94 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



April, 1913 



A Combination Raspberry-Strawberry 



Soe descriptive article on this i>a.ge- 



these diseases, and I cannot urge too 

 strongly upon peach growers the neces- 

 sity of destroying promptly every diseas- 

 ed tree in their orchards whether marked 

 by an insf)ector or not. I regret to say 

 that while this is being done conscien- 

 tiously in some districts, in others the 

 growers, even some of the leading men, 

 are very careless and indifferent and do- 

 ing little or nothing towards encourag- 

 ing thorough work in their districts. 



A Raspberry-Strawberry 



Eight years ago Mr. J. E. Hopkins, 

 of 35 Kippendavie Avenue, Toronto, 

 started an attempt to produce a fruit 

 that would combine the desirable quali- 

 ties of the raspberry and strawberry. 

 For two years he worked, and there was 

 very little to show for it, but at the end 

 of four years there was a little bloom, 

 and the plant began to assume the shape 

 of a bush. At six years the bloom again 

 appeared, and a small, half-matured 

 fruit appeared, but never developed or 

 ripened. 



Last year, about August the first, the 

 fruit began to appear plentifully and 

 hung in great clusters on the bushes, 

 and later matured and ripened. 



The bushes are about eighteen inches 



in height. The branches have thorns 

 similar to the common garden raspberry, 

 but the bushes are unlike the raspberry, 

 as they have branches more like a tree. 

 The leaf resembles the strawberry leaf, 

 except for a deeper marking where the 

 veins are and probably a little greater 

 length than the strawterry leaf. 



At first sight the fruit looks like over- 

 grown raspberries, but it has not the 

 number of seeds that there is in the rasp- 

 berry. The outside of the berry is 

 smoother than the raspberry, and the 

 color is more of a brilliant red. The 

 flavor is a mixture of both the rasp 

 berry and the strawberry, and the shape 

 of the fruit is something like that of the 

 raspberry. Mr. Hopkins has several 

 hundred plants, and already has been 

 offered a considerable sum for them. 



Two years ago when I had an order 

 for five barrels of No. i apples I could not 

 fill it out of thirty-five acres of orchard, 

 and had to go out and buy them. Last 

 year 1 sprayed three times, once with 

 lime-sulphur and twice with Bordeaux, 

 using three pounds of arsenate of lead to 

 fifty gallons, and obtained ninety per 

 cent, number ones. — L. Wolverton, 

 Tirimsby. 



Window Boxes 



H. Gibson, Fergns, Ont. 



For many city dwellers the window 

 box is the only substitute for a flower 

 garden. Many out-of-town residents also 

 are glad to bring the beauty and frag- 

 rance of the garden a little closer to their 

 daily round of duties. Many a time a 

 tired woman who could not find time or 

 is too weary to visit the garden, is re- 

 freshed and cheered by lingering for a 

 moment over a flower in the window. 

 Even the poorest in our cities can bring 

 a little of beauty and brightness into 

 their lives by having a few flowers in a 

 window boy which ran be constructed so 

 cheaply that all can aff^ord it. Therefore 

 the growing of flowers in boxes should 

 be encouraged everywhere and especially 

 among the poorer classes, to whom the 

 possibility of a real garden is a thing not 

 to be dreamed of. 



MAKING A WINDOW BOX 



The lumber of a window box should 

 be cut the length of the window sill, 

 about a foot wide and from ten to twelve 

 inches deep. The price of lumber should 

 be no barrier to anyone wishing to have 

 a window box. The local grocery store 

 might furnish a box free that with very 

 little trouble could be converted into an 

 ideal article for this purpose. When fin- 

 ished it should be so secured "that It 

 cannot fall or be blown down by the 

 wind. 



Before commencing to plant anything 

 in the box a number of small holes should 

 be bored in the bottom to drain off' sur- 

 plus water. Over the holes place pieces 

 of crock,- (i.e., broken pots) to prevent 

 the soil from clogging. Use good sweet 

 loam to which has been added a liberal 

 sprinkling of bone meal Place the 

 rougher parts of the compost over the 

 crock, cover the earth with a thin layer 

 of moss or hay, and then fill up to within 

 an inch of the top with the finer soil. 

 The moss serves the double purpose of 

 retaining moisture, and preventing the 

 finer particles of soil from working their 

 way down to the bottom of the box, and 

 there clogging the drainage. 



Among plants best adapted for culti- 

 vation in window boxes are geraniums, 

 in variety, fuchsias in variety, begonias, 

 petunias, heliotropes, lobelias, nastur- 

 tiums, plumbagoes and pansies, for flow- 

 ers : German ivy, hysimachia and money- 

 wort for trailers. 



For foliage plants, the following will 

 meet most requirements : Dracaenas, 

 coleus, Solleroi geranium, ferns in vari- 

 ety, aspidistra and achyranthes. 



The begonias and pansies will thrive 

 where there is a great deal of shade. The 

 petunias and nasturtiums, too, will fur- 

 nish both flowers and foliage, and the 

 latter is not at all particular whether it 

 is trained up the sides of the window or 

 allowed to droop over the side of the 

 box. 



