14 



THE CANADIAN H O R T I C U L T U E I S T 



January, 1909 



moisture in the trees and there may be 

 some loss this winter. Trees must not go 

 into winter too dry. Root-killing occurs 

 most often in dry soils and is due also 

 to low temperatures." Mr. N. E. Jack, of 

 Chateauguay Basin pointed out that air 

 drainage has something to do with root- 

 killing. Trees in valleys and low places will 

 kill first. Respecting sod vs. clean culti- 

 vation, Mr. C. P. Newman of Lachine 

 Locks, said that the color of Fameuse, 

 Mcintosh, Wealthy and Alexander is much 

 injured by cultivation. As these varieties 

 are sold largely on the value of their color, 

 it is better to grow them in sod, or at 

 least some compromising system of culture. 



SOME NEWER PRACTICES 



An interesting discussion on "Some of 

 the Newer Practices in Pomology" was 

 introduced by Mr. N. E. Jack. He advised 

 growers to keep up-to-date in all orchard 

 operations. Mr. Harold Jones touched on 

 co-operation. He said that this system of 

 growing and handling fruits attracts buyers 

 tiecause they can get what they want. It 

 widens the market. It brings higher prices 

 because -complete cars can be filled at one 

 time with the stock that buyers want. 

 It economizes in the 'buying of material for 

 spraying, marketing and so forth. Most 

 important is its influence in improving 

 the pack. Growers that pack co-operatively 

 can pack more uniformly. 



"Boxes vs. Barrels," was discussed by 

 Mr. E. H. Wartman, Dominion Fruit In- 

 spector, Montreal, who said that ten per 

 cent, of the export fruit in barrels that 

 left Montreal and Quebec was slack. As 

 60,000 barrels went forward, this means, 

 estimating a loss of $1 a barrel, $6,000. 

 Barrels are heavy to handle. Tney are too 

 ')ig for stevedors to carry carefully. As a 

 .esult, they receive ill-usuage. Boxes are 

 more easily handled. They are the best for 

 the highest grades. 



GRAFTING 



In a short talk on grafting, Mr. Macoun 

 said that the scion and stock when grafted 

 constitute merely a mechanical union, not 

 an organic one. Sometimes the top will 

 outgrow the stock because not enough sap 

 is supplied. The peculiarity of the stock 

 always remains. There is individuality in 

 trees as there is in animals. Each bud 

 on the tree is really an individual. Top- 

 grafting increases fruitfulness. It may not 

 increase the total amount but it will make 

 the scions earlier in fruiting. 



An illustration of individuality in trees 

 was given by Mr. Macoun, who referred to 

 two trees of Mcintosh growing in the same 

 orchard. A record for ten years showed that 

 one of them gave in that time 485 gallons 

 of fruit and the other 197% gallons, making 

 a difference of 287% gallons. One tree was 

 therefore, two and a half times better than 

 the other. In ten years, the difference 

 amounted to 12 barrels, which, at $2 a 

 barrel, means $24 or a difference of $2.40 

 in one year. Estimating 40 trees to the 

 acre, this would mean a difference of $96 

 a year per acre. Many similar cases were 

 cited. 



The crab was recommended as a stock 

 on account of its hardiness. Prof. W. S. 

 Blair of Macdonald College said that crab 

 stock varies; the Martha is a strong grower 

 and makes a good stock. Prof. G. Reynaud 

 of La Trappe said that he has had good 

 success in grafting Spy on Transcendent 

 crab. Mr. J. M. Fisk of Afebotsford stated' 

 that he has abandoned the crab as a stock 

 on account of its propensity to suckering. 

 Mr. Clark of Massiwippi, cited cases of Spy 

 and Newtown Pippin on Duchess stock 

 which came through a hard winter all right, 

 while those grafted on Longfield killed 



back. Mr. Macoun pointed out that there 

 is no influence exerted by the stock on 

 the hardiness of the scion. Spys have 

 killed down to the union, 



PLANT BREEDING 



A valuable paper on "The Principles of 

 Plant Breeding," was contributed by Prof. 

 Wm. Lochhead of Macdonald College. This 

 will be published in full in a latter issue of 

 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



Mr. W. T. Macoun, contributed a paper 

 on "Some Results in Plant Breeding," in 

 which he doubted if our friuts in the wild 

 state have made any improvement from an 

 economic standpoint during the last 4,000 

 or 5,000 years; they might have made some. 

 But when we consider the tremendous de- 

 velopment that has taken place in the 

 strawberry since we got the Wilson seedling 

 as a cultivated variety, about 40 or 50 

 years ago, the improvement is something 

 wonderful. This shows that once a plant 

 is brought under cultivation the advance 

 is very rapid. 



The art of cross-breeding was known in 

 the 18th century, but it is only within the 

 last half century that much progress has 



and as they were able to produce flowers in 

 shorter time than shrubs and fruits, they 

 went to work and obtained improvement in 

 orchids, gladioli, cannas, begonias, phlox, 

 roses, deutzias. lilacs, and so forth. 



Mr. Macoun referred to some of the Cana- 

 dians and others who have been prominent 

 in plant breeding— Dr. Wm. Saunders, who 

 began working in 1868 on the gooseberry, 

 red and white currant, raspberry, black- 

 berry, grape and apple, as well as several 

 species of flowers; Charles Arnold, Paris, 

 Ont.; P. C. Dempsey, Cobourg, Ont.; W. H. 

 Mills, Hamilton, Ont.; Wm. Hoskins, Ham- 

 ilton, Ont. ; James Dougall, Windsor, Ont. ; 

 E. S. Rogers. Roxbury, Mass.; T. O. Mun- 

 .son, Denison, Texas, and Ephraim W. Bull, 

 Concord, Mass. He touched, also, on some 

 of the men who had been prominent in 

 flower breeding — Lemoine, Eckford, Crozy, 

 Groff, Dickson, and Ward. We have heard 

 much, he said, of Mr. Burbank's work, but 

 he did not think that it compared in value 

 with the work of those he had mentioned. 

 BuAank's results have been largely con- 

 fined to the western parts of America. Prac- 

 tically none of his introductions have had 

 a large reputation, so that, although we 



A Part of tbe Quebec Pomological Society's Fruit Exhibit 



tieen made in breeding fruits by this 

 method. Most of the tree fruits in com- 

 merce have originated as chance seedlings, 

 or as seedlings with only one parent known. 

 This was not the fault of the method of 

 artificial cross-Jsreeding, but because until 

 recently few men could or would devote the 

 time and the land necessary for the work. 

 With bush fruits and vines it has been dif- 

 ferent, as less time is needed to bring them 

 to fruition; and with ornamental shrubs, 

 annuals and herbaceous perennials the ad- 

 vances from cross-breeding had been very 

 marked. 



The increase in population in cities de- 

 manding more food and the increase in 

 competition resulting therefrom, made the 

 desire for better fruit imperative. After a 

 time the government took up the work, and 

 in the last 50 or 60 years it has undertaken 

 to provide the means for carrying on the 

 work, and within that time some of the 

 greatest results have been obtained, some 

 of them by private individuals. More has 

 been done, however, in the production of 

 new varieties of flowers than of fruit. 

 Florists have appreciated the great impor- 

 tance of getting new varieties for commerce, 



have heard a great deal about him, we 

 should always remember that there are 

 other men who had done more for plant 

 breeding from an economic standpoint than 

 Burbank has up to the present. 



Mr. Macoun called attention to the work 

 which had been done at the Central Experi- 

 mental Farm, under the direction of Dr. 

 Saunders, and concluded by saying that 

 he was a great believer in plant breeding. 

 He was of the opinion that they would in 

 time get apples which would cover the sea- 

 son in this part of Canada and in others, 

 apples of the finest quality and of the high- 

 est color. That is what they are working 

 for at the farm. 



In a discussion that followed Mr. 

 Macoun's paper, Mr. A. B. Cutting of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist suggested that 

 new varieties of fruits that are more or less 

 distinct in sexual characteristics be given 

 names that coincide with sex. He pointed 

 out that many varieties of strawberries in 

 particular have been wrongly named in this 

 respect and that it would be better to give 

 bi-sexual or male varieties, male names, 

 and pistillate or female varieties, female 

 names. This point is referred to at greater f' 



