52 



THE CA.NADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



actual cultivation. The total loss there- 

 fore to the farmers of Ontario must be 

 upwards of $16,000,000 per annum. 

 Thos. Beall, Chairman. 



P. E. BUCKE. 



Thos. Halliday Watt. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



ENGLISH SPARROWS. 



Toronto, Jan. 28, 1882. 

 I enclose you an article taken from 

 an Australian paper concerning the 

 destructiveness of the English sparrow 

 in that Colony, and would suggest that 

 some steps be taken immediately to 

 suppress their increase in this country, 

 as the destruction by birds in this city 

 is beyond conception. Chap. 29, Sta- 

 tutes of Ontario, sec. 81, enacts that 

 " persons may destroy the robin and 

 cherry bird on tlieir own premises 

 during the fruit season." Now these 

 birds are harmless in comparison with 

 the sparrow, and yet least harmless 

 during the fruit season ; therefore by 

 adding the sparrow it would not meet 

 the requirements necessary, as the 

 sparrow is most harmful in winter and 

 spring before the blossoms have burst 

 There should therefore be added, after 

 the words cherry bird, "and may des- 

 troy the English sparrow at any time." 

 I thinlj: if the above suggestions were 

 made to some member of t\Q Ontario 

 Parliament now sitting, who is inter- 

 ested in horticulture, there would be 

 no difficulty in introducing the. amend- 

 ment. Yours, &c., 



J. NewhalIi. 



To the Editor of The Canadian Horticulturist 



Sir, — Herewith I send you an ab- 

 stract Meteoi-ological Report for Lind- 

 say for the winter of 1880-81, compared 

 with abstracts from the reports issued 

 from the Observatory at Toronto for 

 that place. 



If similar reports could be obtained 

 from several places — say from St. Ca- 

 tharines, Hamilton, London, Goderich, 

 Guelph, Owen Sound, Orillia, Peter- 

 boro', Belleville, Kingston, and Ottawa 

 — would it not furnish data whereby 

 almost positive information would be 

 furnished to intending fruit-growers as 

 to the success or non-success of culti- 

 vating certain fruits in their neighbor- 

 hood 1 For if given kinds of fruit are 

 successfully grown in a locality where 

 the climate is known, surely the same 

 kinds of fruit may be grown in any 

 other neighborhood having like climatic 

 conditions ; and, if experts fail to grow 

 certain fruits successfully in a given 

 neighborhood, novices may not expect 

 to succeed with the same varieties un- 

 der similar conditions elsewhere. 



Perhaps the publication of this re- 

 port may cause others to view this 

 subject in the same way, and possibly 

 induce others to furnish similar reports. 



I hope soon to see this subject taken 

 up by our Association, and accorded 

 that consideration its importance de- 

 serves, and an application made to the 

 Dominion Government to cause a re- 

 port, compiled from the reports, from 

 all important points, not only in On- 

 tario, but throughout the Dominion, to 

 be issued periodically from the Meteo- 

 rological Office at Toronto. A know- 

 ledge of the climate of our vast Do- 

 minion, and its possibilities for Agricul- 

 ture, Horticulture, Pomology, and pos- 

 sibly for Stock-raising, can only become 

 general by this or some kindred means. 



Much valuable information may now 

 be obtained from the Observatory at 

 Toronto, and is always willingly given 

 by the obliging officers of that institu- 

 tion, but it is scarcely probable that a 

 periodic report as indicated could be 

 issued by that already over- taxed insti- 

 tution. 



Lindsay, Ont. Thos. Beall. 



