THE KING APPLE. 



405 



berries and commercial plums is full of in- 

 terest to visiting fruit growers. As side 

 industries Mr. Sherrington has a apiary of 

 about fifty hives, and a poultry yard with 

 about 100 thoroughbred Plymouth Rock 

 hens, of which all the eggs are sold for set- 

 ting. With such care and such industry, 

 ten acres is enough to yield a good income, 

 better than many men take from ten times 

 that acreage. 



Such men are valuable in every com- 

 munity. They have gained in life's school 

 an education that cannot be got from books. 



and their fellow men, seeing how they man- 

 age their own affairs, have confidence in 

 them with regard to public matters. So in 

 the case of ]\Ir. Sherrington, his fellows 

 have elected him to their township council, 

 made him superintendent of the fair, or- 

 ganizer of farmers' institutes and fruit 

 growers' associations, judge at fairs, and 

 many other positions of usefulness. We 

 count ourselves fortunate in securing his 

 services in testing fruits for the general 

 good. 



THE KING APPLE. 



'' I ^ HE King is one of the favorite varie- 

 1 ties of apples in the market, but un- 

 fortunately is so shy a bearer in its own 

 roots, that is is not at all profitable. It has, 

 however, 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, or Orillia, has the " King " 

 topgrafted on " Duchess," and finds that its 

 bearing 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 one 

 half acres, the crop from which for 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 pay- 

 ing 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. It 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 

 productiveness, can be cured by the simple 

 method of topgrafting, it should prove a 

 boon to many people who have vigorous 

 trees of undesirable varieties. — Kincardine 

 Reporter. 



