66 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



tion throughout the year is open to many 

 objections. The bare ground offers to the 

 tree-roots little protection from the severe 

 winter frosts. There is danger, with the 

 less hardy varieties of fruit trees, of winter- 

 killing. With bare cultivation, the soil is 

 very likely to become depleted of humus, a 

 most necessary constituent for conserving 

 moisture and good tilth. Also, with this 

 method of cultivation the land is subject to 

 surface washing and leaching of plant food 

 by the heavy rains of fall, winter and early 

 spring. On the whole, therefore, continu- 

 ous clean cultivation is not to be recom- 

 mended, either as a general expedient or as 

 an aid to storing up moisture in the soil 

 during the inactive season. 



Cover Crops. — By ' cover crop ' is meant 

 a crop sown late in the summer, allowed to 

 stand as a cover for the ground during the 

 winter, and plowed down early next spring. 

 The cover crop protects the roots of trees in 

 winter. It prevents washing, and during 



rains and thaws holds the water at the 

 ground surface long enough for the water to 

 soak into the ground. The roots of the 

 cover crop penetrate the subsoil to a greater 

 or a less depth, according to the variety of 

 crop, and generally have a beneficial effect 

 on the conditions of the subsoil. The grow- 

 ing crop "fixes" the soluble plant-food in 

 the soil, and instead of allowing this food to 

 leach away, the cover crop absorbs it in the 

 fall and returns it to the soil the next sum- 

 mer, after being plowed under for green 

 manure. Lastly, the annual addition of 

 green manure to the soil enriches the soil 

 greatly and improves its tilth and water- 

 holding power by the conversion of green 

 manure to humus. It may be seen, there- 

 fore, that the cover crop is favorable for 

 general purposes as well as for the special 

 purpose which forms the subject of this 

 paper. 



The next paper of this series will deal 

 with cultivation during spring and summer. 



ONTAEIO FEUIT IN WINNIPEG 



CULLS GOING FORWARD-A BAD IMPRESSION GIVEN. 



I NOTICED in last week's " Grocer =' 

 what Mr. A. McNeil, our chief in the 

 fruit inspection division, has to say to the 

 Ontario fruit grower. Situated as I am 

 here, I have an opportunity to see something 

 of both sides, and really, Mr. Editor, it is 

 awful. If I am prejudiced at all, it is 

 in favor of Ontario. Ontario is my old 

 home. I have been up and down its roads 

 and lanes, in and out its ways and by-ways ; 

 I have plucked its fruits and gathered its 

 its flowers, and really, it gives me pain 

 when I see some of the packages that come 

 up here marked * ' Choice Ontario Apples. " 



It is no use mincing matters. If you 

 have space to spare, please give the follow- 



ing samples of what is not at all uncommon 

 in my experiences the past season : 



One firm that claims to be the largest 

 growers of a certain variety of apples and 

 pride themselves on their reputation, sent a 

 carload of apples here. Now mark — their 

 own growing and packing. Out of one of 

 their barrels I took some samples and sent 

 to the Department at Ottawa, which issued 

 the following statement regarding them : 

 "20 of these apples weigh only 28 oz." 

 The report then went on to speak of the 

 shamefulness of such practices. Another 

 very large firm sent a car of apples here, 

 two barrels of which I picked over, and this 

 is the result : ist barrel, 74 good, 54 



