490 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



its top, every wound will sooner or later lead 

 to a fatal termination of the part affected 

 owing to the brittle nature of the wood. In 

 brief the Seckel should be grown as a dwarf 

 where it can be done. As a standard it 

 should be trimmed very sparingly, and the 

 fruit thinned if size is desired. 



W. Warnock, (Goderich): — I consider 

 the Seckel pear one of the very best dessert 

 pears of its season. I know some trees 

 here that have been bearing fruit for the last 

 forty years, and they look healthy enough to 

 continue for forty years to come. The tree 

 grows to the greatest perfection here, and is 

 a regular bearer. 



A. M. Smith, (St. Catharines): — I con- 

 sider the Seckel one of the best dessert 

 pears we have. The tree is free from blight, 

 is a regular and abundant bearer; to get the 

 best results it should be regularly fertilized 

 and pruned. Though the fruit is small, it 

 will attain a fair size if well thinned and will 

 bring a good price. 



W. W. Cox (Collingwood): — The Seckel 

 is not much grown in this section. People 

 want quantity rather than quality in this 

 country. It does well here, and I consider 

 it one of the best pears grown. I believe it 

 will be called for a few years hence. 



^0t^s and dT^mmetxts 



A COMMERCIAL PEAR ORCHARD. 



DO you advise mej^to set out a commercial pear 

 orchard of standard pears? I had some 

 notion of setting Tallman Sweets for graft- 

 ing Spys and Baldwins, and setting dwarf pears 

 between. - -~ 



Where can I buy good trees the cheapest? By 

 good trees I do not mean the largest, but thrifty 

 and true to name. 



MoRLEY Howell, St. George. 



We are inclined to favor the planting of 

 dwarf pears and small fruits in the apple or- 

 chard, until the trees require the whole ground ; 

 and indeed after it is full grown, in case the 

 owner has only a limited amount of ground to 

 cultivate. As a rule a dwarf tree has seen 

 its best inside of twenty years, and it takes 

 all that time for an apple tree to reach its 

 best days. In planting a commercial pear 

 orchard one must be guided very much by 

 the market for which they are intended. 

 The foreign market is attended with great 

 risk of loss, should the variety be inferior or 

 the conditions on shipboard be unfavorable. 

 Ordinarily speaking the near market is the 

 safest, for this a large number of varieties 

 may be planted ; while for export it is best 

 to plant only one or two kinds, and those 



the largest and finest that will succeed 

 in the locality. 



Fine trees may be purchased at reasona- 

 ble rates from any of the nurserymen adver- 

 tising in this journal. 



taCE OF APPLES AND PEARS IN GREAT 

 BRITAIN 



SIR, — Is there any record kept anywhere of 

 prices which Canadian fruit fetches in Great 

 Britain? Have pears been selling well in 

 the Old Country this year? What kinds sell best? 

 MoRLEY Howell, St. George. 



Every week we get reports of actual sales 

 of Canadian apples in Glasgow, Liverpool 

 or London. Just now we have opened a 

 report of 25,000 bbls. at Liverpool, and tine 

 Baldwins were sold at 15s., or $3.65 a bar- 

 rel, which would net the shipper a little over 

 $2.00 in Ontario. Poorer stock sold down 

 to 7s., or about half, and would only net 

 from 75c. to $1.00 ; while fine Kings sold 

 as high as 20s., or about $4.87 a barrel ! 



Pears have not realized as high prices as 

 we had expected. Our Bartlets sold in Glas- 

 gow from 5s. to 6s. a half bushel case, and 

 our Duchess at from 4s. to 6s., rather low 



