NOTES FEOM THE FEUIT EXPEKIMENT 



STATIONS. 



THE following reports from the vari- 

 ous Fruit Experiment Stations give 

 a good general idea of the outlook 

 for fruit throughout the province : 



PROM WENTWORTH. 



In reply to your enquiry with regard to 

 fruit prospects, I may say everything looks 

 very promising. In fact, there is entirely 

 too much fruit set. Unless nature does 

 some thinning a great many orchards will be 

 overloaded. The fruit and foliage never 

 looked healthier than at present, not the first 

 appearance of fungus on either fruit or leaf, 

 not even on Flemish Beauty pears, and very 

 little trouble from insects, except curculio, 

 which has been pretty bad on plums, but 

 nearly all varieties need thinning. If we 

 get rain for the berries from the present in- 

 dications there wull be a great abundance of 

 everything in the way of fruit. 



Winona. M. Pettit. 



FROM BRUCE. 



The prospects for fruit in this district are 

 only fair ; we have had some very hard frost. 

 Apples promise very good so far, and trees 

 are healthy and free of scab. Pears pro- 

 mise fair, and plums very good crop, but 

 they were damaged some by a very heavy 

 wind, rain and hail storm on May the 28th. 

 Cherries will be a light crop, as are also red 

 and black currants. Raspberries promise 

 to be fair, and strawberries a good crop. 



Walkerton. A. E. Sherrington. 



FROM SOUTH SIMCOE. 



Apples have set a large crop of fruit. 

 Pears bloomed sparingly with me, and there 

 will be a light crop of fruit. Japan plums 



will also be scarce; indeed, all varieties 

 failed to bloom. Common sour cher- 

 ries- have set a nice crop; my Dyehouse 

 are nil. Strawberries promise a large crop 

 now that the late cool spell is over. We 

 had a light frost one or two nights last week, 

 but I cannot see that any harm has been 

 done. 



The late dry spell, just at planting time, 

 which here was a little later than usual, ow- 

 ing to the plants having made little or no 

 growth till after the 24th, has been hard on 

 the spring set plants ; indeed, there will be a 

 shortage in next year's supply, as many of 

 the plants have died. 



The native varieties of gooseberries, such 

 as Pearl and Josselyn, have set a nice crop, 

 but the foreign varieties, owing evidently to 

 the scourging they got with the mildew last 

 season, have not only failed to bear, but 

 nearly every bush is dead or partly so. 

 Columbia and Whitesmith have stood the 

 winter the best. 



Shaffer raspberry winter killed badly, 

 while Columbia came through the winter 

 sound to the tips. 



Nantyr. S. Spillett. 



FROM ONTARIO COUNTY. 



The present prospect for fruit of all kinds 

 was never better in this section. The fine 

 sunny weather at blooming time had a very 

 beneficial effect in aiding the fruit to set well 

 and many varieties both of apples and pears 

 will require thinning severely to get large 

 samples. Almost every tree planted in 1896 

 and 1897 will have fruit on this season, and 

 the fruit is fully one week in advance of for- 

 mer years. This is the eighth year our 

 Spies have loaded in succession, although 



