NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



91 



Garcia Jacobs & Co., of London, to the im- 

 perfect nature of the cold storag^e in the 

 vessels which carried the fruit. So hopeful, 

 however, is the prospect of success in this 

 trade with Jamaica, that Sir Alfred Jones 

 has announced his intention of inaugurating- 

 a "Banana Line" of steamers between 

 Liverpool and Jamaica. 



New Cherries. — VanDeman speaks, in 

 Green's Fruit Grower, of three new cherries, 

 viz. : The Bing, the Lambert and the Cen- 

 tennial, as follows : — 



The Bing Cherry is a new variety that 

 originated with a Chinaman in Oregon by 

 that name. It is large, black when fully 

 ripe, sweet and very solid in flesh. It is an 

 early and abundant bearer and well worthy 

 general trial wherever the sweet cherries 

 flourish. The Lambert is a still newer kind 

 and less is known of its characteristics, ex- 

 cept to say that it is perhaps the largest vari- 

 ety known. It is dark, purplish red, of sweet 

 but not high flavor and a fairly good bearer. 

 The season of both these varieties is about 

 medium. Very tew of the eastern nurseries 

 have trees of either of them for sale but the 

 Bing is offered for sale by someof them. The 

 Oregon nurseries can doubtless supply trees 

 of the Lambert. The Oregon fruitgrowers 

 have found both kinds good for market pur- 

 poses. 



The Centennial cherry is a little larger 

 than the Napoleon and of the same color, 

 being light pinkish red when fully ripe, but 

 is often sent to market when yellowish with 

 a pink cheek. They are about alike in 

 flavor. 



This Fruit Export business which was so 

 encouraging to the Cape fruit growers, was 

 suddenly interrupted at the outbreak of the 

 war, when all lines of steamers were needed 

 for the carrying of soldiers and war supplies, 

 but now the Union Castle Line has again 

 begun to bring fruit from the Cape, and the 

 season for peaches will continue during the 

 months of January, February, March and 

 April. For plums the season will be about 

 the same, and the varieties so far grown at 



the Cape for the export trade is the Bur- 

 bank. This may be a hint to us in Canada, 

 for these Japans are not in very great favor 

 in our markets, and if they are in demand 

 across the sea we shall be pleased to unload 

 them on the other side. 



Golden Russet apples are just now, Janu- 

 ary 25th, bringing the highest price in 

 Covent Garden market, next to the Newton 

 Pippin. The latter sells from 25 to 35 

 shillings a barrel, and the former at from 28 

 to 30 shillings. 



Does not this point to the importance of 

 this variety which grows to such perfection 

 in the southern parts of our province, and 

 indeed succeeds well as far north as Orillia, 

 in the County of Simcoe. 



Fertilizers. — At the the Wentworth In- 

 stitute, held at Bartonville, on the 19th of 

 February, Mr. Duncan Anderson, of Orilla, 

 claimed that no commercial fertilizer could 

 equal barn manure, because the soil must 

 have humus or decayed vegetable matter for 

 the regulation of temperature and of moist- 

 ure. One ton of barn manure contains 9 

 lbs. nitrogen, 5 of phosphoric acid and 10 

 of potash, all of which can be purchased in 

 a commercial fertilizer for $1.80, but the 

 former was the most valuable because of the 

 500 lbs of vegetable matter which it con- 

 tained. 



Mr. Anderson emphasized the same points 

 dwelt upon by Prof. Jordan before the New 

 York State fruit growers — such as soil mois- 

 ture, and tillage to preserve it. "A plant," 

 said he, " has life just like an animal ; stunt 

 it at the beginning, and it never fully re- 

 covers." The following three points for 

 farmers which he gave are also valuable to 

 fruit growers : — I. It is impossible to make a 

 seed bed too fine. 2. The fertility should be 

 kept near the surface. 3. Never bring up the 

 cool, hungry sub-soil to the surface. 



Mr Cameron Gage, of Bartcynville, gave 



