540 



OPEN LETTERS. 



the fruit going- in a box should not vary 

 more than y^ of an inch in diameter. Thus 

 a box such as proposed by our correspond- 

 ent would not be advisable. It would be 

 an undesirable shape for the British market. 



Apple Tree Borers. 

 1 197. Sir, — I have a young apple tree on which 

 I noticed the bark was getting dark and dead-look- 

 ing. On cutting into it I found numerous borers 

 from I to 1^ inch long ; the}^ appear to be working 

 in the bark, and I fear are seriously injuring the 

 tree. I also think other trees are affected. The 

 trees have thrived very well up till now. There is 

 no sign of the mischief going on except this dis- 

 coloration of the bark. Is there any remedy or 

 preventive ? 

 Erasmus. George Wood. 



This is one of the most common enemies 

 of the apple grower, and is particularly 

 troublesome in the case of trees which are 

 not growing- vigorously. It is known as 

 the flat-headed apple tree borer, (chryso- 



bothris femorata), a native of America, and 

 in its native state is a typical Buprestis 

 beetle. It is a brassy looking beetle, with 

 under side of body and legs like burnished 

 copper. The beetle is active during the 

 months of July and August, when it deposits 

 its eggs either singly or in groups in cracks 

 of the bark, from which the young larva 

 hatch out, and soon make their way under 

 the bark where it feeds on the sap wood, 

 sometimes completely girdling a tree. 



When its presence is discovered, by the 

 the discolorations and castings, no time 

 should be lost in digging it out with a sharp 

 knife and killing the larva ; and as a pre- 

 ventive measure, the trees should be washed 

 once or twice in summer with a solution of 

 soft soap and washing soda, applied in 

 about the consistency of a thick paint. 



@]p{iff^ L©44(iO^^ 



Doyenne du Cornice Pear. 



Sir, — I send you to-day a fair sample of Doyenne 

 du Comice pear. I never see it catalogued, and I 

 never see nor hear anything about this excellent 

 pear in any of our journals on fruit. I only know 

 of but one tree of this pear in the province. If this 

 is the case, the variety should not be lost sight of, 

 and I send you the samples of fruit so that you can 

 speak of them as j'^ou find them — description as fol- 

 lows : Fruit large, obovate, eye small and open in 

 a deep basin, skin greenish yellow and russet, with 

 a flushed cheek to the sun, flesh white, fine grained, 

 buttery, melting and juicy, highly flavored ; sea- 

 son. November. Tree a vigorous grower, always 

 clean and healthy ; it is also a good bearing variety, 

 and should be in every collection ; it was first raised 

 at Angers. I would also like to draw your atten 

 tion to two other variefes of pears that are very 

 scarce. I know of one tree of each variety, name- 

 ly, Marie Louise and Napoleon, both are first-class 

 quality and of medium to large size. Are any of 

 the above growing at your fruit stations ? 



Roderick Cameron. 



Niagara Falls South. 



Is Our CHmate Changing? 



This is a question often asked but never satisfac- 

 torily answered, because, probably, of the continual 

 fluctuations of the climaie throughout the different 

 parts of this vast country. In the study of and in 

 the attempt to determine this question in future 

 years, the wonderfully high temperature of October, 

 1900, may be used as an important factor. 



The highest mean temperature registered here for 

 October during the previous twenty years was 

 48". 75 (1894) which was about four degrees above 

 the average mean temperature of this locality. 

 This year (1900) it was 53"'.97, or 5".22 higher than 

 in 1894. 



The average mean temperature for October for 

 the twelve years, 1880 to 1891 both inclusive, was 

 44". 04; and for the following eight years, 1852 to 

 1899, both inclusive, it was 45°.98. or 1^.94 higher 

 than the average of the preceeding twelve year 

 period. For the two periods combined, viz., from 

 1880 to 1809, the average was 44. "81. The mean 

 for October, 1990. being 53".97 shows the extraor- 

 dinary increase of 9°. 16 of mean or daily tempera- 

 ture over the average October for the past twenty 

 years. 



Lindsay, Nov. ist, 1900. Thos. Beall. 



Pruning Raspberries. 



Sir, — On reading the directions for pruning and 

 training raspberries given in your article on Fruit 

 Culture in the Octob.r number of the Horticultur- 

 ist, it would appear a very easy matter to keep 

 raspberries in proper shape ; but if one summer's 

 experience counts anything it is not such an easy 

 matter as would at first sight appear. Perhaps a 

 brief statement of my experience with raspberries 

 would be in order before asking for advice. I have 

 grown a few raspberries in the garden for the past 

 six years, but never paid much attention to their 

 pruning and training. Seeing that they promised to 

 pay well, last spring 1 set out several rows in the 

 strawberry field. Of the five rows set out, two are 



