280 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



arrant nonsense ; and surely this is not 

 justifiable. 



It is not often that persons who are 

 troubled with currant borers are familiar 

 with the habits of the little pest, and, 

 supposing this advice to have been given 

 seriously by some one who knows, they 

 may waste their time and patience sow- 

 ing salt on the ground, close around 

 each bush, two or three times through 

 the season. It is very doubtful if it 

 were sown directly on the backs, or ap- 

 plied to the tails, of the borers that 

 it would cause them the least incon- 

 venience, but sown on the ground, as 

 close to each bush as possible, it most 

 certainly would never come in contact 

 with or even very near them, and could 

 not by any possibility affect them in 

 the least. 



Once more. In the same number we 

 are told, in answer to an inquiry, that 

 the Schumaker Peach " is a free-stone 

 and ripens about with Crawford's 

 Early." Probably this is not intended 

 as a joke, but is merely a specimen of 

 the knowledge of the person who penned 

 the answer. Now, the Schumaker Peach 

 is not a free-stone, but is one of the 

 semi-clinging stones, such as the Alex- 

 ander, Amsden, Early Canada, and all 

 that class, and ripens nearly a month 

 before the Crawford's Early. 



Nor is this all. The paper answers 

 another enquirer and tells him that 

 seeds of Walnut, Ash, Catalpa and Box 

 Alder, i.e., Negundo Aceroides, "must 

 be planted in the fall or else mixed with 

 earth and put out to freeze through the 

 winter, and planted in early' spring." 

 This is just another bit of nonsense, 



quite misleading if taken in earnest. 

 There is no more need of freezing any 

 of these seeds than there is of roastinsr 

 them. In the case of the Walnut, it is 

 important that the seeds or nuts be not 

 allowed to dry, hence they should be 

 mixed with moist earth and kept moist 

 until planted, but they will grow just 

 as well if kept in that condition in the 

 cellar as if they are " put out to freeze." 

 The Ash, Catalpa and Box Alder seeds 

 ujay be kept in a paper in your drawer 

 all winter and sown in the spring with 

 just as much certainty of growing as if 

 they were mixed with earth and put 

 out to freeze. 



Having grown all these from the 

 seed and found them to germinate 

 freely when treated in this manner, it 

 seems unkind to advise a novice to take 

 so much unnecessary trouble. 



St. Catharines, Nov., 1886. 



A NOVA SCOTIA LETTER. 

 The last few mails have brought us 

 several kind letters from Nova Scotia 

 showing how wide spread is the in- 

 terest taken in our Canadian Horticul- 

 turist. Among these letters is one from 

 a very old friend of our Association 

 Mr. Charles E. Brown, of Yarmouth, 

 from which we make one or two ex- 

 tracts. Speaking of the 



SHIAWASSEE BEAUTY 



he says : — " It is surprising what a num- 

 ber of valuable varieties of apples are 

 accredited to the Fameuse as a parent. 

 Of sixty-four kinds sent me from Michi- 

 gan, the Shiawassee Beauty, a seedling 

 of the Fameuse, appeared to me the 

 most beautiful. The color is a lovely 



