HINTS TO APPLE GROWERS. 



3'9 



got out cf apples, and they let their or- 

 chards run wild, they allowed noxious 

 insects to multiply and fungous diseases 

 to run their course, with the inevitable re- 

 sult that the orchards were almost ruined. 

 In the Georgian Bay district, however, it 

 is not difficult to persuade farmers that 

 orchards can be made to pay ; but every- 

 one sh3uld understand that to be a suc- 

 cessful apple grower he must choose suit- 

 able varieties, adopt clean cultivation, pur- 

 sue systematic pruning, spray at the 

 proper t'me in the proper manner with 

 the proper solutions, and direct careful at- 

 tention to cover crops. " Where ignor- 

 ance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise," is not in 

 the science of horticulture. This the 

 the Dominion Department of Agriculture 

 is trying to instil into the minds of fruit 

 growers by means of lectures and object 

 lessons. Mr. A. McNeill, acting chief 

 fruit inspector, is engaged in this work, 

 and this is how he teaches the young idea 

 how to grow fruit successfully, profitably, 

 and ready for sale. He arranges a meet- 

 ing in a central locality and spends from 

 half an hcur to an hour in-doors lecturing 

 and answering all sorts of questions put 

 to him by growers and others. Then he 

 proceeds with his audience to a near-by 

 orchard, where he commences an expedi- 

 tion in search of noxious insects and fungi. 

 Having discovered a pest (aided perhaps 

 by a magnifying glass), he next proceeds 

 to prepare his Bordeaux mixture, and then 

 sprays the infected parts with the force 

 pump, taking care to demonstrate as well 

 as to explain the difference between show- 

 ering, or sprinkHng, and actual spraying; 

 for while spraying with poison is salvation 

 to a plant, tree, or shrub, showering or 

 sprinkling means very often destruction. 

 All insecticides and fungicides should fall 

 on vegetation in the hiost delicate spray, 

 otherwise the tree may be injured. 



Mr. McNeill found in his recent tour 



thr.ugh the counties already named, a 

 geniral belief that there were no insects 

 this year doing any damage. His magni- 

 fier soon discovered hosts of insects. The 

 oyster shell bark louse is very prevalent, 

 the cigar case bearer in some districts was 

 quite numerous, the tent caterpillar was in 

 evidence, but not seriously, and the canker 

 worm in some localities was very plentiful ; 

 but for multitude, the bud moth simply 

 swarmed. The result of finding these 

 pests where they were supposed to be con- 

 spicuous by their absence so struck the 

 farmers that Mr. McNeill could have sold 

 a gross of magnifiers on the spot. It was 

 an object lesson that will never be forgot- 

 ten ; it was nature study in its most tangi- 

 ble form ; it was that practical experiment- 

 ing which le^ds to the conversion of the 

 desert into a fruitful field, and clothes the 

 dismal prairie with a world's grain field. 



It does not always fall to the lot of a 

 Government to witness the good results 

 of missionary zeal, but here in Canada we 

 are constantly reaping where we have 

 sown, and Mr. McNeill reports that the 

 result of the forward policy of the Minister 

 of Agriculture has already, in the fruit 

 section, led farmers in the older portions 

 of Ontario, to abandon their former 

 slovenliness and to go in for clean cultiva- 

 tion, while in the newer districts the fruit 

 growers themselves so appreciate what 

 hrs bsen done to help them that they 

 have become living exponents of the same 

 policy. 



To secure and maintain profitable apple 

 cultivation after following out the work 

 necessary, everything depends upon the 

 variety cultivated. The grower must pro- 

 duce what the market requires, the market 

 will no longer be content to adapt itself to 

 the whims of the grower. No matter how 

 healthy or prolific a tree may be, if the 

 fruit be not of the right variety it is value- 

 less. 



