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TOP BUDDING. 



RAFTING has usually been looked 

 upon by the farmer and fruit 

 grower as the only method by 

 which the top of a tree might be changed to 

 some other variety. The operation of bud- 

 ding, which is really grafting with a single 

 but instead of a scion with two or three buds 

 may, however, be practised in almost every 

 case with as much success as grafting. 

 Grafting is best done early in the spring, at 

 which time there is often such a rush of 

 other work that it has to be put off and is 

 then neglected. Budding is done during 

 the summer, when it is usually more conven- 

 ient to get time for doing it. 



The practice of budding is particularly 

 adapted to the top working of young trees 

 when the main branches are not more than 

 an inch or so in diameter, for the buds may 

 be inserted on branches of this size, and the 

 wound made when the branch is removed 

 heals over readily. Detailed directions for 

 budding may be found elsewhere in this 

 number. 



A WARNING TO FRUIT GROWERS. 



THE Fruit Division of the Department 

 of Agriculture, Ottawa, issued the 

 following warning to fruit growers about the 

 last of June : It is to be feared that the wet 

 weather at present prevailing will lead a 

 good many orchardists to neglect spraying. 

 Last year the summer and autumn were wet, 

 and many growers of fruit failed to give 

 their orchards more than two or three spray- 

 ings. Cool moist weather is peculiarly fa- 

 vorable to the development of fungous 

 growths, and it is only by seizing every op- 

 portunity and spraying whenever a day or 

 two of dry weather comes along that sound 

 clean fruit can be secured. Wet weather 

 should be an incentive to greater diligence 



in spraying, rather than an excuse for not 

 spraying. Eternal vigilance is the price of 

 safety in fruit growing, and it behooves 

 every one who desires a full crop of first- 

 class fruit to spray early and often. 



ORCHARD CULTIVATION. 



THERE is a danger that on account of 

 the wet weather orchards will not re- 

 ceive their usual cultivation, which is urgent- 

 ly needed to destroy weeds, aerate the soil, 

 and conserve soil moisture for future use. 

 If the ground is not stirred it bakes, cracks 

 open, and evaporation goes on rapidly. By 

 stirring the soil through frequent cultiva- 

 tion, thus keeping a loose mulch on the sur- 

 face, capillarity is broken up and moisture 

 retained. As soon as it is possible, there- 

 fore, to get on the ground after a rain, the 

 cultivator should be started in the orchard 

 and kept going as steadily as time and wea- 

 ther will permit. 



FRUIT PROSPECTS. 



M "^ HE following is a summary of the crop 

 JL report, as obtained by the Fruit Di- 

 vision of the Dominion Department of Agri- 

 culture : Early apples are reported a good 

 crop in all sections. Winter apples will be 

 only medium. The fruit has been singular- 

 ly free from the ravages of insects and fun- 

 gous diseases, though a few correspondents 

 are noting the development of some scab 

 since the wet weather has set in. The fruit 

 division a few days ago issued a timely 

 warning that spraying with the Bordeaux 

 mixture would be doubly necessary as long 

 as the v/et weather continued. 



Pears in Southern Ontario and Georgian 

 Bay districts are a good crop. In Eastern 

 Ontario they are a failure in many places. 



Plums are a heavy crop in all the plum 

 growing sections, but the rot is developing 



