NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



261 



tical should be employed. We intend to 

 try banding the trees in the future, and have 

 no doubt that this will prove beneficial. If 

 those who pick their apples and pile them 

 on the ground in the orchard, will cover the 

 piles with burlap, or any other old cloth, 

 they will be astonished to see the number of 

 worms that will collect on the under side of 

 the cloth. Thousands of worms could be 

 destroyed by dipping these rags in boiling 

 water every few days. These worms will 

 also be found in considerable numbers 

 around the hoops and between the staves of 

 barrels in which apples have been stored 

 for the winter, and they can also be de- 

 stroyed with boiling water. As evidence 

 that this work pays we submit the fact that 

 our fruit always sells at a premium this 

 year of from 50 to 65 cents per barrel, and 

 the proportion of firsts to seconds and 

 culls is greater than it used to be." 



(tAthering plums 



PROF. WAUGH, of Burlington, Vt., 

 gives the following pointers under 

 this head. Plums which are used for jelly 

 should be picked as soon as they begin 

 to color, and long before they are mature. 

 Those which are picked for canning should 

 be taken in the early stages of maturity, 

 while those which are destined for dessert 

 or table use should be allowed to beaome 

 dead ripe before they are removed from the 

 trees. Plums for shipment to market must 

 be picked about as soon as they are well 

 colored, some varieties even earlier. They 

 must be taken from the trees before they 

 show any tendency to soften. Many varie- 

 ties, particularly of the Japanese group, will 

 bear earlier picking and will ripen up well in 

 the fruit packages in which they are shipped 

 to market. 



MARKETING 



VARIETIES of plums which crack bad" 

 ly, or become soft in ripening, are 

 not suitable for market, especially when long 



shipments are to be made. The best prices 

 for plums are usually realized late in the 

 season, since this fruit is used chiefly for 

 canning, and since housewives prefer to do 

 the canning as late as possible, after hot 

 weather is passed. 



QUANTITY OF FERTILIZER FOR EACH 

 TREE 



MAYNARD, of Massachusetts, gives 

 three formulas for the treatment of 

 apple orchards on land that cannot be cul- 

 tivated and the amount of fertilizer to be 

 applied upon the growth of the trees. Of 

 course such trees, standing on sod, would 

 need more fertilizing material than they 

 would require if the land were cultivated. 

 The following shows the amounts per tree 

 grown in sod : 



(No. i) I lb. to 5 lbs. Nitrate of Soda. 



1 *' " " Sulphate of Potash. 



2 " " lo " Acid Phosphate. 

 (No. 2) I «' '« 5 •« Nitrate of Soda. 



10 ** "25 " Good hard wood 

 ashes. 

 (No. 3) Stable manure, 5 to 20 large fork- 

 fuls, apples in fall or winter, and the same 

 amount of potash and phosphoric acid, or 

 wood ashes as in formulas No. i and 2. 

 Orchards that are making less than from 

 six to ten inches of new wood each year, are 

 in no condition to bear fruit that will be 

 satisfactory in respect to either quantity or 

 quality ; yet it is evident that more than 

 half of our apple orchards are lacking in 

 vitality as a result of neglect. 



THE CHERRY HARVEST 



THE cherry harvest is now becoming 

 important in some sections in the 

 Provinces. In that portion bordering on 

 the south shore of Lake Ontario, and the 

 north shore of Lake Erie, and indeed nearly 

 all the east shore of Lake Huron, the more 

 tender varieties of the sweet cherry class 

 seem to be worthy of a place in a commer- 



