148 



THE CANADIAN HORTICUI-T URIST 



June, 1914 



Protpacti for a Bumper Apple Crop in an 

 E«iax County, Ont. Orchard 



Many varieties "of raspberries will do 

 well in one locality, and produce small 

 stunted plants and crumy berries when 

 grown not more than a mile away. As 

 an instance of these I might name the 

 London, though there are many others 

 with this fault that are sold at high 

 prices. — — - 



Factors in Fruit Growing 



Prof. H. A. Surface 



Avoid injury from insects by knowing 

 those that are most liable to appear, and 

 watching for them or their work. For 

 their suppression, follow the teachings 

 of the most modern entomologists. In 

 all cases, for economy of production, 

 practice the methods of prevention rather 

 than of remedy. Spray for insects once 

 when dormant, with strong lime-sulphur ; 

 for the apple aphis make this application 

 immediately after leaf buds burst ; also 

 use An arsenate with the fungicide for 

 each of the subsequent sprayings. 



THINOTNG PEACTICE 



Modern horticulture so emphatically 

 demands that the operation of thinning 

 be practiced that especial attention must 

 be directed to this process as a means of 

 (a) increasing the size of fruit, (b) obtain- 

 ing uniformity of size, (c) eliminating de- 

 fective fruits, (d) equalizing the distri- 

 bution of the load, and in consequence 

 opening the top uniformly without break- 

 ing the branches, (e) giving uniformity 

 of color, and (f) above all else, prevent- 

 ing exhaustive production this year, thus 

 making it possible to set fruit buds for 

 next year's crop, resulting in annual ra- 

 ther than biennial crops. 



Fallen or bruised fruits are prevented 

 by growing them on very low headed 

 trees, which properly brace themselves 

 with their branches ; also by picking be- 

 fore they are dead ripe. Injury from 



falling is avoided by a good mulch under 

 the trees. 



The bruising of fruit by harvesting 

 must be avoided by careful handling 

 from start to finish. Any person who 

 cannot handle fancy fruit more carefully 

 than eggs should grow only Ben Davis 

 apples and Kieffer pears. The grain bag 

 over the shoulder is still too often used 

 for picking. Pick in baskets or picking 

 buckets. Do not press, bruise, or rub 

 fruits. Handle just as little as possible. 



and keep the "bloom" on apples and 

 plums particularly, as this is one of the 

 elements in the quality we wish to pro- 

 duce. 



Finally, to obtain the highest degree 

 in quality let the fruit mature on the 

 trees. Fruits picked green do not de- 

 velop with their best flavor or color. 

 This is why, in every region, fancy 

 "home-grown fruits" are preferred by 

 consumers to those grown elsewhere and 

 picked unripe to stand shipping. 



Thinning the Apple Orchard* 



J, M. Robinson, 



THINNING should always go hand 

 in hand with spraying. The fol- 

 lowing table shows results obtain- 

 ed from twenty of the most careful 

 sprayers in ten companies of the United 

 Fruit Companies of Nova Scotia, giving 

 the per cent, of number threes obtained. 

 The percentage of poor fruit could 

 have been greatly reduced by thinning, 

 as can be seen by the figures taken from 

 thinned apples from very large trees at 

 Kingsport. This is not necessarily a cor- 

 rect comparison but is given to show that 

 the per cent, of number threes can be 

 cut down by thinning : 



1912 1913 



% % 



No. 3 No. 3 

 Gravenstein, 20 best sprayers 36 35 

 Blenheim, 20 best sprayers .15 28 

 King, 20 best sprayers ... 22 36 

 Ribston, 20 best sprayers . 25 32 

 Gravenstein, thinned (1913) . 19 



Blenheim, thinned (1913) • • 12 



Ribston, thinned (1913) ... 16 



These figures show that even though 

 thorough spraying is done we often have 

 fifteen per cent, or more of scabby and 

 defective fruit on the trees. Often too a 

 great many varieties set so full that it is 

 impossible to get a high percentage of 

 number one fruit and consequently the 

 percentage of number threes is high, 

 which generally gives poor markets. In 

 each of these cases it will pay the grower 

 well to thin. 



In paying visits to a number of or- 

 chards last season I was very much im- 

 pressed by this fact. Blenheim and Rib- 

 ston bore heavily generally and though 

 free from scab would not give good sat- 

 isfaction m packing on account of the 

 great number of small and poorly color- 

 ed specimens. If from twenty to thirty 

 per cent, of these apples had been re- 

 moved a surprising diflerence would have 

 resulted in the grade obtained. 



Again, the percentage of number three 

 and cull grade is often nearly propor- 

 tional to the percentage of scabby and 

 defective fr uit on the trees, and by thin- 



•Extract from an adarete delivered beiore 

 the members of the Nova Sootia Fmit Grow- 

 ers' Association. 



Kcntvillc, N.S. 



ning off sometimes fifteen to twenty per 

 cent of this part of our crop the grade 

 will be raised greatly and the yield not 

 materially decreased. The expense of 

 thinning moreover is not great and the 

 work is easily done. In Kingsport last 

 season large trees bearing eight to ten 

 barrels, were thinned in three quarters 

 to one hour each, or at a cost of approxi- 

 mately two cents a barrel, calculating 

 labor at twenty cents an hour. The ex- 

 tra expense in grading unthinned fruit 

 easily offsets this and the gain in grade 

 is from thirty-five cents to fifty cents a 

 barrel tree run. 



I consider thinning of great impor- 

 tance as it aids greatly in appearance, 

 which is our weakest feature in fruit 

 growing in the Annapolis Valley. Great- 

 er profits for money expended may also 

 be had from thinnSng than from any 

 other orchard operation. 



What they Cost. — It often happens 

 that when we continually hear of the 

 ravages of certain insect pests, that we 

 suddenly realize the enormous amount of 

 damage they are doing, and immediately 

 adopt measures to render their attack 

 less and less in the future. When we 

 hear in cold figures what the annual loss 

 in orchards amounts to every year, it 

 makes us "sit up and think." In the 

 year 1904, Mr. C. L. Marlatt, of the 

 U. S. Bureau of Entomology, went very -A 

 carefully into the question of what our "W 

 insects cost us, and he estimated that the 

 annual loss due to fruit insect pests 

 amounted to the enormous sum of $27,- 

 000,000. That is, twenty per cent, of all 

 fruit crops grown in the Republic to the 

 south of us is annually destroyed by in- 

 jurious insects. Some years the per- 

 centage in some districts will be as high 

 as forty per cent.— Arthur Gibson, Chief 

 Asst. Entomologist, C.E.F., Ottawa. 



Basic slag, which is a cheap form in 

 which to apply phosphoric acid, can be 

 used to advantage in large quantities by 

 crops which are gross feeders. If the 

 soil is rich in vegetable matter or acid, 

 the acids will help to dissolve the in- 

 soluble forms of phosphoric acid and 

 make them available for the plant. 



