THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



market; not quite as hardy as Mam- 

 moth Cluster. 



Shaffers Colossal — A purple berry 

 of the largest size ; the bush is the 

 strongest grower of any raspberry T 

 have seen ; it is also the most produc- 

 tive and hardy. I have been favour- 

 ably disappointed in its hardiness : 

 there was no raspberiy came through 

 the past severe winter in better condi- 

 tion than Shaffer's. The fruit, if left 

 lo get over ripe, is too dark and soft 

 '<> ship well; but when picked every 



ly it looks well, especially to those 

 who know its unexcelled canning quali- 

 ties. There is none in the whole list 

 of raspberries, either red, black or yel- 

 low, that suits my taste so well with 

 cream and sugar ; it has just the right 

 proportion of acid, when combined with 

 the sugar and cream, to give that 

 S}n'ight]y flavor that causes you to al- 

 ways want one more dish of them. 



Caroline is the best yellow yet test- 

 ed ; a cap variety ; veiy productive ; 

 of quite good quality ; of a pink orange 

 color ; rather soft for shipping very 

 far. Will give fruit when others are 

 gone. 



Beehe^s Golden Prolific is not of much 

 value; of poor quality, very produc- 

 tive, medium size ; when a little over 

 ripe it turns dark, and no one wants 



buy it. Shall dig out most of that sort. 



Turner, all things considered, is the 



st early red raspberry we have yet 



-red; it always comes through the 

 inter all right ; it is good in quality : 

 1 little soft for shipping. 



Cuthbert — Best late red ; not as 

 hardy as Turner, but larger and later ; 

 quite firm ; the best market berry we 

 " ive where it will stand the winter. 



Hansell has not done much with me, 

 although T have not given it as good a 

 chance as it should have. Will give 



further trial. 



Marlboro' fruited with mo only on 

 spring-set plants ; fruit as large as 



Cuthbert, of bright red color ; quality 

 not as good as Cuthbert. 



I have a seedling red raspberry from 

 Northern Muskoka that fruited with 

 me this S(^ason on spring-set plants 

 that is very promising. It was sent 

 to me by a man who has fruited it 

 several years, and says it is the best 

 and most hardy of any he has seen. If 

 it should prove valuable you will hear 

 from it at some future time. It has 

 made a good beginning, but time alone 

 will tell its weak and strong points. 



I have several new varieties that 

 have not yet fruited enough to say 

 much about them, such as Nemalia, 

 Rancocas, etc. 



W. W. HlLBORN. 



A REPORT ON GRAPES. 

 In giving a report of my grapes it 

 win be necessary first to mention that 

 they are growing on a bed of scaly 

 limestone rock, covered with from six 

 inches to a foot of clay loam. This 

 rocky bed is intersected with fissures 

 of about six inches in width, leaving 

 large blocks of from eight to twelve 

 and fourteen feet square. The fissures 

 are filled with earth, and whenever a 

 vine or a tree gets its roots into one of 

 them the effect is soon visible. This 

 piece of ground is on the south side of 

 the Owen Sound bay, about one mile 

 fi-om the shore. Frosts do not affect 

 it as much as where there is no lime- 

 stone ; but the intense heat of summer 

 must be tempered by mulching well 

 around the roots of anything growing 

 on it. A number of years ago I plant- 

 ed on it a number of fruit trees, several 

 vines of the Isabella grape, and one 

 vine each of Kogers' Nos. 4 and 15, 

 and Salem. They all did well. The 

 Isabellas have now grown to be large 

 vines, and every year yield abundant 

 crops, but they ripen too late. Occa- 

 sionally they ripen well and are fine 

 grapes ; still one looks for a kind to 



