FRUIT AT SAULT STE. MARIE. 



509 



the cedars leadings to the home from two 

 diflferent directions. The trees are a uni- 

 form height of about thirty feet, and they 

 form a natural grove several acres in extent, 

 through which winding paths run. Through 

 one of these views may be seen a large 

 spreading beech, which stands almost in 

 front of the house and on the edge of the 

 tennis lawn, and under its spreading bran- 

 ches, it is said, one may enjoy almost a 

 cold storage temperature the hottest day 

 in summer, with the healthful aroma of the 

 cedar all about. 



Every defect in nature, it is said, has its 

 compensations. A defective summer will 

 sometimes lend an additional charm to the 

 autumn. These cedars furnish an example. 

 Their deep green and autumn freshness was 

 never before so marked. The continuous 

 rains of the past summer which gave our 

 director, Mr. Stephens, cause to deplore the 



spotting of his apple crop and the unripen- 

 ing of his grapes, gives him compensation 

 in the added freshness of his cedars, and 

 the additional charm they impart to his 

 whole surroundings. Nature has done 

 much for Orillia in the way of scenic beauty 

 and natural forest growth ; and its enter- 

 prising citizens are with admirable taste add- 

 ing to its attractions by a judicious system 

 of tree planting. But nothing within the 

 environments attracted my attention so much 

 as its handsome cedars, growing promiscu- 

 ously everywhere, but nowhere to such per- 

 fection and beauty as on the natural grounds 

 about "The Hermitage." I question if the 

 Crimson Rambler Roses, referred to in the 

 September number, could possess a greater 

 charm for the true lover of nature than those 

 cedars, arrayed, as I saw them, in their 

 autumn dress of living green. 



FEUIT AT SAULT STB. MAEIE 



A FEW FACTS CONCERNING FRUIT GROWING IN THE 

 NORTH, TAKEN BY AN INTERESTED OBSERVER AT 

 THE FALL SHOW, SAULT STE. MARIE, OCTOBER 6TH. 



THE first thing that takes the eye of a 

 stranger on approaching the tables 

 — that is one who is somewhat fam- 

 iliar with fruit exhibits in Eastern Ontario — 

 is the blaze of color. He will say to him- 

 self, these apples are much higher colored 

 than ours are. Then the very large will 

 likely catch the eye. These will be found to 

 be Alexanders, an apple particularly adapted 

 to northern climates, and grown here with- 

 out that objectionable coarseness of flesh 

 common in what is usually considered more 

 favorable localities. Gideon, an apple not 

 much in favor in the east, is a valuable and 

 reliable apple here ; tree hardy, fruit not 

 subject to decay at the core as when grown 



further south. Charlemoff, our best early 

 fall apple, is past its season at this date, but 

 is perhaps the handsomest apple we grow; 

 its only fault is shortness of season. It is 

 better every way than the Yellow Transpar- 

 ent, the trunk of which, notwithstanding its 

 reputed hardiness, is liable to sunscald. 

 Duchess also is a superior apple as grown 

 in the north. In speaking of this apple, an 

 interesting discussion took place among the 

 exhibitors as to whether there were two 

 distinct varieties of this fruit, one with 

 color, more solid, and which will keep two 

 weeks longer than the other, the color of 

 which is more approaching the St. Law- 

 rence. This apple has been more exten- 



