THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



varieties the yield is too great, and they must 

 be thinned anyway. Why not let curculio 

 and rot thin them ?" 



This kind of thinning is too late to help 

 the size of those remaining. The work 

 should be done by hand while the plums are 

 very small, and then the remaining samples 

 will grow to a large size. 



" It is useless to spray against the wind," 

 said Mr. Tweddle. "You only waste your 

 material and your time, for the wind carries 

 it back. Always spray with the wind. Do 

 not neglect to spray because of wet weather. 

 I find that it is the very time when the work 

 is most needed. 



RESULTS. 



" My faithful spraying, united with faith- 

 ful pruning and tillage, gave me last year 

 the finest yield of Baldwins and Greenings 

 ever known in my neighborhood. I took 

 800 barrels of almost perfect apples off 4^ 

 acres of orchard !" 



Mr. Brennan usually sprayed his orchard 

 five times in a season, and the results were 

 so evident that he would never think of 

 giving it up. During his first year in the 

 orchard he did no spraying and had worms, 

 scab and all sorts of evils, but, since he has 

 been careful to spray thoroughly he has 

 harvested first-class fruit every year. 



Mr. D. J. McKinnon had great confidence 

 in the apple. His orchard was on rich, deep, 

 sandy loam ; it had not been plowed for 

 eight years, and yet last year it was the 

 most profitable fruit he grew, and he has a 

 magnificent orchard of pears, cherries, 

 peaches and grapes. His apple orchard 

 netted him $100 per acre. " I feel sorry for 

 a man," said he, "when I see him cutting 

 out an apple orchard that it has taken per- 

 haps twenty-five years to grow into its 

 present proportions." 



THE CHERRY. 



Some one said he would like Mr. McKin- 

 non to tell whether the Montmorency or 

 the Wragg was the most profitable. 



"Well, I have a very large orchard of 

 both in bearing," said he, "and I believe 

 the Montmorency is best." 



"Is it as productive as Wragg?" 

 "Well, no, not in proportion to its size, 

 for the Wragg hangs in great ropes of fruit 

 as heavy as it can carry ; but the Montmor- 

 ency is a larger growing tree, and on that 

 account I think it yields more fruit to the 

 acre. At first, the Wragg brought higher 

 prices, being so very late in the season; but 

 now that Wraggs are coming into our 

 markets from other parts there is not much 

 difference in the price. 



THE CHERRY APHIS. 



"What would you do for the black aphis?" 

 asked another. 



The chairman, Mr. A. H. Pettit, called 

 upon Mr. Tweddle, and he said he had been 

 greatly interested in the success of his 

 neighbor, Mr. W. M. Orr, in treating aphis, 

 spraying his trees, just before the leaf buds 

 opened, with a strong solution of whale oil 

 soap ; a treatment which has completely 

 routed the aphis. The usual formula was 

 one pound to five gallons of water, but he 

 would double that quantity. The application 

 should be made before the buds opened, or 

 else the tiny little aphids would crawl down 

 among the open leaves and hide so as to 

 secure from the effect of the spray. 



It is a mystery to many where these young 

 aphids come from so early in spring, and we 

 may explain that eggs are deposited in 

 autumn in the crevices and cracks of the bark 

 of the twigs of the apple tree, and also about 

 the base of the buds. In the early spring 

 they may be easily seen with a glass, they 

 are very minute, oval and shiny black. The 

 same warm sunshine that favors the opening 

 ot the tender young leaves, also causes these 

 eggs to hatch out into tiny lice, \vhich locate 

 themselves upon the young leaves and suck 

 their juices. All the first broods are females, 

 which produce living young, hence the 

 wonderful rapidity with which they multipl . 



