^yEiTIOM! PKAWEI^, 



Cutting Back Cedar Hedge. 



1289. Sir,— I have a Cedar (Arbor vitse) hedge, 

 five feet high. If I cut back to three feet will it 

 grow out again all right. 



W. H. Chaplin, Newcastle. 



Such a hedge should be pruned annually 

 or oftener, and never allowed to reach such 

 an overgrowth. If trimn:>ed to a conical 

 form, or blunt conical, it will be found 

 easier to keep its proper form than if cut 

 square on the top. If the hedge is in this 

 latter form and must be reduced from five 

 feet to three feet in height, the owner must 

 be prepared to see it unsightly on the top 

 for two or three years, until the middle line 

 on top recovers itself. 



P. Barry and Mount Vernon Pear. 



1290. Sir, — I am sending you to-day two pears 

 of P. Barry, or at least that is what I ordered. 

 Kindly let me know through the Horticulturist if 

 thev are true to name. Would it be a profitable 

 pear to g^row for export ? I gathered the pears 

 November ist. I protected them from frost till 

 gathered. Is our season long enough for them to 

 mature properly ? The other pear I got for Mount 

 Vernon ; is it true to name ? Would it be profit- 

 able to grow for export ? 



Geo. H. Nixon Hyde Park, Ont. 



The two pears are P. Barry. This pear 

 does well in California, and fine samples 

 are sent in to the New York market every 

 spring, but the samples we have seen grown 

 in Ontario are too small to be profitable. 



The third sample is not Mt. Vernon, but 

 probably some seedling. We do not advise 

 planting Vernon for profit. 



nice in an Orchard. 



1291. Sir, — Mice have done a great amount of 

 damage in this neighborhood during the last win- 

 ter, both to apple trees and to shade trees. Please 

 advise me how to destroy them. Wrapping the 

 trunks with new tarred paper protects them, but 

 it is a great deal of trouble. 



It is difficult to destroy mice in an orchard 



without also poisoning some friendly ani- 



mals, and therefore the simplest means of 

 saving the trees is by some kind of protec- 

 tion. We have had perfect immunity with 

 a mound of fine earth about the tri nk. 

 Probably the simplest and cheapest tl.ing 

 would be the veneer tree protectors, figured 

 on page 133. These are being made by the 

 Grimsby Manufacturing Co. 



Apple Canker. 



1293. Sir, — Can you give us any information 

 as to Apple Tree Canker, its cause and cure ? If 

 so, we will be very much obliged. 



Cavers Bros., Gait, Ont. 



In his report of the Nova Scotia School 

 of Horticulture for 1 900-1 901, Prof. F. C. 

 Sears, in dealing with the subject of apple 

 canker, says : "It attacks trees ot all ages, 

 but certain varieties seem to be very much 

 more susceptible to it than others. The 

 Nonpareil is more affected than any other 

 sort, and in Annapolis County some orch- 

 ards have been almost ruined by the ravages 

 of this disease. It is caused by a fungus 

 growing in the tissues of the tree just as the 

 black spot fungus grows on the surface of 

 the fruit, and at certain seasons of the year 

 in the diseased areas may be found little 

 brown pimples, in which are contained the 

 spores or seeds through the agency of 

 which the disease is spread. Just at what 

 season or seasons these spores are scattered 

 we have not yet determined, but they seem 

 particularly prevalent in the early spring. 

 The disease attacks the tree oftenest at a 

 fork in the branches, causing an ugly grown 

 wound, and often eventually causing the 

 branch to break at this point. Not only 

 this, but trees so attacked, even though 

 they may not break, lose their vitality and 

 become less and less profitable. Until we 



