1 68 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



to sell,* said he " is the water, which docs 

 not cost me anything. The flesh of my 

 plums is nearly all water, while the pit con- 

 tains 4 per cent of mineral matter. There 

 is a law against selling water and calling it 

 milk, but there is no law against selling 

 water in the shape of fruit, and the more you 

 can get in it the better the buyer is pleased. 

 We want hig fruit, the bigger the better.' 

 The way to get it was to give attention to all 

 cultural details, e. g., we must spray to keep 

 the foliage clean — he would use Bordeaux, 

 34 strength for plum trees, and do it thor- 

 oughly; we must cultivate; we must feed; 

 plums will take any quantity of manure, it 

 will not hurt them. Mr. Woodward had 

 picked six consecutive crops of Bradshaw 

 off the same trees while most people only 

 took a crop in alternate years. He fully ex- 

 pected another crop in 1903 ; he did not ex- 

 pect to skip any fruit season ; and what was 

 the explanation? It was high manuring. 

 He applied eight or ten loads of stable ma- 

 nure an acre every year, and it paid him 

 well. We must also prune ; the branches 

 and twigs must not grow so thick as to ex- 

 clude the sunlight, so they must be well 

 separated ; and then they must be cut back 

 annually to prevent a sprawling habit. And 

 we must thin. By this thinning he had 

 raised Bradshaw plums — well " not quite as 

 big as my fist," said he, " but very near it." 

 By attention to these details we can grow 

 plums that will bring high prices. Size has 

 a wonderful effect upon the price. " Last 

 year," said Mr. Woodward, " my Bradshaw 

 plums brought me 60c. a basket, and a 

 neighbor's Bradshaws only brought him • 6c. 

 a basket ! What made the difference ? Just 

 the size." 



DISTANCES TO PLANT FRUIT TURES. 



THERE has been a tendency among fruit 

 growers to plant trees too close to- 

 gether. Some have planted apples 25 or 30 

 feet apart: cherries, plums and pears, 15 



feet; peaches, 12, and , dwarf pears, 10. 

 There may be some varieties of less vigor- 

 ous habit that will flourish at such distances, 

 with close pruning. Indeed, we all know 

 about the miniature old trees of the Japanese 

 gardens, and the possibilities in this direc- 

 tion. Mr. Brennan, of Grimsby, has his 

 peach trees 12 feet apart, and gives them 

 such close and constant shortening in that 

 he has excellent results, and is an ardent ad- 

 vocate of his system. But in general prac- 

 tice close setting is a serious mistake, for m 

 after years when the trees reach full ma- 

 turity, unless much greater attention is given 

 to pruning than is usual among fruit grow- 

 ers, the orchard will be a tangle, into which 

 the owner can neither get his wagon or his 

 spray pump ; and into which the rays of the 

 sun can scarcely penetarate. 



Generally speaking, the following dis- 

 tances are advisable : Apples, 40 feet ; 

 pears (standard), peaches, plums and cher- 

 ries (sweet), 20 feet; sour cherries, 15 feet; 

 dwarf pears, 12 feet. Of course this gen- 

 eral rule must be varied in some cases ; for 

 example, we know of a row of magnificent 

 Flemish Beauty pears at Mr. E. C. Beman's 

 place at Newcastle, each of which covers an 

 area much greater than 20 feet in diameter ; 

 but this has a more spreading habit ^han 

 most varieties. 



Mr. Woodward plants his plum trees 20 

 feet apart each way, and he considers it a 

 great mistake to plant trees too close to- 

 gether. " They need to have the sunshine 

 on the ground itself between the trees," was 

 his way of putting it. 



VARIETIES OF PLUMS. 



THE Bradshaw seemed to be Mr. Wood- 

 ward's great favorite. Among other 

 varieties he mentioned Reine Claude, Grand 

 Duke, Fellemberg, Monarch, Arch Duke and 

 Prince Englebert. 



IVhat do you think of the Red June f we 

 asked. 



