CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM NOTES— XVIL 



'HIS has been a very favorable spring 

 for g-arden and orchard work. 

 There was no frost \n the ground 



^pj to delay operations when the snow 

 disappeared, and since that time the weather 

 has been all that could be expected. The 

 only frost that has been recorded since early 

 in April was on the 20th of that month, 

 when the temperature was 31.3° F. Since 

 that time there have been several white 

 frosts which the thermometer has not re- 

 corded. There were warm days during the 

 last week of April and the first and second 

 weeks of May, the highest temperature in 

 April being on the 28th, when it was 79.8° 

 F. In May the highest, so far, was on the 

 8th, when the temperature rose to 81.2° F. 

 There has been comparatively little rain dur- 

 the past month, but to-day there is a heavy 

 downfall. 



Everything is well advanced at this date, 

 May 17th, and the season is more than a 

 week earlier than last year. 



Now that the leaves have expanded and 

 the flowers are opening, a better idea can 

 be obtained of how the various trees, shrubs 

 and herbaceous plants wintered than it was 

 possible to have a month ago ; and it is 

 also much easier to predict what the crop ot 

 fruit will be. 



There were few deaths from winter killing 

 in the apple orchard and the trees are now 

 looking well. A large number of trees were 

 affected by blight last year, and while the 

 terminal growth in many cases was not 

 destroyed, the fruit spurs were killed ; as a 

 result, the crop of apples on the trees will 

 be small. Trees which were not blighted 

 and which did not fruit heavily last year 

 will probably bear good crops. The apple 

 crop on the whole will be below the average. 

 The American plums have bloomed very 

 freelv and there will likelv be a heavy 



crop of them. There will, however, be no 

 European plums, as the flower buds were 

 killed. The hardier cherries came through 

 the winter well. The flower buds on all the 

 trees, however, were practically all killed. 

 There was evidence that the bloom would 

 have been heavy, as the buds on the branches 

 near the ground which were covered with 

 snow were uninjured and there was a good 

 show of bloom. Grapes were uninjured and 

 are looking well. Some varieties of rasp- 

 berries wintered well, while others were 

 more or less injured. Golden Queen was 

 killed to the ground and Cuthbert was con- 

 siderably injured. Strange to say, the 

 Shaffer under the same conditions, never 

 looked better. The blackberries, also, came 

 through the winter betterthan usual. Straw- 

 berries are exceptionally good and thepros- 

 pects are very bright for a fine crop of this 

 fruit. Ornamental trees and shrubs are 

 looking well and the injury to the tenderer 

 things was probably about the same as 

 usual, with the exception ol some of the ever- 

 greens, which were badly browned. Trees 

 of the Ontario apple were again badly injur- 

 ed by winter. Mr. Harold Jones, of Mait- 

 land, Ont., reports that at the St. Law- 

 rence Fruit Station this variety is quite 

 hardy, and it may succeed in more 

 sheltered places near here, but is not safe to 

 plant. 



There are few early blooming shrubs 

 which are hardy here, and on this account 

 attention should be drawn to Spircea argiita, 

 a comparatively new species which is not 

 generally known, but which is very beauti- 

 ful This species somewhat resembles S. 

 thiinhergii, but is of much more graceful 

 habit and has the advantage of being quite 

 hardy. It began to blodm this year on 

 May 1 2th, when the bushes were simply 

 covered with small white flowers. Maule's 



