April, 1909 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



93 



subject of an address by Mr. Norman M. 

 Ross, Superintendent, Foresty Branch, Ind- 

 ian Head, Sask. This was illustrated by 

 numerous views. The speaker said that, in 

 planting, straight lines should be avoided. 

 I Best effects are secured by planting similar 

 L species of trees and shrubs in clumps or 

 I groups rather than separately. 

 I Dr. H. M. Speechly, Pilot Mound, Man., 

 gave reasons why western people should take 

 f a greater interest in forestry and re-f orestra- 

 t tion and pointed out that at the present 

 [ rate of consumption, the supply of timber 

 [ would become exhausted within the next 

 century unless something were done. A 

 . practical address was given by Mr. W. G. 



■ Scott on "The Improvement of a Rural 

 Home." Rev. Dr. Baird, of Winnipeg, 

 dealt with "The Cultivation of Pseonies." 

 The subject of "Hedges for the Country and 



; City" was discussed by Prof. S. A. Bed- 

 ; ford, M.A.C-., Winnipeg. Other addresses 



■ were : "Seeds from the Dealers' Point of 

 jView," by C. J. TurnbuU, Winnipeg; 

 I "Flowers, the Farmers' Wife Can Grow," 

 j Thos. Jackson, M.A.C, Winnipeg; "Shelter 



Belts and Wind-Breaks," by J. J. Ring, 



Crystal City, Man. ; "Birds in Relation to 



Forests," J. J. Golden, Deputy Minister of 



Agriculture, Winnipeg, ten-minute talks 



; by Messrs. Saville, Walker and Wimsett, 



t students of the M.A.C. ; and some others. 



[ Most of these addresses will appear in part 



1 or in full in later issues of The Canadian 



i HORTICULTtTRIST. 



Montreal 



E. H. Wartman, Dominion Fmit Inspector 



f' It is only in large cities like Montreal, 

 ' New York and Chicago, that we can feast 

 [ our eyes on varieties of fruits such as man- 

 gos, persimmons, grapes, strawberries, 

 plums, Bartlett pears, nectarines, etc. These 

 fruits are for sale here from India, Ceylon, 

 Cape Town and Italy, making quite a se- 

 lection to choose from. Of course, transpor- 

 tation and duties make prices high. The 

 wealthy have the privilege to gratify their 

 appetites by using these delicious foreign 

 fruits. 



Great care has to be exercised in packing 

 such tender fruit. They are protected by 

 excelsior and cotton batting to such an ex- 

 tent that they arrive in good condition 

 California Navel Oranges are in big sup- 

 ply and cheaper than for years, and qual- 

 ity very superior. 



Apples in cold storage are in short sup- 

 ply. They seem to be keeping well and 

 prices rule high. Oregon apples are shown 

 in Walter Paul's grocery at 75 cents a doz- 

 en of the Esopus Spitzenburg variety. 

 Strawberries from Florida are arriving in 

 fine order in imperial quart boxes and re- 

 tail at 66 cents. 



Nova Scotia 



Eunice Watts 



During the past two months institute 

 meetings have been held at various parts of 

 the province, chiefly in the Annapolis Val- 

 ley. These meetings, with the exception of 

 the Seed Fair held at Berwick, were address- 

 ed by King's County men. Owing to the 

 lateness of the season, and the exclusion of 

 warehouse men from entries, the apple dis- 

 play at the Seed Pair was characterized by 

 quality rather than quantity, but there were 

 large entries of seeds and potatoes which 

 were exceptionally fine, and the attendance 

 and interest of the people seem to be on the 

 increase. Lectures on potatoes were given 

 by Mr. L. D. Robinson, and on dairying by 

 Mr. Frank Foster, while Mr. W. H. Wood- 

 worth took up orcharding. 



Mr. Woodworth said that we needed more 



orchards. The young people to-day could 

 not see far enough ahead and they were 

 making a great mistake in not planting 

 apple trees. The best orchard results were 

 obtained on a rich clay loom which retains 

 the fertilizer better than the lighter soils. 

 It was not advisable to plant apple trees 

 nearer than 40 feet, and we had made mis- 

 takes in the past by not preparing the 

 ground before painting and by importing 

 poor stock. 



With regard to pruning the speaker point- 

 ed out that much harm had been done by 

 excessive trimming and the removal of 

 fruit spurs. It was foolish to head young 

 trees too high for the stock will not be so 

 stout as a low standard which is easier to 

 spray, pick, prune and handle in general. 



Turning his attention to manures, Mr. 

 Woodworth deplored the method of keeping 

 the same under the eaves, and said that one 

 load of manure from the basement cellar 

 was worth four left out in the weather, as 

 valuable constituents were soluble and wash- 

 ed away in the drainage. Nitrogen is best 

 applied in the form of summer vetch, which 

 with the addition of 500 pounds of ground 

 bone and 200 of potash made an excellent 

 fertilizer. Farm yard manure was better 

 for young trees than nitrate of soda, which 

 produces too much young wood which is 

 apt to be winter killed. 



It was a good thing to plow orchards in 

 the fall, thus burying the leaves affected 

 with spot. Light lands could be plowed 

 in spring, but there was not enough differ- 

 ence between the results of fall and spring 

 plowing to make it a fixed rule. 



Strawberry Culture 



Editor, "The Canadian Horticulturist: 

 — The^ article in last December issue, by 

 Mr. Rittenhouse, has many valuable points, 

 but there are a few things in it which my 

 experience has taught me are not applica'ble 

 or advisable for all strawberry growers. His 

 plan for preparation of the soil is excellent, 

 also his advice about selection of plants. 

 But my experience regarding time of plant- 

 ing does not correspond with his. My best 

 successes have been with plants set just as 

 soon as I can work the ground; in fact, 

 two years ago I received some plants from 

 the United States before the frost was all 

 out of the ground, and I had difficulty in 

 getting the spade deep enough into the 

 ground to admit the roots to proper depth, 

 but without harrowing the ground which, 

 of course had been fall plowed. I got them 

 in and never had a better stand of plants 

 than these gave me. We had frost after- 

 wards that froze the ground quite hard, yet 

 did not seem to injure the plants. 



In setting, I use two boys to take turns 

 placing the plants in the hole made by the 

 spade and can thus set about 4 000 in a day. 

 In making the holes, I hold the front of the 

 spade towards me, pressing the handle from 

 me a little and back again, having the hole 

 on the side of the spade opposite from me 

 so that, when the plant is dropped in and 

 the spade withdrawn, I can press the earth 

 against the roots with my foot without any 

 inconvenience, thus attaining speed as well 

 as effectiveness. 



We cannot put too much stress on the 

 desirability of cultivating with a light culti- 

 vator as soon as the plants are set. It is 

 also advisable to use the fingers around 

 every plant, to stir the soil about them, 

 leaving a little loose earth on ti'p. 



I, too, have had serious damage threaten- 

 ed by cut worms 'but have managed to ex- 

 terminate them completely as soon as de- 

 tected, by mixing a small quantity of Paris 

 green in slightly moistened bran and scat- 

 • tering it lightly along the rows. The worms 

 are very fond of bran and seem to eat it m 



preference to the foliage. On getting the 

 poison, they crawl under the surface of the 

 ground and die. 



While I am aware that Williams is the 

 great commercial berry at Jordan, I often 

 wonder why it is. I do not know of any 

 authentic comparison test that has ever 

 placed Williams higher, or even as high in 

 yield, as many better berries. While it is 

 a good shipper, it's green tip and poor color 

 makes it a very unattractive market berry. 

 In our market, when Williams were a drug 

 at seven cents a box, I sold Busters at 15 

 cents, and the latter is a much better 

 yielder. True, Buster is not so good a ship- 

 per but Lovett, Sample and Parson's 

 Beauty, are as good shippers, as good yield- 

 ers and decidedly better sellers. I now 

 have eight acres under strawberries, includ- 

 ing 62 varieties, but only planted 25 plants 

 of Williams last spring. — W. J. Kerr, 

 Ottawa. 



Pall Bulb Planting 



Editor, The Canadian Horticulturist: 

 In reply to the question about bulb plant- 

 ing, from Mr. B. Gott, of Strathroy, Ont., 

 that appeared in the December issue of The 

 Canadian Horticulturist, I may say that 

 our method has been to cut the seed pods 

 off after blooming, and to give the foliage 

 as long to mature as practicable. As we use 

 the beds for other flowering and for orna- 

 mental material, we lift the bulbs. A man 

 and boy are provided with a number of 

 "flats" (shallow boxes). With a spade the 

 former lifts the bulbs and foliage and the 

 boy lays them carefully in the flat, placing 

 an inch or so of earth in the bottom and a 

 little loose earth on top. A label is placed 

 with each variety, to keep it distinct from 

 the others. The bulbs are then placed in a 

 cool cellar or, if this is not available, in 

 some cool shady nook in the garden out of 

 sight. It is surprising how quickly the beds 

 can be cleared with the right kind of help. 



About the middle of October, the buds are 

 prepared for planting. The bulbs are sort- 

 ed. Those that are large enough to bloom 

 are kept and the small ones are thrown out. 

 As these bulbs naturally deteriorate, we 

 mix each year the old ones with those 

 newly imported. We plant some 20,000 tulip 

 bulbs, which are imported direct from Hol- 

 land. We have observed in planting bulbs 

 that when left alone they were better the 

 second year than the first, but they deter- 

 iorate rapidly in this country. Some seasons 

 are more favorable than others. The tulip 

 dislikes a high, sunny temperature. Light 

 shading will prolong their blooming season. 

 They deteriorate more quickly in St. John, 

 where the atmosphere is cool and humid, 

 than they do in Fredericton, where we have 

 hot, southerly winds.— J. Bebbington, Sr., 

 Fredericton, N. B. 



The Imperial Bank of Canada has re- 

 cently opened a branch of the bank at Gow 

 Ganda, Ont., and at Lcthbridge, Alta. 



Have you received a notice that your sub- 

 scription has expired? Renew promptly, so 

 as not to miss an issue of the paper. We 

 cannot promise to send back copies. 



The Ottawa branch of the Ontario Vege- 

 table Growers' Association has prepared an 

 excellent programme for this year. It is as 

 follows : April 13,— "Celery Culture" by H. 

 Holz; May 11, — "Insect Enemies of Vege- 

 table Gardens," by A. Gibson; Sept. 14,— 

 "Melon Culture," by Jas. Fox and W. 

 Frick; Oct. 12,— "Fruit Culture at Otta- 

 wa," by W. T. Macoun and W. J. Kerr; 

 Nov. 9,— "Potato Culture," by J. MoMul- 

 len and F. Fear. 



