NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



347 



apples, and the crop this season is fairly 



large, but the quality is so poor that they 



can never really compete with Canadian 

 fruit." 



FRUIT (tKOWING in THE NORTH. 



IN conversation with Mr. Charles Young, 

 our experimenter on 6t. Joseph's Is- 

 land, Algoma, a short time ago, he remark- 

 ed that " One of the ideas which the settlers 

 of Northern Ontario must free their minds 

 of is that fruit cannot be grown in this 

 northern district." The crops of strawber- 

 ries, raspberries, currants, cherries, plums 

 and apples which he is growing certainly 

 prove that in this part of Algoma, at least, 

 the settler need never be without an abund- 

 ance of fruit for home use, and in many 

 cases profitably grow it for the ever increas- 

 ing market at the north. 



■' The reason," said he, " that so many 

 have failed in their first attempt is because 

 they planted the same old varieti'es they had 

 been used to in older Ontario." 



Mr. Young has about seventy-five varie- 

 ties of apples under test, and mentioned he 

 following as a few of those he had found 

 the most satisfactory: Duchess, Wealthy, 

 Transparent, Longfield, Gideon, Charlemofif 

 and Alexander. In Southern Ontario these 

 would be counted as only summer and fall 

 varieties, but they are not so here, for Algo- 

 ma grown Duchess keep till winter, while 

 Wealthy, in any good cellar, keeps in good 

 condition till February. 



NORTHERN ORCHARD ENEMIES. 



TWO of the worst enemies the northern 

 apple grower has had to contend 

 with have been sun-scald and borers. The 

 latter breed in great numbers in the forest 

 trees, but take the apple tree by preference 

 when they can get them. Sun-scald is a 

 trouble peculiar to the northern and west- 

 ern districts, and is supposed to be caused 

 by the alternate freezing and thawing of the 



cambium layer. It shows itself usually ©n 

 the south and w;est side of the trunk in dead 

 patches of bark. Trees badly affected sel- 

 dom recover. The best way of avoiding it 

 is by the selection of hardy varieties, grow- 

 ing low headed trees, and shading the trunk 

 in the winter with a board, corn stalks or 

 other material. 



SOUTHERN ENEMIES UNKNOWN IN 

 ALGOMA. 



WE have heard it stated that the cod- 

 ling moth and curculio were as 

 yet unknown in Algoma and Muskoka, but 

 were a little doubtful about the truth of the 

 statement. When, however, we find wide 

 awake, observing fruit growers like Charles 

 Young, of Richards Landing, and Arkin 

 Eddy, of Hilton, who have been growing 

 fruit on St. Joseph's Island for over twenty 

 years, and who say that they have never yet 

 seen either of these insects on the island, we 

 must believe that the "Little Turk" and 

 the other afore mentioned barbarian have 

 not yet found this garden spot of the north. 



PROFITABLE STRAWBERRIES. 



PROBABLY in no part of Ontario can 

 berries be more successfully and more 

 profitably grown than in the north. In the 

 first place the soil is as fertile as could be 

 desired ; then too, the snow covers the vines 

 from the beginning to the end of winter, so 

 that no other protection is necessary. The 

 frequent showers afiford all the moisture 

 that is needed to bring the berries to a large 

 size without the aid of a summer mulch, 

 and to cap it all the grower can, as a rule, 

 get the top price for all the fruit he can pro- 

 duce. As an example of what can be done, 

 we need only mention that Chas. Young at 

 Richard's Landing, has done this summer. 

 From a patch of not more than a quarter of 

 ?n acre he cleared over $200, all of his ber- 

 ries selling right at home for 10 cents per 



b')X. 



