92 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



^pril, 1914] 



Prniini in Orchard of T. W. Palmtr, Victoria, B.C. 



guishes it from all other varieties, that is 

 its adaptability to soils and location. Its 

 demands for soil conditions are few com- 

 pared with those of some of the other 

 varieties. If one were to plant Bartletts 

 as their chief crop, then Keiffer, Duch- 

 ess, Anjou and the Bosc for winter fruit, 

 they would have a good combination. 



The pear is not very exacting- as to soil 

 conditions. There is, however, one very 



important point in selecting' a location. 

 Choose a soil that will produce a slow- 

 growing tree. This is a very essential 

 factor in pear growing. Neglect to at- 

 lond to it has often spelled disaster for 

 [>ear growers. The p>ear tree should be 

 •I slow growing tree. The pear tree that 

 i^rows rapidly is very tender. This con- 

 dition is conducive to pear blight. On 

 the other hand, the slow, sturdy growing 

 tree often wards off attacks of this dis- 

 ease, and is sure to put up a stronger 

 fight for existence. 



The pruning of the tree is another es- 

 sential factor in the successful pear busi- 

 ness. The trees should be headed low, 

 with an open centre. Some growers 

 make it a practice to cut back each year's 

 growth after the tree has come into the 

 bearing stage of life. By following out 

 this method they argue that they can ob- 

 tain the fruit near the centre of the tr;e. 

 One must remember that in all pruning 

 operations, where severe pruning is prac- 

 ticed, it encourages strong wood growth. 

 This naturally increases the amount of 

 labor each year for the pruning of the 

 orchard. Some of the varieties, such as 

 the Anjou and the Bosc, are spreading in 

 their natural growth. If they are plant- 

 ed closer than twenty-three feet they are 

 apt to crowd, which will necessitate un- 

 necessary pruning. The other varieties 

 are more upright in their growth and con- 

 sequently can be put close together. The 

 distance of planting is governed by the 

 nature of the soil and variety. 



A Last Season's Test of Soluble Sulpher 



J. G. Mitchell, Clarksburg, Ont. 



SOME seven years ago I was induced 

 to experiment with what at that 

 time was considered a new spray, 

 lime sulphur. As soon as I heard 

 of this spray, I felt confident that 

 it should soon do away with the 

 troublesome bordeaux mixture. The 

 professors at Guelph said that it was not 

 safe to use as a summer spray, and prac- 

 tically forbade its use, but the splendid 

 results obtained with lime sulphur over 

 the old spray were so pronounced that 

 the following season it was strongly rec- 

 ommended by growers and professors, 

 and became the standard as a fungicide. 



However, growers have been asking 

 and hoping that some more convenient 

 way of using the sulphur spray would be 

 devised and we now have this in the lat- 

 est form called "Soluble Sulphur." In 

 my opinion it is just as much superior to 

 lime sulphur solution as the latter is to 

 the old bordeaux spray. 



In the way of convenience there is no 

 comparison. I always used to dread the 

 loading and unloading of the heavy six 

 hundred pound barrels of lime sulphur, 

 and the men would nearly go on strike 



when asked to handle it. Last vear I 

 got the spraying done for about half 

 what it cost the previous year. I used 

 two barrels of the lime sulphur solution 

 and soluble sulphur for the rest of the 

 spraying. As soon as we used the first 

 hundred pounds of soluble sulphur, I 

 could see there was no use asking the 

 men to go back to the old spray. We 

 had absolutely no trouble with nozzles 

 clogging and never had a stoppage from 

 the time we commenced using soluble 

 sulphur. 



Of course I insisted on the spray tank 

 being cleaned out every night, all the 

 water being strained, and a screen kept 

 over the feed pipe to the pump. We fill- 

 ed the spray tank about half full of water, 

 then put in our soluble sulphur, eight to 

 ten pounds to forty gallons. This was 

 well agitated by the time the tank was 

 filled. We put this spray on just as the 

 buds were bursting, in fact on some 

 trees the blossoms were nearly open. In 

 the summer spray we used from one to 

 two pounds to forty gallons of water, 

 putting the soluble sulphur in when the 

 spray tank was half full of water, and 



adding arsenate of lead last, two and a j 

 half pounds to forty gallons. Doing it 

 in this way there is ab.solutely no trou- 

 ble. Where aphis appeared in our orch- 

 ards we used nearly two pounds of solu- 

 ble sulphur to forty gallons for summer 

 spray, and only about one f>ound in or-, 

 chards where there was no aphis. Scab 

 and fungi were controlled perfectly in all 

 our orchards. I do not consider it nec- 

 essary to use the mixture stronger than 

 one and a half pounds to forty gallons, 

 except for aphis. 



Our Mcintosh Red apples were abso- 

 lutely clean and beautifully colored ; nine- 

 ty-nine apples out of every hundred went 

 into number one boxes. The Greenings 

 were just as nice, having a lovely bright 

 glossy appearance. If these varieties 

 come out in this way there is no need to 

 worry about others. We also had good 

 results in fighting aphis, having practi- 

 cally no loss from this pest, while in 

 191 2, when we used lime sulphur, our 

 loss was well up to two thousand dollars. 



It is now a recognized fact that solubl' 

 sulphur is bound to take the place of the 

 old material. It is just as eflficient as a 

 fungicide, if not better, than lime sul- 

 phur, and is so much more convenient 

 that every grower should be made thor- 

 oughly acquainted with it. 



Varieties of Currants and 

 Gooseberries * 



L. B. Henry, B.S.A., Wiaon*, Oat. 



The best varieties of black currants 

 are Naples, Champion, and Victoria. 

 The Naples is a strong, upright, vigor- 

 ous bush, healthy and very productive, 

 and the berry is large, of good quality, 

 and borne on .short clusters. It is pro- 

 bably the most widely planted in Ontario. 



The Champion is a very good variety. 

 The bush does not become as large as 

 the Naples, but it is productive and quite 

 hardy. The fruit does not ripen uniform- 

 ly, and is five days to a week later than 

 the former variety. Victoria is vigorous 

 and hardy, but from my experience is 

 not as productive as Naples or Cham- 

 pion. 



There are many varieties of red cur- 

 rants. A few of the best ones are Cherry, 

 Fay, Prince Albert, Chatauqua, Perfec- 

 tion, and Raby Castle. The Cherry is 

 the principal red currant grown in sou- 

 thern Ontario for commercial purposes. 

 The berry is large and the bunch short 

 and compact, and the bush very pro- 

 ductive. 



Fay's Prolific has been widely adver- 

 tised as superior to the Cherry, but is 

 very similar in fruit and productiveness, 

 the bunch being a little longer, but loose 

 towards the base. 



The bush of the Prince Albert is a 



•Extract from an addreeg delivered at the 

 last annual conTention of the Ontario Fruit 

 Growers' Aeeooiation. 



