THE CANADIAN HORTI0ULTUHI8T. 



257 



goes on, and with some sort of press, 

 press the head down so that the apples 

 shall remain firm and full under all 

 kinds of handling. Apples may be 

 ))ressed too much as well as too little. 

 If pressed so that many ai-e broken, 

 and badly broken, they will soon get 

 loose and rattle in the barrels, and 

 nothing spoils them sooner than this. 

 What we want is to have them just so 

 they shall be sure to remain firm. 

 Careful shaking so as to have them 

 well settled together, has as much to 

 do with their remaining firm, as the 

 pressing down of the head. After the 

 barrels are filled and headed they 

 vshould at once be placed on their sides 

 in a barn or shed, or in piles covered 

 with boards from sun and rain, or if a 

 fruit house or cellar is handy they may 

 at once be placed therein ; the object 

 should be to keep them as cool and at 

 as even a temperature as possible. In 

 all the operations of handling apples, 

 from picking to market, remember that 

 carelessness and harshness alw.iys 

 bruise the fruit, and that every bruisi 

 detracts much from its keeping and 

 market value ; and always remember 

 that ' honesty is the best policy.' " 



THINNING FRUIT. 

 It is the tendency of every well cul- 

 tivated, healthy fruit tree, to set more 

 fruit than it can jjerfect or bring to a 

 good size. This is especially true of 

 pears, and if large, well ripened fruit 

 of this kind is desired, the fruit must 

 be thinned out well, commencing when 

 the fi'uit is the size of hazel nuts, again 

 when they are about half grown, and 

 again a couple of weeks before maturity. 

 The latter "thinning" is frequently 

 marketed, furnishing the " small boy " 

 with cramps and cholera, and the doc- 

 tors with business. In thinning out 

 the fruit, do the work carefully, re- 

 moving the smallest and imperfect ones 

 '•nly, and not like an Irishman we once 

 2 



had who commenced with the largest 

 ones, "to give the little ones a chance." 

 The thinning should be done only by 

 hand, for jarring the trees, especially 

 the pear, is apt to work injury in many 

 ways, and too often brings down the 

 best and heaviest fruit, which should 

 remain. — Farm and Garden. 



GREEN PEAS. 



TESTS WITH THE LATEST ENGLISH NOVELTIE<. 



Several years ago the Rural Ne\c 

 jror/<;er tested 27 different kinds of p3as 

 — most of them well-known — and now 

 reports upon tests made the past season 

 with 1 \ different kinds. The seeds of 

 most of them were procured from the 

 originators or introducers in England, 

 the older kinds being raised beside 

 them for purposes of comparison as to 

 yield, productiveness, habit, etc. 



The soil, a clay loam, was well fitted 

 by spading and raking, and manured 

 with chemical fertilizer at tlie rate of 

 400 pounds to the acre and a light 

 dressing of hen manure and muck. 

 The peas were planted two inches deep, 

 two inches apart, in drills three feet 

 apart. 



The object in planting the Old Phila- 

 del})hia beside Landreth's Ex. Early,. 

 was to determine how much improve- 

 ment the latter, which is now one of 

 the most popular of the easiest class,, 

 showed over the former from which 

 many of the earliest peas of to-day 

 have sprung. 



The object in planting the Little 

 Gem beside the American Wonder, was 

 to note differences which had previous- 

 ly seemed a little obscure. 



The object in planting both the Tele- 

 phone and Telegraph wius to ascertain 

 by more careful observation than had . 

 been made in tests of three years ago, 

 whether there were any marked differ- 

 ences between them. AU were plant- 

 ed (by h»nd) April 3rd. 



