356 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Fig. 2379. 

 Grass and trees have made this street beautiful. 



among fruit growers. Crimson clover has 

 been a favorite with many, while others 

 have used rape and some rye. The latter 

 has been used the last year or two, but un- 

 less ploughed under early in the spring, it 

 causes a heavy drain upon the moisture in 

 the soil and is thus an injury to growing 

 plants. 



At the meeting of Western New York 

 fruit growers a Michigan fruit grower said 

 that he had had more satisfaction with oats 

 as an orchard cover crop, because it was a 

 complete protection, at the same time dying 

 down so that it did not become a drain upon 

 the soil. Prof. Taft, Horticulturist at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College, has been ex- 

 perimenting along this line, and his report 

 for 1 90 1 says : — 



Oats seeded alone as an orchard-cover 

 grew 15 to 18 inches high. They held snow 

 and leaves during the winter, lessened the 

 freezing and thawing of the soil, and also 

 prevented the soil from freezing to as great 

 a depth as on uncovered soils. The lessen- 

 ing of the injury from frost is considered one 

 of the most vitally important results to be 

 secured with orchard cover crops. Where 



oats are used as a cover crop the ground in 

 the spring was practically free from weeds 

 and remained moist considerably longer than 

 where other crops w^ere used. The oats 

 were easily worked in with a disk harrow, 

 and it is estimated that the cost of culti- 

 vating the orchard when oats were used was 

 fully one-third less than when crimson 

 clover was used. Rape and turnips used as 

 cover crops, while fairly satisfactory, were 

 unsightly during the winter and gave off an 

 offensive odor. Crimson clover seeded with 

 oats was less satisfactory than either sewn 



alone. 



THE UP-TO-DATE TOWN 



THERE is no more important work before 

 our Horticultural Societies than that 

 of civic improvement. American towns are 

 awakening to the possibilities before them, 

 each emulating the zeal of the other to such 

 an extent that every man of taste and aoility 

 as a landscape architect is being pressed 

 into active service. Nor is Ontario far 

 behind, for the lawns and gardens of Hamil- 

 ton and Toronto never presented a more 

 beautiful appearance, and public sentiment 

 demands an extension of the parks and 



