaving only one fruit to 

 a fruit spur and the fruit from four to 

 eight inches or ten inches apart, de- 

 pending upon the variety and the tree. 

 Unless each peach tree is allowed 

 enough space to develop to its maxi- 

 mum there will be a quantity of second 

 grade offered for sale. In thinning, al- 

 ways take off those which are mis- 

 shapen or injured by insects, leaving 

 I only first-ckss fruit. A tree which is 

 ! loaded will, if it is thinned, produce 

 as many baskets of fruit as one which 

 is not so thinned, but the one which is 

 thinned will produce more first-class 

 fruit, while the other will have a quan- 

 tity of small and second grade peaches. 

 It is easier to pick and drop small green 

 peaches on the ground than it is to pick 

 those same peaches later and put each 



one in a basket. The cost of thinning 

 any kind of fruit (apples, pears, plums 

 or peaches) is more than made up by 

 the time saved in harvesting and grad- 

 ing, and also by the increased price of 

 the greater amount of firet grade fruit. 



Spray Late Potatoes 



p. J. Carey, Toronto, Onl. 



DxVMr weather, such as has pre- 

 vailed this season, is almost sure 

 to cause trouble among the late 

 potatoes. It should pay well, there- 

 fore, to give special attention to the 

 matter of spraying. Numerous tesits 

 have proved that the timely and thor- 

 ough spraying of late potatoes pays 

 even where disease is not prevalent. 



To make Bordeaux mixture for 

 spraying, carefully slake four pounds 

 of quick lime, mix with water to a 

 ci'eam, strain into the spray barrel and 

 half fill it with water. Dissolve four 

 pounds of copper sulphate (best in 

 granulated form) in four gallons of 

 water (hot water works quicker) and 

 pour slowly, with constant stirring, 

 into the spray barrel with water, so 

 thait by the time the copper solution 

 is Tvoured in the fifty-gallon barrel is 

 full. 



If much spraying is to be done, stock 

 solutions of lime and copper sulphate 

 may be made, thus avoiding the pre- 

 paration of small lots of material. The 

 stock so'lutions are made by slaking 

 sufficient lime for one spraying and 

 diluting with the same number of gal- 

 lons of water, also dissolving the re- 

 ouired amount of copper sulphate and 

 diluting in the same proportion. These 

 solutions can bo kept separately for an 



■Pe-ach time" in ttie orchard of Wm. Webb, 

 East Hamilton, Ont. 



indefinite time and can be used by 

 measuring four gallons of each and 

 proceeding in the manner described. 



Cherry Trees 



The cherry tree will thrive on light, 

 well drained loams. The fruit likes an 

 elevated, naturally light, dry, loamy, 

 retentive soil. The sour cherry tree 

 will stand a heavier soil. 



' As the sour cherry tree does not grow 

 very large, it is best to plant it sixteen 

 and a half feet each way, thus making 

 one hundred and sixty trees to the acre. 



Cherry trees can be successfully top 

 grafted, if one desires to change the 

 varieties in the orchard for more profit- 

 able ones. This sort of graft will suc- 

 ceed without any difficulty, if it is per- 

 formed early in the spring, before the 

 slightest swelling of the buds, and even 

 before the frost has disappeared from 

 the ground. After this period, diffi- 

 culty will be experienced. 



Black knot in cherry trees is the 

 worst disease of all. The only remedy 

 I know is to cut away the branch when- 

 ever it appears. — Rev. Father Leopold, 

 Ija Trappe, Que. 



A fruit dray on the fruit farm of E. M. Smith. Winona, Ont., Iik.j, .; 



^>..,U .station. 



When -peach trees have attained a size 

 that necessitates a ladder in picking the 

 fruit, I begin to prune and keep the fruit 

 producing wood close to the ground. 

 Keep the trees low down so they can be 

 readily sprayed without any gfi^eat der- 

 rick to get at the topmost branches. I 

 find my trees are hardy and I have a good 

 sample of fruit from trees handled thus. 

 J. O. Duke, Ruthven, Ont. 



