THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



that we have been receiving lately, gives 

 little or no satisfaction to anybody, and 

 seeing that the charges are the same as 

 on better stock, we are surprised that so 

 much common stuff has been sent for- 

 ward. 



The Comet Currant is considered 

 in the Fruit Grower, London, England, 

 as very productive, as many as twenty- 

 six berries having been counted on a 

 single bunch. The berry is of superior 

 size, and it is claimed that such a sam- 

 ple should bring about a new era in cur- 

 rant culture. 



RiBSTON Pippin. — Four samples of 

 this fruit from a very old tree, a sucker 

 from the original tree, were recently 

 sent the editor of the Gardeners' Chron- 

 icle, England, by J. McLellan, of Rib- 

 ston Hall, Gardens, Sussex. The origi- 

 nal tree was raised here from a pip sown 

 in 1709, and it was blown down in 1734. 

 The sucker has never been moved. 



The Princess Louise. Mr. Green 

 of Rochester writes as follows, concern- 

 ing this variety, which originated on our 

 fruit farm at Maplehurst years ago, a 

 chance seedling of the Fameuse : — We 

 are greatly pleased with the. Princess 

 Louise apple as fruited here this season. 

 It is a reddish apple, somewhat flattened 

 in shape, good size, very handsome, and 

 of fine quality, resembling Shiawasse 

 Beauty but darker. It is a fine apple if 

 it is correctly named. 



The Plant Distribution. Our re- 

 quest for the views of members regard- 

 ing the best use to make of the $600 or 



$700 now spent in distributing plants, 

 has brought in a large amount of corres- 

 pondence, many preferring that it be 

 spent in increasing the size and useful- 

 ness of our journal, for which it would 

 work great changes; and others, perhaps 

 the majority, preferring that we continue 

 the present system of giving each mem- 

 ber some new or valuable sort of fruit or 

 flower plant. We shall not therefore 

 make any change in the custom without 

 further consideration. 



The Journal for 1900 will appear 

 in improved form, with wider columns 

 and larger page. We hope to give our 

 readers much better value for their 

 money than in any previous year. We 

 solicit letters, notes, comments, articles, 

 and illustrations (photographic or other) 

 for January number, and bespeak the 

 hearty co-operation of all, whether pro- 

 fessional or amateur gardeners. 



Orchards in England. — Of the 

 224,000 acres of orchard in Great Bri- 

 tain returned to the Board of Agriculture 

 as arable, or grass land used for fruit 

 trees, all but 3 per cent are situated in 

 England. These acres are chiefly grass 

 land planted with apples and pears and 

 a large proportion is not producing half 

 as much fruit as it might ^der proper 

 cultivation and care. 



** This state of things," says the jour- 

 nal of the board, " has been caused by 

 various forms of neglect and mismanage- 

 ment, the primary being the selection 

 of unsuitable varieties of fruit trees and 

 indifference with regard to origin, size, 

 vigorous habit and healthy appearance 

 of the young fruit trees planted." 



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