QUESTION DRAWER. 



83 



lar in size to be very profitable, unless in excep- 

 tional instances. Sometimes the Baldwin is the 

 most profitable, when it gives a good yield of 

 fair sized fruit, of high color, and firm enough 

 to ship anywhere, but of late this variety has 

 developed a bad habit of barrenness, and seldom 

 yields a full crop. The Greening was once 

 counted by many the most profitable commer- 

 cial apple, sometimes giving immense yields of 

 beautiful fruit. One fine old tree at Maple- 

 hurst yielded one season twenty barrels of mar- 

 ketable apples. Of late, this variety too has 

 developed faults, in some cases being badly af- 

 fected with apple scab, while its green color 

 gives it a disadvantage on sale. The King sells 

 for the highest price of any apple we grow, but 

 unfortunately is no cropper, unless it should 

 prove productive when set on Spy or some other 

 stock. The Cranberry Pippin is a fine export 

 apple when well grown, but some seasons it is 

 warty and misshapen. The Ben Davis is a 

 wonderful cropper in most places, and looks 

 well on the market, but lacks quality. Ontario 

 is fine every way, but the tree overbears, and is 

 short lived. Ribston Pippin is also first class, 

 but inclined to ripen too soon after coloring up, 

 and the tree has very little vigor in Ontario. 

 Blenheim Orange and Gravenstein are two very 

 fine fall apples, probably the two best of their 

 season. The fact is that the ideal winter apple 

 for commercial purposes has yet to appear. 



For particulars regarding methods of planting 

 we refer our inquirer to Mr. Burrell's article on 

 Fruit Culture in this number, which deals with 

 that subject so well that we need not treat upon 

 it here. 



Sheldon Pear. 



Sir,— On page 423 Horticulturist I saw a state- 

 ment concerning the above named pear which I 

 cannot fully agree with. As I live in the County 

 of York, about twenty-five miles north of the City 

 of Toronto, just about two miles south of the 

 ridges, which makes the water shed of all the run- 

 ning streams north and south of this part of the 

 country, we are very much exposed on all direc- 

 tions to the wind. We have a heavy clay soil 

 mixed with black muck, very strong land. I have 

 been trying to grow pears nearly thirty years and 

 have a good many different kinds, and my Shel- 

 dons are doing equally as well as any other kind. 



I have some Sheldons top grafted which are now 

 about 25 feet high and not even a twig injured yet 

 by our piercing winter winds and frost. I have 

 also some younger trees got from the nurseries 

 which are now fine thrifty trees, bearing as well 

 as the other kinds growing beside them. The 

 ground where the old trees are growing is not cul- 

 tivated, it is completely sodded over. The only 

 fault I find is the unevenness of the fruit. 



I would advise anybody in our district to plant 

 a few Sheldons, as they are no more difficult to 

 grow than any other kind as far as my experience 

 goes. 'The quality is very good, as stated in the 

 Horticulturist. 



Almira. 



D. B. Hoover. 



We are pleased to have this opinion of Mr. 

 Hoover's regarding the adaptability of the Shel- 

 don pear to the County of York. Sometime ago 

 we had some unfavorable reports concerning it 

 from the fruit growers in York, which led to our 

 remark that it was not quite hardy in York, 

 which such testimony as Mr. Hoover's seems to 

 contradict. 



Sun 5cald, Etc. 



Sir, — Do you know anything of a preparation 

 called Glen's Arborine to apply to fruit trees said 

 to protect from rabbits, mice, sheep, borers, sun 

 scald, etc. Agents are canvassing for its sale. 

 Is it good for anything or a hoax. I have lost a 

 great number of young apple trees from what I 

 supposed to be sun scald, the bark dies on the 

 south or westerly sides of the trunk of healthy 

 trees, beginning on a small piece an inch or two 

 in diameter, and each year enlarging until it kills 

 or greatly damages the tree. It attacks a tree gen- 

 erally at the bearing age, sometimes the bark on 

 the whole side of the trunk is killed in a season. 

 Often the branches of old trees are affected in the 

 same way. What is the cause and what will pre- 

 vent it? I am very much discouraged by its 

 ravages. My land is a heavy clay loam. We had 

 nothing of it sixty years ago. Your reply through 

 Horticulturist will much oblige. 



William A. Wallis. 

 Humber P. O., Ont. 



Glen's Arborine is dealt with in a separate 

 paragraph, and need not be treated here, except 

 than we warn our readers against paying money 

 for new patent nostrums which, when tested, 

 usually prove inferior to the usually accepted 

 remedies. 



Sun Scald is a very common trouble with ap- 

 ple trees in Canada where we have intensely 

 hot sunshine in summer, and trunks or crotches 

 unprotected by foliage. Probably the most 

 common cause of the evil occurs in winter sea- 



