igo 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



August, 1914. 



A Young Foster Seedling Grape. No. 2 



This grape is also in a twelve inch pot. It is car- 

 rying seven well filled bunches of fruit. This is 

 a more satisfactory method of trainine than 

 that shown in the first illustration. 



requirements of the grape at different 

 stages of its growth. During the first 

 two months leaf growth is required, and 

 the use of a nitrogenous manure, such 

 as Ammonium Sulphate, is beneficial. 

 Nitrate of Soda is not quite so safe to 

 use, especially in the case of vines grow- 

 ing in pots. Ammonium Sulphate is 

 best applied in solution at the rate of a 

 quarter of an ounce to each gallon of 

 water, twice a week. With vines grow- 

 ing in a border, the application is .some- 

 what stronger as watering is not so fre- 

 quent as is the case with pot^grown 

 vines. 



When the fruit clusters appear, the 

 tips of the laterals are usually nipped off, 

 leaving two leaves beyond the fruit 

 cluster. During the flowering period, 

 and while the fruit is .setting, feeding is 

 generally withheld, though some grow- 

 ers, with marked success, use a little 

 Muriate of Potash (KCT-) at this time. 

 With hard-wooded plants in pots. Muri- 

 ate of Potash should be used with care. 

 When the fruit has set and is about 

 the size of small garden peas, sufficient 

 leaf and wood growth should have been 

 oblained and the further use of nitro- 

 genous manures is apt to be harmful 

 to the full maturity of the fruit. 



The bunches of fruit at this period 

 are thinned by means of fine-pointed 

 scissors. The smaller berries are remov- 

 ed and the remainder are thinned in tiers 

 so that each berry will have room to 

 develop to its full size, and the whole 

 bunch ultimately develop the form of a 

 symmetrical cone hanging point down- 

 wards. .\t this lime the energies of the 



vine are engaged in the development and 

 maturing of the fruit, and the feeding of 

 phosphates and potash in available form 

 will quickly show beneficial results. 

 When the fruit ijegins to color the pro- 

 portion of potash may be slightly in- 

 creased. 



PBEOAUTION8. 

 A careful watch should be kept for any 

 appearance of red spider. This danger- 

 ous pest can generally be controlled by 

 syringing and maintaining a humid at- 

 mosphere. 



When using commercial fertilizers it 

 is well to remember that underfeeding 

 is a far safer course than liberal feed- 

 ing, as an unduly heavy application may 

 prove fatal. Lastly, certain varieties 

 arc very subject to Sun-scald and in this 

 instance the variety "F-ady Down .S«cd- 

 ling" may be particularly mentioned. 

 When any evidence of scalding appears 

 on the berries, the shading should be 

 increased, if this can be done without 

 unduly hindering other vines in the 

 same house. 



The Sod Mulch vs. Cultivation 



AN interesting controversy is now en- 

 gaging the attention of apple 

 growers across the line. A few 

 months ago a bulletin was issued by the 

 Geneva Experiment Station giving the 

 results of sod vs. cultivation on the 

 Hitchings' orchard of western New York 

 State. In this orchard the trees in sod 

 came out ahead of those under cultiva- 

 tion. The bulletin explains at length the 

 exceptional conditions that made the sod 

 mulch method a success in that particular 

 case. Later an article appeared in The 

 Country Gentleman dealing with the ad- 

 vantages of the sod mulch, particularly 

 for hilly land. 



In the article mentioned reference was 

 made to the work of the Ohio Experi- 

 ment Station to solve the problem of suc- 

 cessful orcharding on the hills of south- 

 eastern Ohio. There the great difficulty 

 is to prevent the land from washing. The 

 sod mulch system proved to be the solu- 

 tion. The manner in which one particular 

 orchard was treated is summarized in 

 the following paragraph. 



"From those hills the humus had been 

 farmed out and in summer the land dried 

 out as hard as a board. The soil was 

 so poor that cover crops would not grow. 

 Some trees had not made any growth in 

 fifteen years. In 1910 the trees were 

 mulched with straw and in 191 1 each 

 tree got five pounds of nitrate of soda 

 and five pounds of acid phosphate. They 

 made one and a half feet of growth. In 

 1912 and 1913 one thousand pwunds per 

 acre of a mixture of two parts nitrate 

 of soda, two parts acid phosphate and 

 one part of muriate of potash was ap- 

 plied. Another orchard was mulched 

 with straw but received no fertilizer, .it 

 yielded only one-fifth the crop of the fer- 

 tilized orchard. But straw was expen- 

 sive so the land was allowed to go to 

 grass which was then cut and allowed 

 to lie on the ground. This was effective 

 at the same cost as straw at six dollars 

 a ton." 



Continuing, the writer of the article 

 states: "The experimenter in the case 

 of the Hitching's orchard says in his 

 bulletin that the grass mulch trees were 

 hungry. On the other hand he gave the 



cultivated trees nitrogen in the form of 

 clover which he plowed under. He 

 didn't even up the race by giving the 

 mulch trees some of the nitrogen they 

 needed. Nor did he try any legume as a 

 form of grass mulch ; he let it go at 

 orchard grass. There are many legumes 

 that would be suitable. 



"Available plant food is the vital 

 thing; cultivation is a detail, not a fun- 

 damental. Available plant food may 

 come at times without cultivation and by 

 easier and cheajjer methods. Cultiva- 

 tion is merely one way of feeding the 

 tree. Give a tree plenty to eat and it 

 will do lots of things — carry apples 

 through moderate freezing for instance, 

 and also weather surprising drought. 



"On sandy soils the mulch system 

 might be a failure and in dry farming 

 areas cultivation is a necessity. But the 

 .sod mulch has many advantages. Mr. 

 Hitchings manages the tillage end of one 

 hundred acres of apples easier than he 



Black Hamburg Grapes. No. 3 



This vine i.-? carryiutr only four bunches. In 



weight of fruit they will probably cQual the 



nine Alicante clusters. In quality they will far 



surpass them in &a.y<n, ^iie and apipearanoe. 



