90 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST, 



way to arouse local enthusiasm, with a view 

 of making our next annual meeting- a great 

 success at Walkeiton. 



Peach Leaf Curl is a much more serious 

 injury to the peach tree than is generally 

 supposed. Few of us suspected that we 

 were losing much from peach curl except a 

 portion of the current year's fruit crop, but 

 Pierce, of California, has proved that we 

 lose also in the growth and vigor of the 

 tree, and in the development of fruit buds 

 and fruit spurs. For example, on ten trees 

 sprayed in 1893 there was an average of 

 about 2,800 fruit buds per inch of old wood, 

 and on those unsprayed about 2,600, or a dif- 

 ference in favor of the sprayed trees of about 

 seven per cent. Besides this he found a 

 great many of the fruit buds produced on 

 the sprayed trees so poorly developed that 

 no fruit could be expected from them. For 

 example, at the close of the season of 1893, 

 he found the average number of imperfectly 

 developed fruit buds on the sprayed trees to 

 be 0.944 per lineal inch of old wood, while 

 on the unsprayed trees the average per inch 

 of old wood was 1.249; or 32 per cent, 

 more imperfect fruit buds on the unsprayed 

 than upon the sprayed trees. 



Increased Value of Peaches Sprayed. — 



Pierce's experiments still further point to 

 the great importance of treating the peach 

 orchard either with Bordeaux, or with the 

 lime and sulphur mixture, which seem to be 

 of nearly equal value. He compares the 

 value of spraying for increasing the quant- 

 ity and quality ot fruit, as determined by the 

 cash value of such fruit when matured. 

 To do this he reduces the results to the 

 average net gain per cent, of the sprayed 

 trees of each treated row over those of the 

 adjoining unsprayed row. In one sprayed 

 row, for example, the average calculated 

 value of all fruit set per tree, when matured, 

 was about $12.00 and in the adjoining un- 



sprayed about $3.00, showing an excess of 

 about $9.00 in favor of the sprayed row. 

 Some other rows so treated showed a very 

 much larger net gain. 



The " heightened color of the peaches 

 sprayed with copper salts was very evident 

 in those same experiments, which of course 

 will be an element in the increased value of 

 the sprayed fruit. 



The saving in the cost of picking the fruit 

 from the sprayed trees was another element 

 to be counted. To gather a ton of peaches 

 from the unsprayed trees cost $3.00 per 

 ton, while from the sprayed trees it only cost 

 about $1.00 per ton ; a saving of $2.00 per 

 ton, because of the less amount of tree and 

 orchard surface to be gone over to gather a 

 certain amount of fruit. 



South African Peaches in England. — The 



South African war has temporarily checked 

 a formidable rival of Canadian fruit growers 

 in the British markets, especially in the line 

 ot tender fruits such as peaches and plums. 

 Fortunately, however, these fruits are mar- 

 keted at an entirely different season from 

 those grown in Canada, and reach Covent 

 Garden in January and February, when we 

 have no peaches to ship ; so that the rivalry 

 will always be of a friendly nature. 



So long ago as 1896 Cape Colony began 

 to wake up to her great capabilities for iihe 

 production of peaches for export to Great 

 Britain and in 1897 the second consignment 

 by the *' Roslin Castle " was sold in Covent 

 Garden on the 9th and loth of January. 

 There were. 709 cases of peaches, and these 

 were readily sold at from seven to twelve 

 shillings per box of twenty fruits, the higher 

 prices being for freestone peaches and the 

 lower for clings. 



Jamaica is exporting bananas to Great 

 Britain but the voyage is long and so far the 

 fruit has not arrived in good condition, 

 partly owing, in the opinion of Messrs. 



