142 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



July, 1908 



ly watching for in order to prevent it 

 from gaining a foothold in our orchards. 

 The best remedy that we can apply to 

 them is to dig out the worms both fall 

 and spring and either keep the trunk 

 banked with earth during t4ie growing 

 season or whitewashed with a thin coat 

 of cement, which prevents the young 

 from gaining access to the tree. 



Notes on Cherries 



T. S. Cornell, St. Gebrge, Ont. 



Cherries will thrive in almost any part 

 of Canada by having the land well drain- 

 ed. They will not stand wet feet. The 

 sour cherries are more profitable than the 

 .sweet, and of the many kinds we prefer 

 the Early Richmond and large Mont- 

 morency. 



Cherries like other fruits have enemies 

 The black knot is one ; it has to be check- 

 ed in its green state. I also find the 

 plum curculio attacking them of late. 

 Spray the same as for plum. 



We begin picking before they are very 

 ripe, in order to have them all market- 

 ed in a firm state, leaving all the stems 

 possible on the fruit. We find it better 

 to pick in small pails, and to empty into 

 the baskets ready for market. We 

 handle all our cherries on the local mar- 

 ket getting the middlemen's commission 

 also. There is no more profitable fruit 

 to grow at the present time than the 

 sour cherry. 



Root Pruning for Fruit 



Edward Lane, Gait, Ont. 



If a tree is making too much wood 

 growth, and is not bearing what might 

 be considered a fair crop, it should be 

 deprived of a few of its roots. In or- 

 der to illustrate the value of this, I will 

 give one of my experiences along that 

 line. A few years ago, I received, as 

 a premium with The Canadian Horti- 

 cuLTi'RiST, a Wealthy apple tree and, if 

 my memory serves me right, it was of 

 one year's growth and about twelve or 

 fifteen inches high, branched out as a 

 dwarf and so I let it remain. It grew 

 to he eight feet high and six feet in width 

 and with no sign of fruit. I said to 

 it one day, "You have got to stop this. 

 I don't want so much wood ; I want 

 fruit." I dug a hole about thirty inches 

 from the trunk and then tunneled in 

 under it and there I found four large 

 roots. I cut these off and put the soil 

 back again. The next year, I had to 

 prop up every branch , but one on the op- 

 posite side to where I dug the hole and in 

 the fall, I had about three bushels of 

 splendid apples. 



My boys found they were good to 

 eat and as a consequence the branch 

 nearest the wall was stripped of its load 

 quite a while before the rest. The next 



year, the branch which did not require 

 to be propped and the one which the 

 boys stripped, had to be propped. Alto- 

 gether, the tree bore about one and one- 

 half bushels and the third year it bore 

 two bushels. They were as good a 

 sample as one could wish to pick up. 

 This instance is not a solitary one but 

 one of scores, and always with about the 

 same results. To my knowledge, it 

 has been practised through three genera- 

 tions, I myself having been taught it 

 over 40 years ago by my grandfather, 

 who was a nurseryman and knew where- 

 of he spoke. 



Fertilizers for Orchards 



S. C. Parker, Berwick, N.S. 



For our sixty acres of orchard, young 

 and old, we use commercial fertilizers 

 entirely. We use ground bone, acid 

 phosphate and muriate of potash. The 

 accepted method with us is to apply fer- 

 tilizers in early spring, cultivate thor- 

 oughly until July, then sow a cover 

 crop. Five hundred pounds of acid phos- 

 phate and two hundred of potash per 

 acre is about the average amount used, 

 with fifteen pounds clover, either Mam- 

 moth or Crimson. 



We use considerable mixed fertilizers 

 on small fruit and garden truck, finding 

 them more readily available. For these 

 we buy a high grade potato fertilizer 

 about four per .cent, nitrogen, eight per 

 cent, phosphoric acid and ten per cent, 

 potash. Probably it would be cheaper 

 to compound our own, but time is often 

 worth more than money. As our stock 

 comprises only one cow and teams nec- 

 essary to work the orchard, stable man- 

 ure does not cut much figure in our busi- 

 ness. 



Fameusc vs. Mcintosh 



R. W. Shepherd, Montreal 



Mcintosh Red can never replace Fam- 

 euse, as to quality, for a dessert apple. 

 In the best houses in England, where the 

 two kinds have been tried, the verdict 

 has always been in favor of Fameuse, 

 and I speak from experience, because I 

 have a large clientele of that class of 

 cutomers. 



In England, apples are more generally 

 used at dinner for the dessert course 

 than they are here, where we get 

 oranges, banana's, grapes, and so forth, 

 very cheap. The medium size and beau- 

 tiful appearance of the Fameuse, apart 

 from its peculiarly delicate high flavor, 

 and delightful perfume, brings it into 

 great demand. The Mcintosh is rather 

 too large, and often irregular in shape, to 

 be as popular a dessert apple for the 

 table. 



To get size among fruit trees cultivate 

 often and thoroughly. 



Canadian Pears f 



W. T. Macoun, Ottawa 



The number of good pears which 

 have originated in Canada is not very 

 great, mainly for the reason that the 

 pear districts are more limited in ex- 

 tent than the apple, .and that chance 

 pear seedlings do not stand as good 

 a chance of surviving as apple seed 

 lings. Two varieties only need be 

 mentioned, namely, Dempsey and Rit- 

 son. The following descriptions of 

 these pears are taken from "The 

 Fruits of Ontario": 



DEMPSEY 



The Dempsey was originated near 

 Trenton, in Prince Edward County, 

 Ont., by Mr. P. C. Dempsey. It was 

 produced from a seed of a Bartlett, 

 fertilized with Duchess d'Angouleme. 

 The fruit is firm, and consequently 

 would ship well. Tree, vigorous and 

 productive; fruit, large, oblong, obo- 

 vate, pyriform; skin, smooth yellowish- 

 green, with a brownish-red cheek in 

 sun; stem, about one inch long, set in 

 a fleshy base, and with almost no cav- 

 ity; calyx, nearly closed in a moder- 

 ately deep uneven basin; core, small; 

 flesh, white, fine grained, tender, al- 

 most melting, with sweet, delicious 

 flavor; season, late October to No- 

 vember. 



RITSON 



The Ritson is a delicious dessert pear, 

 which is worthy of a place in every 

 fruit garden. It is not surpassed for 

 canning or for pickling, having an 

 aroma and peculiarly agreeable flavor. 

 It originated in Oshawa, Ont., with 

 Mr. W. E. Wellington. In response 

 to our enquiry, Mr. Wellington writes: 

 "It was my grandmother, Mrs. John 

 Ritson, who planted the seeds from 

 a pear which had been sent to her 

 from Boston. The tree has always 

 stood on my grandmother's home- 

 stead as long as I can remember." 

 The tree is a strong, healthy, upright 

 grower. The original tree is now of 

 immense size, probably over thirty 

 feet high, and about 100 years old, an 

 annual bearer of nice, evenly formed 

 fruit. The fruit is medium in size, 

 obovate pyriform, usually one-sided; 

 color of skin, yellow, heavily shaded 

 with golden russet, and numerous min- 

 ute white dots of a darker russet ; stem, 

 one inch long, often inserted in a fleshy 

 protuberance, and at a slight inclina- 

 tion ; calyx, open wide in a very shal- 

 low, regular basin; flesh, creamy white; 

 texture, fine, tender, buttery, juicy;' 

 flavor, sweet, delicately perfumed; 

 quality for dessert, very good to best, 

 and for cooking, very good ; value, 

 market, promising for a special trade; 

 season, October. 'f-| 



Do not forget to remove the blossoms 

 from newly-set strawberry plants. 



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