NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



133 



lime and sulphur spray. To prevent curl 

 leaf and cherry aphis use whale oil soap. 



GOOD SHIPPING VARIETIES BEST TO 

 PLANT. 



''I '^ HE great Northwest, as a future market 

 X for Ontario fruit, has often been dis- 

 cussed in these columns. The gjeat diffi- 

 culty lies in the soft nature of our peaches 

 and plums, and not in the packing. Winni- 

 peg papers praise California packing and 

 abuse Ontario, not understanding that fruit 

 grown in a dry climate will carry very much 

 farther than the same grown in a wet cli- 

 mate. 



Mr. Smith's advice was that we plant with 

 a special view to this great market, selecting 

 only such varieties as will carry. Of the 

 hundreds of kinds, of course only a few will 

 suit our purpose, but these few are the ones 

 to select. For example, in peaches we have 

 Elberta and Smock. Both of these will 

 carry, but the latter is rather too late and 

 comes in when the demand for peaches 's 

 about over. 



In plums, the Purple Egg, Reine Claude 

 and Satsuma are good shippers. So is Dam- 

 son, and there is quite a good demand for 

 this little plum both in Ontario and in Mani- 

 toba, 



Grapes carry very well, but the tougher 

 skinned ones carry best. 



Name some varieties of grapes ivhich you 

 ivould recommend for distant markets. 



On deep rich soil, Agawam and Ver- 

 gennes ; on light land, Rogers 4 ; on heavy 

 knd, Lindley, Rogers 43 and Rogers 44. 



" I think," said Mr. Smith, " there should 

 be a lot of special work done in experiment- 

 ing with varieties especially adapted for dis- 

 tant shipments," and we took note of this 15 

 a hint to our Ontario fruit stations. 



What about Concord and Niagara f 



For ordinary land no grape will give surer 

 returns than the Concord ; but for Niagara 



you must have good rich soil, and then it 

 will give excellent returns. 



BLACK KNOT AND CHERRY BIRDS 



Sir, — In this section of country, on account of 

 the black knot, the growing of cherries is almost a 

 thing of the past, and, what few cherry trees are 

 growing, are so infested with birds that it is nigh 

 impossible to get any cherries oflE them. One man 

 grows a few and protects them from the birds with 

 a wire netting. I grew the Belle Magnifique some 

 years ago and it was nearly exempt from the rav- 

 ages of the birds. I attributed this to its lateness 

 of ripening and being of an acid taste, Now, I 

 want to know what varieties of cherries are 

 exempt, or perhaps I would be more correct in 

 saying less liable to be attacked by birds ; and are 

 cherries which ripen late, say the end of July, or 

 the beginning of August, less liable (on acfcount 

 of other bird food being more plentiful), than the 

 early ripening ones. 



Wellbum. 



John McAinsh. 



Where black knot is not destroyed it will 

 spread rapidly and completely clear out the 

 plums and sour cherries from an infected 

 district. We have found, however, that it 

 is very easy of control, for it spreads from 

 spores from the growing knots, of which 

 there are two sorts — a winter and a summer 

 spore. By keeping a close watch upon our 

 trees and cutting off and burning all knots, 

 or by painting with kerosene those knots 

 which cannot be removed without great in- 

 jury to the tree, we have cleared out the knot 

 from our orchard, and now very seldom meet 

 with it. As for cherry birds, we are not 

 troubled much with them except among a 

 few varieties. The most subject, we think, 

 is Early Purple, for unless we are on hand 

 very early in the morning the cherry bird 

 takes the whole crop. This is the first 

 cherry to ripen, and its flesh is sweet and 

 tender. Several other soft-fleshed cherries, 

 with tender skin, such as Black Tartarian, 

 Elton and Black Eagle, are favorite cherries 

 with the birds ; but the firm-fleshed varieties, 

 such as Napoleon, Yellow Spanish, Elkhom, 

 Windsor, and the Pie and Morello cherries, 

 are not much troubled with them. 



