CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM NOTES— VIH. 



-P to the 13th May there was ven- 

 little warm weather at Ottawa ; 

 the latter part of April and early 

 '^r^'' part of May being^ exceptionally 

 cool and dry, and the frost late in leaving- 

 the soil. So cool did it become on the loth 

 and iith May that the thermometer regis- 

 tered four and five degrees of frost, respec- 

 tively, on these dates. Owing to the back- 

 ward spring and the cool weather which 

 preceded these severe frosts, there had not 

 been very much growth, and what there 

 was had been pretty well hardened ; the re- 

 sult being that very little injury was done. 

 A few apple and plum blossoms were in- 

 jured at the Experimental Farm, but the 

 majority appear to have been unhurt. On 

 the 8th May there was a much needed rain, 

 but the weather continued cool until the 

 13th, when it became warmer. On the 

 14th the thermometer registered 86° Fahr. , 

 and one felt for the first time this year that 

 the growing season had begun. 



Nearly everything that is usually hardy 

 came through the winter in good condition, 

 and the prospects at present are that there 

 will be an abundant crop of apples, plums, 

 cherries, and small fruits. 



The Ontario apple is evidently not going 

 to be hardy at Ottawa, unless it succeeds 

 when top grafted. Several young trees 

 were killed to near the ground last winter 

 in the orchard here. An older tree also 

 died last year. Most of the apple trees are 

 looking well, and many varieties have been 

 found to be of no value in this part of the 

 country, the fruit being of an inferior quali- 

 ty, the trees have been removed to make 

 way for other kinds. In order, however, 

 not to lose sight of these varieties they have 

 been top grafted, a number of sorts being 

 on one tree. The majority of these varie- 

 ties are of Russian origin. 



The fine collection of American plums 

 which is now in the orchard at the Experi- 



mental Farm should be particularly inter- 

 esting this year. It is time that these plums 

 were more widely grown in the colder parts 

 of Canada. Some of them are verj- large, 

 and many of them are of good quality and 

 heavy bearers. It is to be hoped that our 

 nurserymen took advantage of the recent 

 opportunity for importing stock from the 

 United States to get a supply of some of the 

 best varieties of these plums. The Ameri- 

 can plums would be much appreciated in 

 those districts where the native wild plum 

 is affected with blight, which has been so 

 persistent for many years past that there is 

 ver\- rarely a crop of good plums unless the 

 trees have been sprayed. 



From present indications the crop of cher- 

 ries should be large this year. A few more 

 trees died last winter, root-killing being the 

 cause in most cases. As far as we know, 

 none of the trees which died were grafted 

 or budded on the native bird cherry — Pru- 

 nus Pennsylvanica. Trees budded on this 

 stock in 1 89 1 are still vigorous, the union 

 is perfect, and we believe that for the colder 

 parts of Canada this is one of the best, if 

 not the best, stocks in use. The cherry 

 orchard has been practically replaced during 

 the past three years by trees worked on this 

 stock, and this will afi"ord a good object 

 lesson as to the value of the bird cherry for 

 this purpose. 



As has been mentioned in previous notes, 

 extensive experiments have been carried on 

 in the Horticultural Department during the 

 past few months to determine the value of 

 lime as a remedy for the oyster shell bark 

 louse. From results obtained last year we 

 were convinced that lime, spread on the 

 trees, would remove nearly all the scales 

 from the trees, if the scales were covered by 

 it. Our experiments this year are confirma- 

 tory. No injury to apple trees from the 

 use of lime can be discovered. While the 

 necessary data to determine the most econ- 



