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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



THE HOLLYHOCK. 



BY M. W. M., OWEN SOUND, ONT. 



Upon a dry and withered stalk 



There sat, in bright array, 

 The last of all the Hollyhocks, 



To bloom alone and die. 



To bloom alone, when none were left 



Of all the floral band ; 

 And not a voice of summer bird 



Was heard throughout the land. 



And so, methought, we sometimes see 

 One far from friends removed. 



While yet they might have lent their aid. 

 And in affliction soothed. 



And, like the flowers, we all shall fade. 



In winter's tomb be laid. 

 Yet we in Christ shall rise again, 



In youthful bloom re-made. 

 Written for Canadian Horticulturist. 



Jfruit0. 



TIMELY HINTS. 



Manure the Orchard. — Now is the time, 

 when other work is closing up, to show 

 kindness to the fruit trees. The trees 

 have just exerted themselves in behalf 

 of their owner, and now deserve their 

 reward. Indeed, unless a* top dressing 

 of compost, or of wood ashes, is given 

 them every year or so, they will be re- 

 venged by producing small, spotted, un- 

 salable fruit. 



Cleaning up all rubbish about the trees 

 is also work for this season. Bits of 

 corn stalks, straw, or brush about young 

 trees, will encourage the depredations 

 of the mice throughout the winter. 

 These should be carefully cleared away, 

 and a mound of fine earth packed closely 

 about the trunk. Nothing will more 

 eflfectually save the trees from the de- 



predations of mice than this. Thousands 

 of trees are annually destroyed in 

 Canada every winter, in time of deep 

 snow, through neglect of this simple 

 precaution. 



The old fashioned rail fence is an abomi- 

 nation about an orchard or garden. It 

 accumulates tremendous banks of snow, 

 and every tree within twenty feet of 

 such a fence is a temptation to this 

 despicable foe, the field mouse. The 

 wire fence, properly built, is the best 

 for an orchard. Once we agreed with 

 a suggestion in the American Agricul- 

 turist that the wire should be fastened 

 on rows of trees planted in line to take 

 the place of posts ; but experience has 

 taught us that this does not pay. As 

 the tree grows, the wire is bent out 

 about the staple, and breaks frequently, 

 thus proving a constant nuisance. Good 

 cedar posts are best of all supports for 

 a wire fence. They may be set fifteen 

 feet apart, if well braced here and there. 



Keeping Winter Apples. — We frequently 

 see it stated that apples will keep their 

 fresh crisp state far better if pitted like 

 potatoes, than if kept in the cellar. It 

 is said that in Kentucky whole barrels 

 of apples are frequently stored in pits 

 in this way. A trench is dug one foot 

 deep, a layer of straw put in the bot- 

 tom, and the barrels laid in end to end ; 

 then a thick covering of alternate layers 

 of straw and earth is made, sufficient to 

 keep out the frost, and to shed the rain. 



Apples so kept are said to come out 

 wonderfully fresh and crisp, and to 

 keep much longer than by the usual 

 method. Perhaps some of our readers 

 would like to experiment, and find out 



