April, iQii 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



95 



the roadside and notify the Department of 

 Agriculture of their province as well as the 

 Department at Ottawa of any strange de- 

 posits of egjrs, nests or caterpillars which 

 might be the Brown Tail moth. At the pre- 

 sent time the Brown Tail Mcth is in -the 

 caterpillar stage. The caterpillars are 

 housed in a nest formed of a cluster of 

 leaves fastened together Ly a web. The nest 

 is usually found on the new growth of the 

 tree, and is easily seen. The collection and 

 destruction of the winter nests is the best 

 and easiest method of controlling the insect. 

 This work must be done before the time the 

 buds burst or the caterpillars will have left 

 the nests to feed upon the young leaves. 



could send each society a programme of ev- 

 ery other society. 



The Thornbury society gives a total of 

 twenty-two ciitions which include such offers 

 as three roses of standard varieties, fourteen 

 geraniums in two and a half inch pots, three 

 flowering shrubs or climbing vines, eight 

 dahlias, ten begonias or cannas, one hun- 

 dred tulips, thirty gladioli, six house plants, 

 twelve lilies, four grape vines or two apple 

 trees. 



BLOCK IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY 



For .some time past there has been in sev- 

 eral United States and Canadian cities 

 what is known as the block improvement so- 

 ciety. The central idea is that the people 

 living in each b'.cck should organize an 

 improvement society to look after the beau- 

 tifying and betterment of their own dis- 

 trict. 



This is a work that might well bo taken 

 up by the local Horticultural societies. The 

 Toronto Society already has done good work 

 in this direction. The idea can be carried 

 out in places of almost any size. A cross- 

 roads village if not too small might divide 

 itself into four groups. A smaller place 

 could organize in two groups, one on each 

 .side of the main street. Larger places would 

 have a greater number of block divisions. 

 By this means a friendly rivalry would be 

 developed between the different blocks and 

 the citizens would take more interest in the 

 improvement of their own block and in each 

 other than they would in a plan which in- 

 cluded the whole city. A few of the point- 

 ers which might help are given below. 



Whitewash everything you can't paint. 



Plant lawns, flowers and trees wherever 

 the ground .shows bear. Keep the ground 

 green. 



Exerci<5e the same supervision over your 

 sidewalks as over your front yard. 



Sweet peas, climbing nasturtiums, castor 

 beans, hollyhocks, or even sunflowers make 

 an effective screen to hide old fences, sheds, 

 or other unsightly views. For permanent 

 screens use hardy shrubs or quickly growing 

 vines. 



If you cannot have a grand lawn filled 

 with choice roses you may at least have a 

 window box filled with geraniums. 



AN INTERCHANGE OF PROGRAMS 



The Secetary of the Thornbury Horticul- 

 tural society has sent us a copy of their 

 annual announcement which offers some very 

 literal options in flowers, plants and bulbs 

 in addition to The Canadian Horticultur- 

 ist which is sent free to each member. The 

 society distributes flower seeds to the school 

 children and as an inducement will give the 

 new crim.son rambler rose Thousand Beauties 

 and other plants as prizes. We would sug- 

 gest that some arrangement be made by 

 which a sufficient number of copies of the 

 announcement of each society be printed so 

 that one might be sent to each of the sister 

 societies. 



By this interchange of programmes the 

 members of each society would know wbat 

 the others were doing and would obtain 

 valuable suggestion-s with regard to the 

 management of their own society. The dis- 

 tribution of these announcements is of .such 

 importance that we think that the Depart- 

 inent of Agriculture might well pay for the 

 printing of a sufficient number of extra 

 orogrammes from each society that they 



A NEW LINE OF WORK 



The Peterboro Horticultural Society have 

 undertaken a new line of work that might 

 be followed by other societies in towns which 

 do not keep a paid superintendent of parks. 

 The Horticultural Society has been given 

 full charge of the parks. The grants for 

 their maintenance are made in its favor. 

 The park committee of the Society appoint 

 the caretaker and supervise all work done. 

 In many town councils there are very few 

 members who are interested in horticultural 

 matters and even where they are interested 

 a still less number have the necessary know- 

 ledge of plants and flowers. This system 

 has given satisfactory results in Peterboro 

 and might well be worth experimenting with 

 in other towns. 



PUBLISHER'S DESK 



We often wonder if our readers realize 

 the high character of our contributors to 

 The Canadian Horticulturist. We endeav. 

 or tc have those who are recognized leaders 

 in their particular departments write for 

 our columns. In this issue Mr. W. H. Gib- 

 son of Newcastle continues the description 

 of his methods of cultivation, pruning and 

 care of an orchard. Mr. Gibson is presi- 

 dent of the Newcastle Cooperative Fruit 

 A.sscciation and is probably one of the larg- 

 est apple growers in Ontario as he has 

 seventy-five acres of bearing apple trees in 

 his orchard. He has revolutionized the 

 type of farming in his district until the 

 grain farmers of twenty-five years ago are 

 now nearly all fruit growers. 



Mr. A. McNeil, chief of the Fruit 

 Division, Ottawa, gives seasonable advice on 

 how to get more bearing wood in old or- 

 chards. Mr. W. Dreher takes up the ques- 

 tion of early cultivation of the orchard. 

 His system of later cultivation and the 

 growth of cover crops will appear in our 

 May issue. 



The well known peach growers, Messrs. 

 J. W. Smith & Sons, Winona, tell how to 

 plant and grow peach trees. This firm is 

 one of the largest and most successful grow- 

 ers of peaches and small fruit in Ontario 

 and their advice will be of great value to 

 those who contemplate embarking in peach 

 growing. Fr, M, Leophold, La Trappe, 

 who is known as an authority on the apjjle, 

 describes the planting and early care of the 

 apiile tree. Valuable short articles are giv- 

 en by cxiicrts in their line on root pruning, 

 the value of bees in an orchard and other 

 seasonable subjects. 



This number being our Garden Annual, 

 .special attention has been paid tc the flower 

 and vegetable garden, Mr, Roderick Cam- 

 eron, Superintendent of Parks, Toronto, 

 gives very full directions for laying out an 

 amateur flower garden. Articles on sea- 

 sonable subjects such as the culture of as- 

 ters, cannas and the care of window gar- 

 dens also a iJage of seasonable hints for 

 Ajjril and a planting table are given. 



In the vegetable department, Mr, Geo, 

 Baldwin, Toronto, who won two first, two 

 second and two third prizes on his vegetables 

 at the Canadian National Exhibition, gives 

 an elaborate plan of hew he grows eighty- 

 two varieties of vegetables on a city lot, 27 

 feet by 86 feet in size. Prof. Blair des- 

 cribes the growing of the Montreal melon 

 while articles are given on intensive gar- 

 dening and other seasonable matter. 



Our next number will be devoted to Or- 

 chard cultivation and Home Improvement. 

 We have articles by the best authorities on 

 these subjects and would especially desire 

 notes of a couple of hundred words describ- 

 ing any special improvement which has been 

 made in the homes or grounds of our readers 

 be sent to us. We will publish as many oi 

 these as our space will permit. Our Garden 

 and Flower Department will be found full 

 of valuable information. The page on what 

 amateurs can do in May will be found right 

 up to date, giving advice for work which 

 can be started immediately. 



Among the good things in store for our 

 readers is an article on the value of bees in 

 an orchard by Geo. W. Tebbs, Hespeler, who 

 is an authority on this subject. Mr. George 

 Baldwin will tell the amateur vegetable 

 grower what to do in the garden in May. 



Mr. A. V. Main, Almonte, well known to 

 our readers, has sent us an instructive and 

 interesting article on the Care and De- 

 corative Use of Palms. Mr. Chas. L. Honey- 

 man, Toronto, sends us a description of gar- 

 dens seen in a trip to the Land of the This- 

 tle. Mr. S. C. Parker, secretary of the 

 Nova Scotia Fruit growers and one of the 

 most prominent and progressive fruit grow- 

 ers of the province will describe the Co- 

 operative Fruit Marketing in that province. 

 All departments will be filled with interest- 

 ing matter. 



Have .you been reading the "Talks on 

 Advertising," that have been appearing on 

 the Index page of each isisue of The Can- 

 adian Horticulturist for the past several 

 months? Would you like to secure a com- 

 plete set of these "Talks" to look over or 

 to keep? If so, our Advertising Department 

 will be glad to send you a set on request as 

 we have printed a supply of extra copies 

 for those of our readers desiring them. 

 When writing us if you think of any article 

 or line of goods not now being advertised in 

 The Canadian Horticulturist that you 

 would like to see advertised, will you kindly 

 mention it? Suggestions from our readers 

 are always welcome. 



Have any of our readers an extra copy 

 of the November, 1910, issue of The Cana- 

 dian Horticulturist.'' We desire two or 

 three copies for our flies as our supply of this 

 number has become completely exhausted. If 

 any of our readers have a copy of this num- 

 ber they can spare we would appreciate it 

 much if they would mail it to us. 



Annual Meeting 



The annual meeting of the Shareholders 

 of The Horticultural Publishing Co,, Limit- 

 ed, which publishes both The Canadian 

 Horticulturist and The Canadian Florist 

 was held in Toronto, March 17th. The 

 report of the Directors as presented by the 

 Managing Director, proved gratifying to 

 the Shareholders who passed a vote of thanks 

 commending the Directors upon the success 

 that had been achieved with the publica- 

 tions. The following oft'ioers were elected. 



President, W. H, Bunting, St, Cath- 

 arines, Ont, ; vice-pres., John H. Dunlop, 

 Toronto; managing director and secretary, 

 H, B, Cowan, Peterboro. 



Directors: Hermann Simmers, Toronto; 

 A, W, Peart, Burlington; Harold Jones, 

 Maitland; and P. W. Hodgetts, Toronto, 



