NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



301 



with the wet weather, and will, if it con- 

 tinues, cause a serious depreciation. 



Peaches are also a large crop. Mr. J. L. 

 Hilborn, of Leamington, says : " Peaches 

 of all varieties except those subject to curl 

 leaf are heavily loaded. The Elberta, a 

 variety much subject to curl, has suffered 

 very little where it was sprayed early, but 

 where spraying was done late or not at all 

 many of the trees will probably die." 



Small fruits are a heavy crop everywhere 

 except in the eastern portion of the pro- 

 vince, where the drought is responsible for 

 the failure. 



THE "KING" APPLE. 



^rMIE " King" is one of the favorite va- 

 X rieties in the market, but unfortu- 

 nately it is so shy a bearer on its own roots 

 that it is not at all profitable. It has, how- 

 ever, frequently been noted that by top- 

 grafting it on any vigorous stock it becomes 

 much more prolific. 



The Fruit Division, Ottawa, invited cor- 

 respondence upon this subject, and has re- 

 ceived some valuable information. Mr. C. 

 L. Stephens, of Orillia, has the King top- 

 grafted on Duchess, and finds that its bear- 

 ing qualities are quite satisfactory. Mr. 

 Wm. Read, of Jarrat's Corners, has twelve 

 King trees grafted on Duchess, and reports 

 equally good results. Mr. Judson Harris, 

 of Ingersoll, has an orchard of two and a 

 half acres, the crop from which the past 

 eight years has never brought him less than 

 $500. Many of these trees are Kings 

 grafted on Russets. Mr. Robert Murray, 

 of Avening, has a number of King trees on 

 their own roots and others grafted on Tol- 

 man Sweets, and notes that the top grafted 

 trees are the only ones that give him paying 

 crops. 



The experience of these growers and many 

 others goes to show that it would be a very 

 profitable piece of business to top-graft at 

 least some of the early apples to be found all 



over Ontario, with Kings. The King is an 

 apple that exactly fills the bill as a fancy 

 market variety, as it is of excellent quality, 

 color and size, and well known in the Eng- 

 lish market. If its only defect, want of pro- 

 ductiveness, can be cured by the simple 

 method of top-grafting, it should prove a 

 boon to many people who have vigorous 

 trees of undesirable varieties. 



THE GIFT PACKAGE FOR GRAPES. 



OUR readers, who have been hoping to 

 see a market in Great Britain for 

 Canadian grapes, may be interested in a 

 view of the interior of a salesroom in Cov- 

 ent Garden, London, England. These old 

 wicker baskets, which have been in use from 

 time immemorial in that country, may look 

 clumsy to us, but owing to their great 

 strength they endure shipments for years, 

 thus avoiding that most serious annual ex- 

 penditure for baskets, which bids fair to 

 ]:eep the Canadian fruit grower poor. Once 

 when fruit prices were high, the gift pack- 

 ?ge came into use, and was looked upon as 

 a saving of trouble; and so it was, but can 

 we afford the luxury? Very often the 

 money we fruit growers pay the basket 

 maker exceeds our own share of the pro- 

 ceeds of our fruit crop. Indeed, the basket 

 bill of many a fruit growfer in the Niagara 

 district reaches $1,000 in a single "season. 

 Is it not time to call a halt and ask ourselves 

 whether, after all, this old world conserva- 

 tive custom of using such fine strong bas- 

 kets, as are shown in the illustration, is not 

 worthy of introduction into Canada. Such 

 baskets would last for generations, and are 

 returned free by the carrying companies, so 

 that when once a stock is secured the basket 

 expense is over. 



Of course in this we refer only to home 

 markets ; for it would be almost impractica- 

 ble to have export packages returned, even 

 if they were so made that they could be 

 nested. 



