»34 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



June, 191 r 



application is made with care — one appli- 

 cation will usually do if the vineyard h'js 

 been well treated in the past, and this 

 should be made when the grapes are of a 

 fair size. Though some specialists advo- 

 cate at least three, I have found these 

 additional sprayings unnecessary. Poi- 

 son may be added, preferably in the form 

 of lead arsenate, and the spray must be 

 applied, not only to both sides of the 

 vines, but also through the interior. Such 

 application can only be given by hand. 

 Driviftg a power machine between the 

 rows is not good business, though more 



speedy. Speed, however desirable, is not 

 everything. Thoroughness and care in 

 the work, combined with timeliness, is 

 the essence of success. 



It must he borne in mind that some var- 

 ieties of grap)es are more susceptible to 

 disease than others, that the location of 

 some vineyards invite disease to the vines 

 in a greater measure than in other locali- 

 ties. Accordingly the treatment found 

 effective in one vineyard may require mod- 

 ification in another. It therefore de- 

 volves upon the vine-dresser to use judg- 

 ment for his own salvation. 



Orchard Observations 



J. H. Hire, R< prucntativc of the Departmeit of A|ricDltnrc, Wbilbf, Oat. 

 NTEREST in fruit growing has been 



appearance of small crescent shaped cuts 

 which are made by the female hopper in 

 depositing her eggs. 



CULTIVATION THK REMEDY 



One of the best methods for its control 

 is the practice of clean cultivation. Th< 

 insect does not feed upon the leaves of 

 the trees. Its only means of sustenance 

 is the grass and weeds found in and 

 about the orchard. The logical remedy, 

 therefore, is to deprive the insect of its 

 food supply by keeping down weeds and 

 grass in the early part of the season. 

 Where this is done, attacks seldom oc- 

 cur. The cultivating need not be con- 

 tinued so late as to prevent the practice 

 of cover cropping. 



I greatly aroused in this district bor 

 dering Lake Ontario. The practice 

 of scraping and pruning has been much 

 more general than heretofore. While 

 the most of this work has been perform- 

 ed to good advantage, a few comments on 

 improper methods might be of value to 

 the readers of The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist. One of the chief mistakes noticed 

 has been the pruning of large trees so 

 as to leave the limbs to some extent bare 

 of branches and fruit spurs, leaving sim- 

 ply a small bunch of branches at the ends 

 of the limbs. In this case what fruit is 

 produced is borne on the ends of the 

 limbs, which renders picking and .spray- 

 ing difficult and expensive, and where 

 high winds occur much of the most valu- 

 able fruit is readily blown off. Such trees 

 should be headed back severely, in order 

 to produce new branches or suckers, 

 which may be trained into new bearing 

 wood, and in order to lower the tree so 

 that spraying and picking of the fruit 

 may be done more economically. 



In many places fruit growers have a 

 mistaken idea of the purpose of scraping 

 of trees. Their efforts seem to be direct- 

 ed to getting off as many of the scales of 

 the oyster bark louse as possible. 



SOEAPING TREES 



In waging war against these unnum- 

 bered foes the combattant effects many 

 wounds which not only injure the vital- 

 ity of the tree, but subjects it to the at- 

 tacks of fungous diseases, chiefly the 

 Black Rot or Canker Trees should only 

 be scraped sufficiently to remove the out- 

 side rough bark, which will prevent in- 

 sects obtaining protection under the bark 

 and allow the various spray mixtures to 

 completely cover all of the trunk and 

 branches, so that no part of their suf- 

 face will be left open to the attack of 

 disease, and that not a single scale of the 

 bark louse will miss being covered with 

 the application. 



During the spring and early summer 

 both young and old orchards should re- 

 ceive thorough cultivation. For the first 

 two or three years in young orchards a 

 single cultivator strip, worked up fre- 



quently on each side of the row is suf- 

 ficient. The width cultivated should 

 of course widen as the branches 

 of the trees extend. It is as a result of 

 this practice, together with more liberal 

 applications of fertilizers that British 

 Columbia and Nova Scotia growers are 

 aiile to get a much more rapid growth in 

 their young trees. 



A further observation is the finding 

 of young trees in uncultivated orchards 

 badly infested with the Buffalo Tree Hoo- 

 per. In many cases is the injury so seri- 

 ous that the trees have been almost ruin- 

 ed. These insects do little or no harm 

 by direct feeding but utilize the twigs 

 and branches of the young trees as places 

 of deposit for their eggs in such a way as 

 to kill or severely stunt its growth. The 

 work of this pest can be identified by the 



In cold climates the cover crop should 

 be sown much earlier than in southern 

 latitudes, so as to ensure the proper rip- 

 ening of the wood. While it is probable 

 that the latter part of July or the first of 

 August would be early enough for south- 

 ern Ontario, in northern Ontario and 

 Quebec, the land should be plowed as 

 early as possible in the spring and the 

 cover crop sown at least a month earlier, 

 by the end of May or the middle of June. 



I have had excellent results from two 

 sprayings with lime-sulphur, one with the 

 strong solution, when the trees are dor- 

 mant, the other dilute, when the blos- 

 soms have fallen. I obtained ninety per 

 cent, perfect fruit, when other years the 

 apples were largely unmarketable.— L. 

 Wolverton, Grimsby. 



An Orchard Meeting in a Nova Scotia Orchard 



The system of instruction that is proving so euccossful in other provinces, that of holding 

 meetings in orchards for the consideration of matters relating to fruit growing and where 

 they can best be illustrated, has been followed with much success in Nova Scotia. The illus- 

 tration shows those who attended an orchard meeting in the orchard of Mr. Frank Fowler, 

 near Bridgetown, N.S. Mr. Fowler and his children may be seen in the centre. Now that an 

 increased interest in the growing of fruit is manifest throughout Canada, more of these 

 meetings might well be held. 



