THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



191 



When lye is not to be had, this mass 

 is boiled with water, but it is not so 

 good and takes longer to dissolve the 

 bones. 



I have heard it said that caustic lime 

 would dissolve bones as well as wood- 

 ashes, but I have not tried it, and can- 

 not speak from experience. — Farm and 

 Garden. 



THE ROBINSON PLUM. 

 The Kobinson plum is one of the 

 most promising of the new varieties. 

 It was first introduced to public notice 

 six years ago, when Dr. J. H. Robinson, 

 in a paper read before the Putnam 

 County Horticultural Society, described 

 the variety, highly praising its merits. 

 It was named after Dr. Robinson by 

 this society. . . J. W. Ragan, in his 

 report to Indiana Horticultural Society, 

 1881, says : "The Robinson bore one- 

 third crop of good smooth plums, 12 

 trees yielding more than 25 bushels. 

 Fruit slightly oblong, nearly round, 

 with an indistinct suture; color, a 

 pretty marbled red on a yellowish 

 ground ; flesh, when fairly ripe, very 

 fine, almost sweet ; juicy ; when cooked 

 it is one of the best (having almost no 

 trace of that bitter astringency of some 

 of the Chickasaw varieties), and very 

 rich. This is from experience. A fine 

 canning plum ; seed very small. . . On 

 the 19th of August, 1884, we went to 

 Putnam county to see this plum in 

 bearing, and there, on a Mr. Johnson's 

 place, saw two hundred trees, which he 

 planted two years ago, now six to eight 

 feet high, and loaded with the finest 

 fruit. Mr. Coleman, of same place, 

 planted eleven small trees four years 

 ago, now about two inches in diameter, 

 »'ight feet high, and the limbs weighted 

 to the ground and breaking with their 

 load of fruit. Never saw such loads of 

 fruit on small trees before ; average 

 moi-e than one bushel to the tree. One 

 tree which Mr. Coleman failed to prop 



and tie up was completely ruined 

 (broken to pieces). On single limbs 

 one foot in length twenty-eight plums 

 were counted, and where there were 

 spurs the number was largely increased. 

 The tree is a good grower and is per- 

 fectly hardy." — Prairie Farmer. 



^ 



A SMALL OUT-DOOR FERNERY. 



There are but very few small gardens 

 in the cities or in the rural districts 

 where an opportunity does not exist for 

 the making of a pretty hardy fernery. 

 The north end of the dwelling house or 

 barn may be turned to good account. 

 If the surroundings prevent the use of 

 such locations, a space behind the 

 bushes, between them and the boundary 

 fence will be found useful. Send a 

 tiny, winding walk by one of the larger 

 bushes into one of these neglected spots, 

 and let the walk emerge at another 

 convenient point. In selecting the 

 position protection must be afforded 

 from cold, blustering wind, and shade 

 suflUcient to break the direct burning 

 rays of the sun. The free growing and 

 larger species of Ferns will grow in any 

 fresh turfy soil, with an admixture of 

 sandstone grit and small stones. All 

 silly or elaborate attempts at rockery 

 making are unnecessary ; all that is re- 

 quired is a rich sandy loam well mixed 

 with the materials mentioned above. 

 When they commence to grow after 

 planting, daily sprinklings with tepid 

 water are beneficial, adding, as they do, 

 considerably to the freshness, health and 

 beauty of the young fronds. — Vick's 

 Magazine. 



EXPERIMENTAL FRUIT GROWING. 



The Abbotsford Fruit Growers* As- 

 sociation has lately made a distribution 

 of 13 trees to each of its membei-s to 

 test their value on different soils. There 

 were 315 apple trees of 52 varieties, 

 including several long keeping Russian 



