NOTES ON SMALL FRUIT CULTURE. 



119 



application were to be advised rather than 

 heavier ones at longer intervals. In answer 

 to an enquiry Mr. Shutt mentioned twenty 

 to forty bushels of lime per acre as an aver- 

 age dressing-. 



The furnishing of humus or vegetable 

 matter was next taken up. After a brief 

 account of the composition of barn yard 

 manure and cautioning his hearers against 

 allowing the loss of the liquid portion — 

 which is by far the more valuable of the two 

 — the value of clover as an economic means 

 of supplying humus and nitrogen. The le- 

 gumes — to which clover belongs — are the 

 only crops which have the quality of appro- 

 priating free nitrogen from the air, they are 

 therefore nitrogen-enrichers. 



Experiments at Ottawa show that the 

 turning under of a crop of red or mammoth 

 clover would furnish a soil with as much 

 humus and nitrogen as a dressing of eight or 

 ten tons of ordinary' manure. Clover should 

 also be sown in the autumn as a catch crop 

 in order to hold the soluble nitrates which 

 would be leached out by the winter rains. 



In bringing the address to a close Mr. 

 Shutt briefly outlined the composition and 

 function of the more important commercial 

 fertilizers — bone-meal, super-phosphate and 



the German potash salt. He suggested as 

 a basic formula the following per acre: 



Bone-meal, 100 lbs. 



Superphosphate, 100 lbs. 



Muriate of potash, 100 lbs. 



Before prescribing more particularly it 

 would be necessarv' to know the character of 

 the soil, its history as to manuring, and the 

 crops it is wished to grow. The value Oi' 

 getting a soil in good condition before plant- 

 ing the orchard was emphasized. It was a 

 poor policy and loss of time to plant trees in 

 impoverished soils. Good growth must be 

 made in early years of the tree's life, so that 

 they may be fruitful when they reach maturity. 



After Mr. Shutt had finished several gentle- 

 men took part in the discussion, and a number 

 of very pertinent questions were asked, 

 among others by Mr. Sharpe, from the 

 experimental farm at Agassiz, and Mr. E. 

 Hutcherson, Ladner. Among other ques- 

 tions was that of whether there might be any 

 difference in the chemical constituents of 

 plums grown in different parts of the pro- 

 vince, which would affect their keeping 

 qualities. 



The meeting accorded a hearty vote of 

 thanks to Mr. Shutt for his ver}' able and 

 instructive address. 



NOTES ON SMALL FRUIT CULTURE. 



I NOTICE that some Canadian, as well as 

 -American catalogues, are advertising the 

 following novelties as desirable and product- 

 ive fruits to plant. Having had four years 

 experience with them I thought I would let 

 your readers know how they have done with 

 me. 



Strawberrv-Raspberrv, — I have found 

 perfectly hardy, it grew finely but set fruit 

 very sparingly. The fruit was large and 

 very handsome, the berries were firm but 

 insipid and worthless to eat. But while it is 

 worthless as a fruit, it is verv handsome as 



an ornamental plant. It never winter kills. 

 It is easy to grow. Foliage hangs on till 

 late in the fall, then it dies down to the 

 ground, but comes up ven»- early in spring 

 and grows very rapidly to a height of about 

 eighteen inches. The leaves are long and 

 deeply serrated, are a beautiful bright green 

 color; they grow thickly and lay over each 

 other so as to completely hide the ground. 

 It commences to blossom early in June and 

 continues to bloom till October. The blos- 

 soms are about an inch and a quarter in 

 diameter and pure white, about one tenth of 



