CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM NOTES. 



57 



Pruning. — I now prune my bushes in the 

 fall, after the leaves have fallen, or are dead. 

 All suckers, except from two to three for 

 renewal, are cut away. I have had very few 

 of these to cut away this fall. From six to 

 eight stems are left to a bush and these 

 stems are cleaned of all branches one third 

 the way up. The heads are then thinned 

 out so that the hand can be pressed freely 

 among- the branches without being torn. 

 Each of the stems has now the appearance 



of a little tree. In the month of June all 

 suckers are cut away except renewals and 

 the heads again thinned, cutting the branches 

 close to the stem. 



Questions relative to mildew, comparison 

 of varieties, etc., will be answered in the 

 near future by your permission. Of course 

 I shall be pleased to have the opinion of 

 others upon this subject of the " Falling of 

 Gooseberries." 



CENTRAL EXPERIMENTAL FARM NOTES.— XX. 



BY PROFESSOR W. T. MACOUN, OTTAWA. 



'INTER set in here on November 

 14th, and four inches of snow 

 fell on that date. This has been 

 gradually increasing in depth 

 until now there is more than a foot on the 

 ground, making a fine cover for herbaceous 

 plants and protecting the roots of trees and 

 shrubs. The weather on the whole has been 

 fine and moderately cold. 



Lime Wash. — We recently made the final 

 inspection of the trees sprayed with lime- wash 

 last winter for the eradication of Oyster shell 

 bark louse, and with few exceptions very few 

 scales were left on the trees. This has 

 proven a very satisfactory remedy here and 

 is so cheap and simple in preparation that 

 it should be used by all fruit growers whose 

 trees are infested with bark lice. The ex- 

 periments tried last winter were with two 

 pounds of lime to one gallon of water, and 

 with one pound lime to one gallon of water, 

 and also with the addition of one pound salt 

 to five gallons of water. As a result of 

 these experiments it has been found that if 

 the lime s fresh and good, one pound to 

 one gallon of water is a sufficiently strong 

 mixture to use. The addition of one pound 



of salt to five gallons of water made the 

 trees brighter and cleaner looking, but it 

 was not found to be necessary in removing 

 the scales. The mixture should be applied 

 in the autumn or early winter. 



Sunscald. — One of the most serious ob- 

 stacles to successful apple culture in Eastern 

 and Northern Ontario, in the province of 

 Quebec, in some parts of Nova Scotia and 

 New Brunswick, and probably to a limited 

 extent on Prince Edward Island, is what is 

 commonly known as sunscald. The usual 

 form, and that which does most injury in 

 these parts of Canada, is first noticed during 

 the spring or early summer. Trees which 

 have not been long planted are usually most 

 affected by it, but older trees do not escape 

 it. The unhealthy appearance of the bark 

 and wood, on the south and south-western 

 sides of the trunk of the tree and on the 

 larger branches, is the first indication of the 

 injury. Afterwards the bark dries up and 

 falls away. Trees are often so badly affected 

 that they die. This injury occurs during 

 the latter part of winter or very early in 

 spring. It is generally supposed that it is 

 caused by the alternate thawing and freezing 



