NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



45 



half the quantity of American apples sent 

 over in 1900. The Baldwins have been 

 chiefly from Canada and Maine, very few 

 New York State Baldwins having been sent 

 forward. The finest brought 22 shillings a 

 barrel, the Canadians being always slightly 

 ahead in price. 



Canadian Snow apples are muqh valued 

 when they arrive clean, but owing to black 

 scab, they are looked upon with much 

 suspicion. Could we only succeed in grow- 

 ing them clean, and get them carried cool 

 enough to retain their crisp flesh, tliere 

 would be good money in them. 



The Newtown Pippin, known also as the 

 Albermarle, has still the preference in Great 

 Britain where it can be landed free ot scab, 

 indeed some buyers seem to think the scab 

 only a proof that it is genuine. California 

 Newtowns are being forwarded in greatly 

 increased quantities ; more than 50,000 

 bushel cases arriving in Liverpool in the 

 month of December 1901, but in quality 

 they are far behind those grown in the East, 

 the climate not being suitable for producing 

 a juicy crisp apple of high quality, and good 

 color. In consequence, it is not surprising 

 that prices declined for California Newtowns 

 from $3.00 to $1.75 per bushel box. 



The Sour Cherry is arranged in four groups 

 by Powell, Delaware Station, viz.: (i) Mont- 

 morency, (2) Morello, (3) Bruseler Braune, 

 (4) Vladimer. He recommends for trial, of 

 the Montmorency group ; June Amarelle, 

 King, Lancaster, Sklanka and Weir No. 2 : 

 of the Morello group : Double Natte, Ost- 

 heim, Wragg, Minnesota and Koslov Mor- 

 ello : *of tfae Bruseler Braune group ; 

 Besserabian and Bruseler Braune. 



The Keiffer. — A writer in the Rural New 

 York champions this much abused variety, 

 claiming that if picked in September and 

 properly ripened it is a very good pear to 

 eat, and free from grit or woodiness ; but 



when left on the tree until the last of Octo- 

 ber it changes entirely and becomes gritty 

 at the core. 



Powell, of Delaware Station, has been 

 experimenting as to the self pollenisation of 

 this variety, and concludes that it is almost 

 self sterile. He finds that, where cross- 

 fertilized, the fruit develops much more 

 rapidly and at the end of two weeks is twice 

 the size of self-fertilized fruit. He advises 

 planting every third row in an orchard of 

 some other variety than Keiffer and sug- 

 gests such varieties as Howell, Manning, 

 Duchess and Bartlett. 



An Agricultural University. — From compari- 

 tively small beginnings the Ontario Agricul- 

 tural College at Guelph has developed year 

 after year until it has reached the front 

 rank among institutions of its kind on the 

 American continent. 



The munificence of the late W. H. Mas- 

 sey in furnishing the means for the erection 

 of a library and Convocation Hall, and more 

 especially that of Sir W. McDonald, in his 

 gift of $100,000, or more, for the erection 

 of buildings in which special training will 

 be given in Nature study and Domestic 

 Science, mark a new era in its development, 

 during which it may command a position far 

 in advance of that which it now occupies. 



Dr. Mills is now visiting other institutions 

 for the purpose of gleaning from their ex- 

 perience every thing that will help toward 

 making this undertaking a magnificent suc- 

 cess, and in carrying out these plans for the 

 ultimate good of the farmers and the fruit 

 growers of Ontario. 



This is but a part of a larger plan for the 

 stimulation of education in Domestic Science' 

 and Agriculture, which has been outlined in 

 brief as follows : 



Part I of the plan is intended to give 

 object lessons of improvements in education 

 from the consolidation of five, six or more 

 small rural schools into one central graded 



