iq8 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



shown at d. The space above the stock encircled by the inch of paper may then 

 be filled to the top of the paper with a puddle of soil and water, make so thin 

 that it can be readily poured from any suitable vessel. This mud protects the 

 surface of the wood of the stock, and excludes the air from the insertions. It 

 gives every advantage of wax without its objections. Of course stocks of any 

 size may be worked in this way. One, two, or any number of cions may be 

 inserted according to the size of the stock." 



I have now given an outline of the chief causes of failure in apple growing 

 in Ontario, and at the same time indicated how they may be overcome. I 

 believe in the future of apple growing in Ontario, for we can grow the finest 

 apples in the world, and our fruit is wanted. Let us grow it in that perfection to 

 which our soil and climate is so well adapted and establish a reputation for first- 

 class honest packing of selected high grade fruit and then our fruit growers will 

 be the most successful class of people in Canada. 



A NOVEL MODE OF PRUNING BLACK CURRANTS. 



In judging cottage gardens in Essex the other day I came upon a lad sitting 

 on the ground picking the currants off a bough that had been broken off by acci- 

 dent. Remarking on this comfortable method of picking Black Currants on a 

 hot day, my fellow-judge said that he had improved on that simple plan for 

 years. He prunes his black currants so soon as the fruit is ripe, and carefully 

 removes the fruiting branches to a clean packing shed or potting bench, where 

 the fruit is picked under cover in cleanliness and comfort. The major portion 

 or whole of the fruiting branches are then removed annually, the black current 

 bushes being pruned back to the young wood. The wood being thus fully 

 exposed in July, ripens thoroughly before the end of the season and produces 

 full crops of the finest fruits. Of course, for this mode of culture the single- 

 stem style of training is abolished in favour of the production of few or many 

 suckers — from six to a dozen. The bearing wood and bushes to a great extent 

 thus become annuals, and renew their youth as well as their vigour every year 



I have not hitherto adopted the early annual cutting back of my fellow 

 juror. My experience, however, in regard to the wisdom of renewing black 

 currants from suckers entirely agrees with his. His earlier and more seveie 

 pruning is also altogether in favour of the improved strength and fertility of the 

 young wood from base to summit, and his samples are most all alike good — a 

 great point in dry seasons like the present. It is no exaggeration to afifirm that 

 nine-tenths of the black currants met with this year on bushes grown on the old 

 crowded system are of no commercial value, the major bulk consisting of dry 

 hard flesh, the skins being nearly as tough as an old shoe. But notwithstanding 

 the persistent drought, the fruit on last year's shoots, where these have been 

 fairly fed without overcrowding, is of average size and full of juice. And yet 

 how many go on crowding black currants with old wood, cutting back the best 

 of the young shoots into close spurs — a mere wanton waste of vital force and 

 useful fruit.— The Garden 



