lOO 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



also be auother entry for the " best seedling 

 variety." This would encourage the bring- 

 ing out of local seedlings, which often prove 

 •more valuable for a particular locality than 

 some of the older named sorts. The prize 

 in this case should not be awarded, however, 

 unless the seedling is deemed worthy of pro- 

 pagation. 



6. The rules for the abbreviation of the 

 names of varieties advocated by the American 

 Pomological Society are worthy of adoption in 

 Canada. This would not only greatly simpli- 

 fy the lists, but would be a very desirable 

 education in the proper naming of varieties. 

 For example, we would then have : 



Blenheim, not Blenheim Orange or Blen- 

 heim Pippin. 



Colvert, not Culvert or Culbert. 



Fameuse, not Snow. Grimes, not Grimes' 

 Golden. 



Hubbardston, not Hubbardston's Non- 

 such. 



King, not King of Tompkin's County. 



Ribston, not Ribstone's Pippin or Ribs>- 

 town Pippin. 



Anjou, not Beurre d'Anjou. 



Duchess, not Duchess d'Angouleme, etc. 



7. In every prize list, the classes and names 

 of varieties should be arranged alphabetically. 



This is in itself a small matter, but it has 

 befen almost entirely overlooked in the lists, 

 as, with but one or two exceptions, nearly 

 all of the many lists examined have made no 

 attempt at alphabetical arrangement. This 

 would take but little extra time when pre- 

 paring the lists for the printer, and would 

 aggregate an immense saving of time and 

 annoyance and mistakes on the part of the 

 exhibitors and judges who use the lists. 

 One should be able to see at a glance at any 

 list whether any particular variety is on it 

 or not. 



These, then, are a few of the improve- 

 ments I would suggest, which would help 

 to make our fall fairs of more practical value 

 to those interested in fruit growing, and 

 much of what has been said relative to fruit 

 growing might be applied equally well to the 

 other branches of horticulture, viz., vege- 

 table gardening and floriculture ; but we 

 shall say nothing more about these at 

 present. 



In conclusion I might say that I shall be 

 pleased at any time to assist those who have 

 the matter in hand in preparing suitable 

 lists and making the improvements sug- 

 gested. 



Tapping Maple Trees. — There are some 

 fine points to be observed even in such a 

 simple matter as tapping a sugar maple tree. 

 Here are five points, just for instance, given 

 us by the Vermont Experiment Station : 



Point I. — Only a sharp bit should be 

 used, — one that will make a clean-cut hole. 



Point 2. — The hole need not be more than 

 three inches deep. The investigations of 

 the Vermont Experiment Station have shown 

 that hardly any sap comes from a greater 

 depth. 



Point 3. — The hole should be carefully 

 cleaned of chips, because even a very small 

 quantity of waste matter will clog the spout, 

 obstruct the flow of sap, and seriously re- 

 duce the yield of sugar. 



Point 4. — A spout should be chosen of such 

 a pattern as will allow the freest flow of sap. 

 It should interfere with the wood tissue of 

 the tree as little as possible. The bark, 

 rather than the wood, should play an im- 

 portant part in holding the spout firm. 



Point 5. — The spout should be strong 

 enough, and its hold on the tree firm enough, 

 so that it will safely support the sap bucket. 

 Moreover the spout should be easy to insert 

 and easy to remove. The various spouts 

 commonly sold at the hardware stores diff"er 

 materially in their merits when judged by 

 the foregoing tests. The sugar maker will 

 do well to examine them all carefully before 

 buying his supply for the coming season. 



