ON AGRICULTURE TO CANADA 89 



of named varieties of apples tested up to the present time, including 

 about forty crab apples, exceeds six hundred. Among these have 

 been many Russian apples, because it was thought thai they might 

 be hardier than those of American origin. A few of the conclusions 

 reached after about twenty years work in testing tin- named varieties 

 on the market seem sufficiently interesting ami BUggestive for 

 recapitulation here. 



Summer and autumn apples, i.e. apples suitable for consumption 

 in these seasons have proved to be the hardiest. They include 

 most of the Russian varieties. No winter variety equal to such 

 commercial sorts as Greening, King, Baldwin and Northern Spy 

 has yet been found hardy enough to grow at Ottawa. Some l'oo 1 

 winter sorts, however, live and bear fruit for several years, but most 

 of them are eventually killed by the severe winter. Some of the 

 Russian apples appear to be hardier than any apples of American 

 origin, and their introduction has been the means of extending the 

 culture of this fruit to Southern Manitoba. They are, however, 

 mostly summer and fall varieties, but a few of them keep well into 

 winter. The continuous work carried on in apple testing has 

 enabled the Department to publish a valuable bulletin, which has 

 been widely distributed, recommending a list of the best varieties 

 suitable for the different districts. In addition to experiments 

 with named sorts, interesting work has also been done in produc- 

 ing new varieties, it being hoped that seedlings raised in Canada 

 will give desirable sorts. Persons who have produced seedlings 

 are invited to help with this work by sending specimens of the 

 fruit for examination, and if the variety is thought promising scions 

 are asked for. By this means a collection of eighty-three very 

 promising seedlings has been made. In 1890 another attempt 

 was made to get hardy sorts by raising 3000 seedlings from apple 

 seed brought from north of Riga in Russia. These have been 

 cultivated at Ottawa and gradually reduced to seventy-five trees. 

 Out of this number there are a few that may prove superior to any 

 hitherto available variety of the same season. Twenty-five of these 

 seedlings being very hardy have been sent to Manitoba and the 

 Xorth-West for trial. Here it may also be mentioned that Dr 

 Saunders himself, for many years, devoted much attention to cross- 

 breeding of apples with a view of getting suitable varieties for these 

 districts. 



Ecpially useful to the fruit growers have been the cultural ex- 

 periments carried out by the horticultural division. They have 

 dealt with practical subjects, suth as fall versus spring planting, 

 root killing of apple trees and the growing of cover crops. The 

 last-named subject is of outstanding importance as it is the recog- 

 nised method of keeping up the fertility of the soil in Canadian 

 orchards. This cover crop consists of a catch crop between the rows 

 of fruit trees. Trial crops have included crimson clover, mammoth 

 red clover, common red clover, alfalfa, soy beans, cow peas, 

 English horse beans, hairy vetch, summer vetch, buck-wheat, and 

 rape. The conclusions reached are that these cover crops are 

 valuable, and that mammoth red clover, and common red clover, 



