THE CANADIAN H0BTI0ULTUBI8T. 



85 



vines of all kinds require similar treat- 

 ment, save and except the Clinton, 

 which is able to endure extreme cold. 

 Durham, Grey (Jo. Yours, C. 



ACCLIMATING PLANTS. 



Can tender plants be made hardier 

 by any manner of treatment ? This 

 question is suggested by a remark I saw- 

 lately in some report (no matter where) 

 that a certain plant was yet too tender 

 for Ontario but it could be made hardy. 

 We know that animals and even human 

 beings can become inured to foreign cli- 

 mates, so that they will be no more 

 affected by climatic influences than the 

 aborigines, even if the transition be 

 from a warm to a colder climate, but in 

 no case do we find that the off-spring 

 of the foreigners can endure intense 

 cold with less protection than that of 

 the natives, who are quite as liable to 

 be frozen to death as they were cen- 

 turies ago. I have heard a great deal 

 aV>out the acclimatization of fruit and 

 ornamental trees and shrubs, yet I am 

 not aware of a single instance in which 

 any plant has become hardier, any more 

 than the potato or tomato, which are 

 just as tender now as when first intro- 

 duced. 



I have been trying to acclimate many 

 half-hardy shrubs for the last thirty-two 

 years, and sometimes a succession of 

 moderate winters encouraged me to be- 

 lieve that I had met with partial suc- 

 cess, but the hard snap of frost would 

 come and kill all down to the snow 

 line, leaving me just where I began. 

 I find the fact to be, that a few degrees 

 difference in the intensity of the frost 

 decides the matter now with all half- 

 hardy plants, just as certainly as it did 

 when I fii-st commenced to experiment. 

 I know that the condition of the 

 young wood has something to do with 

 the enduringness of some shrubs as 

 well as trees. Under certain circum- 

 stances it ripens ea^ly and is hardened 



up before the winter sets in, conse- 

 quently it will stand severer frost than 

 the young wood that has been growing 

 luxuriantly in rich moist land until late 

 in the fall. This is particularly notice- 

 able in' peach trees, which under the 

 same circumstances do not endure harder 

 frost than they did thirty years ago. The 

 same may be said of all the tender pears, 

 and of some kinds of apples. Indeed I do 

 not know of any tree, shrub or plant being 

 made hardier, however gradual the ex- 

 posure to the frost may have been. 



A long experience has convinced me 

 that trying to make tender plants hardy 

 is only a waste of time and means, so I 

 have adopted the practice of protection. 



In making this statement I do not 

 court controversy, yet I think this is a 

 subject well worthy of discussion by 

 the members of the Fruit Growers' 

 Association. I have no other motive 

 in view than that of trying to promote 

 the interests of the science. 



I presume with you, located as you 

 are between the great lakes which have 

 such a powerful influence on the climate, 

 all the Deutzias and many of the half- 

 hardy spiraeas come through ordinary 

 severe winters with comparatively little 

 injury. Here however at the foot of 

 Lake Ontario it is different. Deutzias 

 if left standing in exposed places in- 

 variably get killed down to the snow 

 line, and as it is the last year's wood 

 that produces the best flowering stems, 

 we would get but a poor show of flowers 

 under such circumstances. So now I 

 lift the plants in the autumn and heel 

 them in with their tops laid on the 

 ground, so as to be conveniently covered 

 with tree leaves and evergreen bi-anches, 

 which sufliciently protects tliem until 

 there comes a fall of snow, which is the 

 best protection of all. By this means 

 I am enabled to lift my flowering shrubs 

 in spring, in quite as good condition as 

 they were laid down in the fall, and 

 am certain of a gorgeous display of 



