NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



49' 



compared with prices obtained some previ- 

 ous years. 



Probably such choice goods in small pack- 

 ages should not be sold by auction, but 

 rather by private sale ; for in this latter way 

 each case is sold upon its merits, and not at 

 the mercy of a public market. We are 

 credibly informed that buyers at the public 

 auction often put their heads together and 

 let one bidder establish the price, and then 

 divide the spoils. No doubt, now that we 

 have cold storage, and our fruit can be held, 

 the necessity of quick sales will be done 

 away, and we may expect to sell our fancy 

 packages by private contract, and thus real- 

 ize their full value. 



CHOICE APPLES AT HOME 



MR. JOHN BRENNAN, Grimsby, will 

 not export his choice Spys. He sells 

 them by private sale in Canada, and says he 

 has realized this season as high as $1.75 a 

 bushel box for them on private order. Does 

 not this prove that there are always people 

 in every country who are ready to pay a 

 high price for such goods ? 



THE FRUIT MARKS ACT 



I THINK," said Mr. G. E. Fisher, of Bur- 

 lington, "that this Act needs a thor- 

 ough revision. It compels people to do what 

 they cannot do, gives them no advantage if 

 they do it, and punishes them if they don't 

 do it. The speculator uses it to frighten 

 the grower into taking a low price for his 

 apples, and the grower who packs his own 

 fruit in fancy grades is compelled to mark 

 it XXX when it is far superior to ordinary 

 fruit of that grade." 



Don't you think the value of Canadian 

 apples abroad is advanced by the Act ? 



" Possibly, but it does not provide any 

 basis for contract. No court will declare a 

 sale valid if the buyer refuses to pay on the 

 ground of the fruit not being up to grade. 

 There should be provision for government 



inspecting and branding, so that a seller 

 could get a certificate of grade from an in- 

 spector for a car load of apples, and sell on 

 that government grade. Then his sale 

 would be final. 



" The Act is not what we growers want ; 

 we must have a committee to take up the 

 matter, and take time to go into it fully." 



FALL PLOWING 



1HAVE read that where an orchard is to be 

 set out the soil should be loosened up with a 

 sub-soil lance. 

 I am thinking of putting out a pear orchard, and 

 perhaps an orchard of Tallman Sweets for graft- 

 ing next spring. When should I sub-soil the 

 ground? this fall, or would the changing condi- 

 tions of winter render that work useless by spring. 

 Please let me know at once about this, as I want 

 to plow the piece now, and if you advise it I will 

 put the sub-soil lance on the plow this fall. 



MoRLEY Howell, St. George. 



The preparation necessary to fit soil for 

 fruit trees depends very much upon its tex- 

 ture. In deep, rich sandy loam, where there 

 is considerable humus, little attention seems 

 necessary except ordinary plowing and tho- 

 rough harrowing of the surface soil ; but in 

 the case of soils more close in texture, the 

 deeper the previous cultivation the better. 

 Indeed no after-care or cultivation of the 

 surface can ever make up for neglect of this 

 deep moving and enriching of the soil, in 

 which the roots are to spread, and for which 

 they are to draw their nourishment. This 

 work should be done in autumn, so that the 

 excellent action of the winter's frost may 

 help unlock nature's fertility, and at the 

 same time have a mechanical influence in 

 fining the texture of the ground. Downing 

 says "no fruit tree should be planted in a 

 hole of less size than three feet square and 

 eighteen inches to two feet deep," and again 

 " the most skillful cultivators among us 

 make their spaces four or five feet in diame- 

 ter, or three times the size of the roots, and 

 it is incredible how much the luxuriance and 

 vigor of growth, even in a poor soil, is pro- 

 moted by this." 



