256 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



November, 191 



which cau& s numerous destructive can- 

 kers on the smaller branches and twigs. 

 The spores of this disease spread in the 

 autumn and germinate during or short- 

 ly after the fall rains. Therefore to 

 prevent their germination the plant 

 pathologists recommend that the trees be 

 sprayed about the time these rains are 

 due, which seems to be early in October, 

 and again as soon as the leaves fall or 

 the crop is oiT. We have no Apple An- 

 thracnose disease in Ontario. It is be- 

 lieved that the earlier of these applica- 

 tions helps to prevent fresh attacks of 

 apple scab in autumn, but it is not 

 claimed by such a reliable authority as 

 Prof. Cordley, of Oregon, that this alone 

 will control apple scab for the rest of 

 the season. He practises the same 

 spring and summer sprayings as we do. 



Thus, the main reason for fall spray- 

 ing in the west, does not exist in On- 

 tario. We should, moreover, remember 

 that the climate of the Pacific coast is 

 much different from ours, and what may 

 be necessary there may not be either nec- 

 essary or desirable here. No harm, of 

 course, could come from fall spraying 

 in Ontario and anyone desiring to test it 

 is running no risk. It certainly des- 

 troys many of the insects that a spring 

 application would kill, and where an or- 

 chard is badly infested with Blister Mite 

 or San Jose Scale or Oyster-shell Scale, 

 it could be practised with much benefit 

 until these were brought under control, 

 but its proper place, in my opinion, is to 

 supplement in this way and not to dis- 

 place the. early spring application. The 

 proper mixture to use is lime-sulphur of 

 the ordinary spring strength, without 

 any arsenate of lead. 



We should not forget that any sys- 

 tem of spraying can be made more effec- 

 tive by proper pruning of trees and by 

 careful cultivation of the orchard in the 

 early part of the season, followed by a 

 cover crop to prepare the wood for win- 

 ter. These things help to make the trees 

 themselves healthy, and allow a free cir- 

 culation of air and plenty of sunlight, 

 all of which are important in the con- 

 trol of insects and diseases. The de- 

 struction of fallen fruit by hauling it to 

 the evaporator or in any other way, is 

 one of the best things that can be prac- 

 tised if we want clean apples. 



Locating Little Peach 



A Niagara district fruit grower wrote 

 recently to the United States Department 

 of Agriculture at Washington to find if 

 it is possible to determine the presence of 

 little peach on trees planted out last year. 

 In its reply the department states it is 

 possible, though the identification would 

 not be very positive. The difficulties in 

 a positive identification come from the 

 presence of other diseases, such as the 

 black peach aphis, eel worms on the 



roots, borers, sour soil, nitrogen starva- 

 tion and other weaknesses. If none of 

 these troubles are present, or, if upon 

 examination one can make reasonably 

 certain of their absence, then the little 

 peach cases stand out pretty clear. 



"We have," writes the pathologist, 

 Mr. M. B. Waite, "used the buds from 

 trees affected with little peach more than 

 the one-year nursery trees which show 

 the symptoms a little but not very de- 

 cidedly. These were transplanted on to 

 rich ground here at Washington, where 

 they developed the symptoms, though in 

 rather moderate degree, during the first 

 year's growth in the orchard. The trees 

 lived along for several years, becoming 

 more and more marked. This is equally 

 true of peach yellows. Of course to be 

 absolutely positive one would perhaps 

 have to wait for the fruit, as the leaf 

 symptoms of little peach are somewhat 

 similar to yellows, and not always easily 

 distinguished from the symptoms caused 

 by the other diseases named." 



Apple Packing in British 

 Columbia* 



In British Columbia every man owns 

 his own packing house. When ihe 

 pickers are started in the morning one 

 man goes down with a load of bo;es, 

 scattering them along the trees as he 

 goes. On his return he picks up the 

 filled ones, takes them to the storehouse 

 and returns and comes back with an- 

 other load of empty ones. By this means 

 there is no waste time. 



The apples are picked in galvanized 

 iron buckets with canvas bottoms. The 

 bottom is held together with a draw- 

 string which is loosened and the apples 

 come out the bottom of the bucket, thus 

 preventing any bruising. Low truck 

 wagons are used for drawing the apples 

 to the storehouse. The apples are grad- 

 ed in three grades — -culls, fancy, auj 

 choice. 



No man is allowed to pack his own 

 apples. The packer who is sent by the 

 association is solte judge of what should 

 go in the box. In this way the grower 

 has nothing to say about the grading, 

 and to this factor is very largely due the 

 high reputation of British Columbia 

 apples for their uniform grade. 



The organization of the Hood River 

 Apple Growers has increased the price 

 of the apples to $2.10 per box f.o.b. The 

 price has not been less the last five or 

 six years. The apples are sold f.o.b. 

 station. The association formerly ad- 

 vertised for buyers, but now each grow- 

 er estimates his yield and signs up his 

 association for his entire crop. Last 

 year 80,000 boxes were sold to one man. 

 The stamp on the boxes guarantees the 

 Hood River reputation, wherever the 



•Extracts from an address given at the Quelph 

 Agricultural College Short Course by Mr. A. B. 

 Campbell. 



apples are eaten. The association gives 

 an absolute guarantee that every box or 

 package is honestly packed. 



The number of apples in the boxes 

 vary according to the size of the apples 

 from one hundred to one hundred and 

 fifty. A car will hold six hundred and 

 forty boxes. Everything that goes east 

 is wrapped in paper. The spring in the 

 box amounts to a half or three-quarters 

 of an inch on both the top and bottom. 

 Experience has shown that the best 

 pack is where the stem comes imniedi- 

 ately above the calyx of the apple below. 

 In this case the paper forms a cushion 

 between the apples. 



Many eastern people obtain a wrong 

 impression of the apple when they see 

 the exhibition packed boxes. The 

 growers estimate that an exhibition will 

 cost them from fifty cents to seventy-five 

 cents each, while the regular rate paid 

 the packers for putting up the commer- 

 cial boxes is seventy-five cents apiece. 

 Mr. Campbell produced eight thousand 

 boxes, of which seventy-five per cent, 

 were fancy, the balance choice, with the 

 exception of about seventy-five boxes. 



DEFINITION OF GRADES 



The grades are as follow: Fancy, 

 seventy per cent, good color, free from 

 blemishes, no fungus, good shape ; 

 choice, two fungus spots, or two stings, 

 not open, are allowed, no limit in color. 

 Mr. Campbell obtained by spraying 

 three times an almost perfect crop of 

 apples, as only one-tenth of one per cent, 

 were graded as culls. 



The trees were sprayed three times: 

 Once in the fall, as soon as the apples 

 were picked, with the Bordeaux mixture, 

 6-6-50. In the spring they were again 

 sprayed with the same application, and 

 then again with lime-sulphur and 

 three pounds of lead arsenate to the bar- 

 rel of the mixture. 



PACKING 



On British Columbia apple ranches, 

 everything moves like clockwork. The 

 apples are brought in to well lighted 

 sheds and emptied out on a packing 

 table, four feet wide by six feet long. 

 Four packers are at each table and 

 sort the different sizes out at the same 

 time. By this means there is much less 

 bruising than there is where a less num- 

 ber are working and where the different 

 sizes are not all packed at the same 

 time. The packers are held responsible 

 for the work, and are paid thirty-five 

 cents an hour and their board. The 

 grower gets the entire produce of the 

 apples, with the exception of ten cents 

 a box, which is deducted to pay ex- 

 penses. 



In grapes I grow the Concord and Ni- 

 agara, and spray twice with Bordeaux to 

 prevent the rot. — L. Wolverton, Grims- 

 by, Ont. 



