THE CANADIAN H0RTICULTUBI8T. 



279 



[There are no doubt some advantages 

 in pruning grape vines on fine days in 

 the fall or early winter before severe 

 cold has come. March in Canada is a 

 very unpleasant month for the work ; 

 and if cut in April there is much loss 

 .of strength in "bleeding." But we 

 much question the loss of vigor from 

 the cause mentioned by our exchange. — 

 Ed.] 



THE GOLDEN QUEEN. 



Mr. W. W. Hilborn, of Arkona, O., 

 writes as follows concerning the Golden 

 Queen Raspberry, and we are glad that 

 some one in Canada is giving ^it a fair 

 trial, so that we know for a certainty 

 whether it is adapted to our climate. 

 Mr. Hilborn says : — 



"The Golden Queen has not been 

 gi'own in Canada long enough to know 

 how it will stand our winters. I planted 

 two hundred of them last spring. They 

 grew well, and bore quite a quantity of 

 very fine fi-uit, about the size of the 

 Cuthbert, and the nearest approach to 

 Brinckle's Orange in quality of any 

 yellow raspberry I have seen. 



" They resemble Cuthbert in habit of 

 growth, leaf and cane, except that they 

 are lighter in color. Should they prove 

 to be hardy they will, no doubt, be the 

 best yellow raspberry we have." 



NONSENSE. 



(A humorous letter from Mr. D. W. Beadle.) 



Mr. Editor, — Do you not think it 

 desirable that our horticultural papers 

 should place their funny paragraphs in 

 a column having an indicative heading, 

 such as " FACETiiE," or something of the 

 kind, and not scatter them promiscu- 



ously through the paper in such a 

 manner that the unwary reader might 

 mistake the paragraph for downright 

 earnest 1 It is certainly allowable in 

 an agricultural or even horticultural 

 periodical to print nonsense occasion- 

 ally, for you know 



' ' A Httle nonsense now and then 

 Is relished by the wisest men," 



yet, unless properly headed, it may 

 sometimes become misleading. For in- 

 stance, I read the other day, in a very 

 popular gardening paper, that we should 

 " instead of selling old cast-iron at half- 

 a-cent per pound, put small pieces near 

 the roots of grapes, currants, goose- 

 berries, and fruit trees ; it is very bene- 

 ficial." As a bit of facetiousness, this 

 is all very well, but as a piece of prac- 

 tical utility it is sheer nonsense. It is 

 hardly possible to find a soil in which 

 there is not already a super-abundance 

 of iron, so far as that mineral is re- 

 quired by vegetation ; and the planting 

 of small pieces of cast iron near the 

 roots of trees is a veritable " carrying 

 of coals to Newcastle." 



Again, in the same paper, we find 

 the inquiry, " What can be done to 

 prevent the ravages of the currant 

 borer?" answered as follows : "Scatter 

 salt, say a teaspoonful, close around 

 each bush two or three times through 

 the season." This surely must be in- 

 tended for a huge joke. It is a forcible 

 reminder of the advice so often given 

 to the small boy who is trying to catch 

 a bird, namely, to "put salt on his 

 tail." Yet this answer is printed in 

 such a manner that the unsuspecting 

 reader might be entirely misled by the 



