The Canadian Horticulturist. 6f 



Canadian apple barrel, and in return received the following, being Section i8 

 of the " Weights and Measures Act." 



1 8. All apples packed in Canada for sale by the barrel shall be packed in 

 good and strong barrels of seasoned wood made as nearly cylindrical as may 

 be ; the staves of such barrels shall be twenty seven inches in length from croe 

 to croe, with heads from sixteen and one-half to seventeen inches in diameter ; 

 and such barrels shall be sufficiently hooped, with a lining hoop within the 

 chimes, the whole well secured by nails : 



2. Every person who offers or exposes apples for sale by the barrel, other- 

 wise than in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section, shall be 

 liable to a penalty of twenty-five cents for each barrel of apples so offered or 

 exposed for sale. 



Cross-Fertilization. 



77 7. SiK, — Is there any method of cross-fertilization of fmit trees besides planting 

 them close together and leaving the blossoms to take their chance of a cross ? ' 



S. T. Pettit, Belmora. 



Yes. By artificial crossing, miich more certain results are obtained. One 

 should have a definite purpose in plant-breeding, and should select the parents 

 with a certain special object in view. The blossom to be treated is first robbed 

 of its stamens just before maturity, and pollen from the flower of another variety 

 applied to the pistil, with a camel's-hair brush. The blossom is then wrapped 

 in a muslin bag to prevent any other pollen from reaching it. An excellent 

 work on the subject of Plant Breeding, by Prof. L. H. Bailey, has recently been 

 published by MacMillan & Co., New York City. 



Raspberry Root Gall-Fly. 



778. Sir, — Would you kindly inform me through the Horticulturist, what is the 

 cause of warts growing on the roots of raspsberries ? My Cuthberts grew well and had 

 two good crops, but after that the\' stopped bearing, although the bushes still seemed to do 

 well, and after trying them two years dug them up and found all the roots badly covered 

 with warts some as large as a moderate sized bean. 



A. J. C, Listowel. 



Probably this is the work of the raspberry root gall-fly, Rhodites radicum. 

 Mr. Saunders in his excellent work on " Insects Injurious to Fruits," says : 



■' The swelling is composed of a yellow, pithy substance, scattered through- 

 out which are a number of cells, each enclosing a small te larva, the progeny 

 of the gall-fly. These soon change to papse and they ■ turn produce after a 

 time the perfect insect, which eat their way out through e substance of the gall, 

 leaving small holes to mark the place of exit. This ;all chiefly affects the 

 black raspberry ; it also occurs on the blackberry and sometimes on the roots of 

 the rose." 



Wherever these excrescences are found they should be collected and 

 burned. 



