WORK ON FRUITS AT THE SCHOOL OF HORTICULTURE. 



THE students at the School of Horticul- 

 ture, Wolfville, have been taking up 

 a study of varieties of pears adapted to Nova 

 Scotia. The class was divided into com- 

 mittees, and to these committees were re- 

 ferred all of our principal varieties of pears 

 with instructions to secure all possible in- 

 formation regarding them from those who 

 have grown them here and from books and 

 periodicals. The points investigated cov- 

 ered such questions as the habit of growth 

 of tree ; whether it grows best as a dwarf or 

 a standard ; age of coming into bearing ; is 

 it an abundant bearer or not ; is it a profit- 

 able pear to grow for market ; what are its 

 failings ? Local authorities such as Mr. R. 

 W. Starr, Mr. A. H. Johnson and others 

 were consulted and their testimony was 

 given first place as showing the value of the 



different varieties. Then Downing, War- 

 den, Thomas and other writers were con- 

 sulted and lastly the bound volumes of the 

 Canadian Horticulturist, Country Gentle- 

 man and other periodicals in the school lib- 

 rary were searched for information on the 

 various sorts. At the appointed meeting of 

 the class the committees reported on the dif- 

 ferent varieties, and each student took notes 

 for future reference. The same plan is now 

 being followed with our principal apples. 

 Specimens of all of them have been exam- 

 ined in class, and each student has described 

 them and tested them for himself. Now 

 they are referred to the committees, who will 

 report later the judgment of our growers on 

 the strong points and the failings of all our 

 standard apples, together with any new and 

 promising candidates for public favor. 



W. H. Dempsey, Trenton, writes : — The 

 Niagara grape has been fruiting here for 

 some years, and is considered a success in 

 this district. It ripens well, and takes well 

 in the market ; in fact it is about the only 

 white grape grown. The vine will winter 

 on the trellis about nine years out of ten 

 here. It is inclined to set too much fruit to 

 ripen well some years. 



Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y. , 

 are introducing the Gans pear, of Ohio 

 origin. It is declared to be a valuable ad- 

 dition to the list of early pears, in season 

 between the Tyson and Bartlett. 



Pruning Kieffer Pear Trees. — One of 

 Delaware's prominent fruit growers, J. J. 

 Rosa, says that he cut his six-year-old Kief- 

 fer pear trees too much. As an experiment, 



he left one tree to compare with those he* 

 had pruned. Last season from the un- 

 pruned tree he got eleven baskets of choice 

 fruit, while none of the others bore more 

 than four or five baskets. He believes he 

 lost at least 3,000 baskets of pears by too se- 

 vere pruning in this orchard, and does not 

 advise severe cutting of young Kieffers. 



The M\cDonald Apple. — A sample of 

 this new apple was received on the 24th of 

 January, 1903, from Luke Bros. Co., Mon- 

 treal. In appearance the sample strongly 

 resembled a very fine sample of Ben Davis, 

 but the quality is much superior. If the tree 

 is healthy and productive, we would expect 

 this apple to prove one of the best commer- 

 cial apples for Quebec, that is judging from 

 this one sample. It is said to be a native of 

 the Province of Quebec. 



