2 26 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



from being grown. It is of orchards 

 such as these that a few suggestions are 

 here oflfered as to how to bring them 

 back into good condition. But the re- 

 sults desired cannot be got in one year. 



The trees, to begin with, should be 

 pruned, not too heavily at first, but 

 enough limbs should be taken out to open 

 up the top and permit a free circulation 

 of air and the admission of sunlight to it. 

 The trees will, probably, be much moss- 

 grown, and both they and the fruit may 

 be afifected w!th various diseases. In- 

 jurious insects, too, are almost certain to 

 abound. 



Spraying should be begun early in the 

 season, and the trees should be kept cov- 

 ered from top to bottom with Bordeaux 

 mixture and Paris green until the fruit is 

 almost fully grown. Scraping the trunks 

 snd large branches of the trees may be 

 done if there is much moss, but as soon 

 as the tree becomes more vigorous, and 

 air and sunlight are admitted, much of 

 the moss will disappear. If the oyster 

 shell bark louse, or other scale insects in- 

 fest the trees, they should be sprayed with 

 the lime mixture, or other materials al- 

 ready mentioned. 



As the orchard, if neglected, is almost 

 certain to be in sod, the soil should be 

 plowed shallow in the spring, turning un- 

 der a good dressing of manure if it can be 

 procured. If the sod is not too thick 

 it might be worked up with the disc or 

 be kept thoroughly harrowed until July, 

 working in other fertilizers if the land be 

 poor and manure is not to be had ; and 

 then red clover seed sown at the rate of 

 twelve pounds per acre, and the ground 

 rolled. A good cover crop should then 

 be formed by autumn. This would con- 

 clude the first season's work. The re- 

 sults would, probably, be a greatly in- 

 creased vigor in the trees, and the fruit, 

 though, perhaps not plentiful, would be 

 cleaner. 



The second season additional but less 

 pruning should be done, the trees kept 

 sprayed as before, the clover plowed un- 

 der in the spring, and the land kept har- 

 rowed or cultivated until July, and then, 

 seeded down to clover. The fruit should 

 be better than the year before ; but not 

 until the third year should the trees be 

 expected to bear heavily and the orchard 

 be in good condition. 



A PLEA FOR OUR HAWKS AND OWLS. 



BY W. N. HUTT, SOUTHEND, O.NT. 



John Bunyan, the immortal dreamer, 

 pictured the life of man as a continuous 

 warfare. Perhaps to no class of men is 

 this more applicable than to the modern 

 Canadisn horticulturist. The orchardist. 

 the gardener, the florist, with engines of 

 destruction , have just been hurling dead- 

 ly tonics into the atmosphere, and now are 

 laying mines for unseen foes and prepar- 

 ing for the devastating hordes of the 

 future. 



The husbandman of the soil seems to be 

 at war with all nature. Or is it nature? 

 Is it nstural that the codling moth should 

 destroy all our apples, the tent caterpillar 

 strip all our orchards, or the potato beetle 

 ruin all our potatoes? In a special de- 

 gree, can it be natural that a pernicious 

 scale should threaten our whole fruit in- 

 dustry, or a destructive fly drive our staple 

 product from the market. It may be 

 harsh, yet it is natural, quite natural. Na- 



