536 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



tilization of the blossoms by bees. The 

 Vermont experiment station is just publish- 

 ing the results of experiments which g"o to 

 show that a majority of varieties of apples 

 do not bear g-ood crops unless mixed in this 

 way. Northern Spy, for example, seldom 

 or never gives a full crop when its blossoms 

 are not pollinated from trees of some other 

 variety. 



Apples as Stock Food. — There seems to 

 be a wide spread prejudice among farmers 

 against apples for horses or cows. They 

 seem to think them more injurious than 

 useful, and even try to prevent them from 

 having them for that reason. Now we have 

 always noticed that the appetite, either in 

 man or beast, is a fairly good guide as to 

 what is best for them, and one cannot go 

 far astray taking it as a guide. We all 

 know how agreeable to man is the apple, 

 how it tones up the system, helps the 

 appetite, improves the digestion, if eaten 

 ripe ; and it is natural to expect the same 

 results with horses and cows. They are 

 ravenous in their appetite for apples, and 

 horses never look in better trim, or take 

 more good of their oats, than when allowed 

 plenty of them. The Sun (Toronto), in 

 dealing with the question, quotes as follows • 



Apples foi' stock food, says the American Agri- 

 culturist, should first be sorted, and those most 

 badly bruised set aside for feeding first. The 

 whole should be stored in a cool, dry place — an 

 open shed or barn floor serving for the purpose. 

 These apples, says the Agriculturist, may be fed 

 to any kind of stock, and with proper handling 

 will furnish an excellent fodder. In chemical 

 composition they are equal to roots, and almost 

 equal to corn silage. They have less of muscle 

 forming material than mangles, but have over 

 twice the heating value of these roots. The 

 stock wili eat the apples whole, but as there is 

 danger of choking on these, chopping is advised. 

 Even apple pomace, which is now refuse material 

 in many factories, may, says the Agriculturist, 

 be fed to cattle with advantage. Begin, it says, 

 with about one pound to the feed, putting meal 

 with it to get the cows started. This may be 

 gradually increased to about five or ten pounds 

 per day. A test at the Vermont Experimental 

 station shows, according to the Agriculturist, 

 that this pomace has about the same feeding 

 value, pound for pound, as corn silage. The 



Agriculturist mentions one case in particular 

 where a Massachusetts farmer who had an enor- 

 mous quantity of low grade apples, began feeding 

 a large cow which was neaily dry. He fed her in 

 connection with pasture two pecks of hard 

 Greenings and Baldwins, night and morning. 

 The amount was gradually increased until the 

 cow was eating one bushel per day. With this 

 increase in apple feeding the cow's milk flow 

 increased from four to six quarts per day. 



California Cherries. — These cherries 

 are sold at auction, and the prices received 

 run from 50 cents to $1.75 per package, 

 holding about eight pounds. The great 

 variation in price is caused in part by the 

 variety, but mainly by the condition in which 

 the fruit arrives. What is at all decayed 

 spoils very quickly, and sells for whatever it 

 will bring. The most common package is a 

 box about 9x18 inches and three inches deep. 

 Some are packed in small, round boxes hold- 

 ing a pound each. The retail price on the 

 street at present is 25 cents per pound. 

 Some of them have been picked greener than 

 necessary, and are a little off in flavor, but 

 others that I have tried, especially the Black 

 Tartarian, are nearly as good as though 

 fresh from the tree. It is evident that, when 

 carefully packed and properly handled in 

 transportation, cherries may be left until 

 nearly dead ripe and still shipped a great 

 distance in safety. Like all other California 

 fruit, these cherries are packed so that they 

 show up finely when opened. The boxes 

 are not "stuffed" with rubbish either. 

 While these on top are usually the largest, 

 the difference is scarcely noticeable. These 

 Western fruit men seem to have taken a firm 

 grip on the idea of neat and uniform pack- 

 ages, honest goods and artistic labels. Of 

 course it costs something to put up fruit in 

 this shape, but it pays, and some of these 

 methods might well be copied by those East- 

 ern growers who have used all sorts of pack- 

 ages, labeled them with a blue pencil or 

 marking brush, and mixed inferior fruit that 

 should have been thrown to the pigs. — Rural 

 New Yorker. 



