70 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



that it will crack if left to get a little 

 over ripe. 



All things considered, I believe it 

 to be the most valuable gooseberry 

 that has been fully tested, for this 

 country, either for home use or market. 



Downing, fruit large very good, 

 light green, a strong grower, not as 

 productive as Smith's Improved, nor 

 as hardy, mildews with me on sandy 

 loam, but not on clay loam. Not easy 

 to propagate from cuttings, requires to 

 be layered. 



Houghton has been more largely 

 grown than all other varieties ; it is 

 small, red, very productive, and when 

 grown on young healthy bushes, on 

 good strong soil, and good cultivation, 

 it is of quite good size. 



It is so hardy and productive that it 

 is still a very valuable sort for market. 



W. W. HlLBORN. 

 Arkona, Jan. 30th, 1886. 



WINTERKILLING OF THE ROOT. 



Mr. Editor, — Allow me to add 

 something to the practical and sound 

 advice of our old and esteemed friend, 

 Mr. A. M. Smith, of St. Catharines, 

 given in November number of the 

 Horticulturist, on the subject of pre- 

 vention of root killing of fruit trees and 

 vines by exposure to extreme cold dur- 

 ing winter. It appears to me that if 

 Mr. Smith had first explained the rea- 

 son of the injury more definitely before 

 giving the preventive, his already able 

 article would have been still more effec- 

 tive in moving our fruit growers to 

 action in making use of his advice in 

 the matter. In our experience and 

 observation in the matter of grape root 

 killing, we have noticed that those 

 varieties, the roots of which are most 

 fleshy and less fibrous and wiry, are 

 more susceptible to injury in cases of 

 exposure to sudden freezing and thaw- 

 ing, from the very fact that the cell 

 structure is more easily bix)ken. Just 



as we find the potato more easily des- 

 troyed than the apple by freezing and 

 thawing on account of the lack of tissue 

 or fibre in its cell structure, so we find 

 some varieties of fruits of all kinds 

 more subject to injury from the above 

 mentioned cause than others on account 

 of the difference in the cell structure of 

 the root. Of course the varied condi- 

 tions and situations and exposure, all 

 go to give different results and degrees 

 of damage. For instance, in grapes we 

 find the Niagara root very fleshy and 

 with very little fibre, so much so that 

 when we were ploughing to our vines 

 last fall great bundles of Niagara roots 

 would gather on the plough coulter, 

 and when taken and bent between the 

 fingers would snap off in pieces half 

 inch in length without any sign of fibre, 

 while some other varieties with tougher 

 and more wiry roots could scarce be 

 broken at all. Now it is quite gener- 

 ally known that when apples, potatoes, 

 or any other vegetable with such lack 

 of tissue or fibre are frozen, that if the 

 process of such freezing and thawing is 

 allowed to occur rapidly, then the cell 

 structure is sure to be much worse in- 

 jured than if allowed to freeze and thaw 

 more slowly. If this be true theory, 

 then our friend's advice is just the 

 remedy, or rather preventive, of the 

 injury such roots are subject to. And 

 according to the old adage, an ounce of 

 prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

 So fruit growers generally will find it 

 much to their advantage to protect such 

 iJender rooted varieties by covering the 

 roots to a distance of two or three feet 

 around the base or trunk of such trees 

 or vines with coarse manure, or by 

 sowing rye thickly about the first of 

 September, after first ploughing to them 

 (as our friend, Mr. Smith, has advised), 

 and thus prevent injury by retarding 

 the process of freezing and thawing. 

 For if the cell structure once becomes 

 broken, then the passage of the sap 



