202 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



All who listened seemed pleased, and a 

 crowded hall is sure to greet Mr. Race should 

 he ever speak again in Kincardine, 



WM. WELSH, 



President K. H. S. 

 Kincardine, March 24, 1903. 



FRUIT PROSPECTS AT WHITBY. 



Sir : As we have nearly finished pruning 

 our orchard, we have a good opportunity of ex- 

 amining the buds, wood growth, etc., of the 

 different varieties we are experimenting with. 

 We find no frozen or injured buds on any of 

 our apple trees ; but some of the pears that 

 were very heavily laden last year are not as 

 perfect as usual, notably Dr. Reeder, Fred. 

 Baudry, President Drouard, Doyenne d'Ete, and 

 some others, while Clapp's Favorite, Bartlett, 

 Dempsey, Lawrence and W. Nelis are pretty 

 well filled with perfect buds. Kieffer Angou- 

 leme, Louise Bonne, Ester Buerre, Clairgeau, 

 Tyson, Jules Guyott, Lucrative, and some of the 

 newer sorts, as Rutter, Koonce, Wilder, Law- 

 son, etc., were never in better showing at this 

 season. Should the spring be favorable I have 

 hopes of a heavy crop of pears. The month of 

 March, so far, has been so fine and springlike, 

 that the buds are swelling already, which is at 

 least two weeks earlier than last year. Al- 

 though the frost is all out of the ground, the 

 land is too soft to drive over. We have two 

 sprayers all ready to operate as soon as the 

 land is solid enough. Owing to so much rain 

 at spraying time last year, our spraying was 

 not done in time, and we suffered the conse- 

 quence in having too many scabby apples. The 

 prices of apples has ruled very low from the 

 start last fall, and is still low for anything but 

 No. 1 stock, and this is only about half the 

 price they were at this date last year. I hope 

 the committee appointed at our last annual 

 meeting on transportation will accomplish 

 some good work before we have another fruit 

 crop to handle, as the present and past rates 

 charged are simply prohibitive between here 

 and the eastern markets. It is absurd that 

 the railway companies should charge more for 

 100 lbs. of pears than for the same weight of 

 apples. When the freight and commission is 

 taken from the selling price there is often a 

 loss, when the packages are counted in; and 1 

 hope that the carrying rates will be so adjusted 

 that we will not be asked to pay more from 

 here to Montreal than the fruit men of Cali- 

 fornia do for the same kind of goods and pack- 

 ages and fruit. -nere is another grievance 

 that ought to be remedied, that is the supply- 

 ing of cars on the G. T. R., which was very 

 badly done last year ; several car loads of 

 apples, which were packed and delivered on 

 their platform, lay there for weeks and were 

 frozen, so that they were simply dumped on the 

 commons and left to rot, although the railway 

 company were requested for cars weeks ahead. 

 These losses should be remedied, and the rail- 

 way company should be made to feel that 

 others have rights as well as themselves. 



Subscribers here speak appreclatingly of the 

 improvement of the Horticulturist, and hope 

 its success will continue. Yours respectfully, 



Whitby. R. L. HUGGARD. 



CLEMATIS FAILING. 



Sir,— I have planted Jcckmanii, Henryii, and 

 other varieties of Clematis for three years in suc- 

 cession 1o shade a verandah having an easterly 

 frontage, close to Lake Ontario. They are care- 

 fully planted, and do well until they commence to 

 bloom, then something happens to them, the blooms 

 droop; and the plant gradually dies. Out of the 

 five Clematis planted last spring, only one survived 

 the summer. I have found "cutworms" about 

 the roots of some that have been destroyed, but 

 could find none in this instance. Clematis on ver- 

 andahs having a north and southerly exposure 

 have always done well. 



A man 

 in New 

 Jersey re- 

 ceived last year 

 $1 , 200 for 

 grapes grown 

 ;*- on less than one- 

 quarter of an acre. 

 The value of 



NITRATE OF SODA 



in increasing the quantity and quality 

 of grapes is explained in a paper by 



Prof. PAUL H. WAGNER, 



copies of which will be sent free. 



WILLIAM S. MYERS, Director, 

 la John Street, Kew Tork. 



New Catalogue for 1903 just out. 

 Send for it. 



DOMINION NURSERIES 



The Smith & Reed Co., ST. CATHARINES, Ont. 



We have a larger and better stock of Fruit and 

 Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Plants, etc., than we 

 ever before offered. 



Prices reasonable. Quotations cheerfully g^ven 

 on application. 



