30 



i" HE CANADIAN 11 O R T 1 C U L T U R 1 S T 



that will be hardier than anything we 

 now have, and be well worthy of culti- 

 vation. A few of these new seedlings 

 have already been produced. In the 

 meantime, we have a number of trees in 

 bearing scattered throughout the prov- 

 ince, of the varieties which have proved 

 the most successful in Minnesota. There 

 are orchards varying from a dozen to 



over 100 trees which have fruited in a 

 single year. Propagation from the hard- 

 iest specimens may now be carried on 

 both by grafting and by growing seed- 

 lings. We now have, therefore, a solid 

 basis upon which to work. Progress 

 will be more rapid than in the early 

 days, when all stock was brought in. 

 In 1901, an exhibition of tree fruits 



was held in Winnipeg, at which there 

 were 47 exhibits of standard apples, 

 eight of hybrids and 18 crabs, besides a 

 number of seedlings, grown in the prov- 

 ince. The named varieties, also, were 

 grown in Manitoba. Since that date, 

 considerable progress has been made 

 and an exhibition now would certainly 

 show a vast increase in the entries. 



Commercial Varieties of Fruits lor Nova Scotia 



THE question of varieties is so much a 

 personal matter that it is difficult 

 to map out a list of varieties which 

 shall represent everyone's preferences. 

 Still, the bulk of Nova Scotia plantings 

 are confined within comparatively nar- 

 row limits as to varieties and if there can 

 be said to be a well-defined "tendencv" of 

 late years, I believe it is in the direction 

 of sticking to the old sorts and being 

 more chary of the new and untried. 



The list of apples which most often 

 appears as the "best 10 varieties for 

 commercial planting," is probably the 

 following: Gravenstein, Ribston, Blen- 

 heim, King, Baldwin, Spy, Golden Rus- 

 set, Stark, Fallawater, and Nonpareil. 

 But, in the newly set orchards Graven- 

 stein does not often appear, partly be- 

 cause most growers feel they already 

 have enough of this variety and parth' 

 because a good many trees of this sort 

 have gone out with collar rot, or kindred 

 diseases. The writer believes this latter 

 reason need have but little force if 

 orchards are carefully and consistently 

 managed; if they are carried along 

 systematically from year to year as 

 regards culture, not overstimulated, 

 and if a good corn crop is sown each 

 year to check the trees up for winter. 



There is no question that of the vari- 

 eties mentioned above the Blenheim is 

 just now by far the most popular. Its 

 sturdy growth and freedom from black 

 spot in both leaf and fruit, and the fact 

 that there is so little waste in packing 

 the fruit have combined to bring it to 

 the front. 



Comparatively few early apples, ripen- 

 ing before the Gravenstein, are grown; 

 not enough in the writer's opinion. The 

 most popular would be Yellow Trans- 

 parent, Duchess of Oldenburg, Red 

 Astrachan and Williams Favorite. 

 Other autumn sorts that are quite large- 

 ly grown are Alexander, Wolf River, 

 and Wealthy. Wagener and Ontario 

 are par excellence the popular sorts as 

 fillers, though Ben Davis is also set for 

 this purpose, while Mcintosh, Hub- 

 bardston and Rhode Island Greening 

 all have their friends and ought to have 

 more. 



Coming to pears, practically the onlv 

 varieties grown commercially are Clapp's 



Prof. F. C. Sears, Truro, Nova Scotia 



Favorite and Bartlett. The liability 

 of the former, as grown here, to rot at 

 the core makes the profit from it some- 

 what problematical, though it succeeds 

 more generallv than even the Bartlett. 



Burbank Plum Tree Headed-in 

 Hillcrest Orchards, Kentville, N.S. 



Nova Scotia can grow excellent Louise 

 Bonne, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre Hardy, 

 Sheldon, Boussock, Flemish, and Ver- 

 mont Beautys. On the whole, commer- 

 cial pear growing is but little practised, 

 partly because pears do not, as a rule, 

 succeed so well here as they do in Ontario 

 and parts of the United States, and 

 largely because apple culture is found 

 so much more profitable. 



The list of first-class market plums is 

 a long one, but is confined largely to the 

 Prunus domestica class. Burbank and 

 Red June among the Japanese have 

 proved very satisfactory with some 

 growers. Shiro and Apple are promis- 

 ing, especially the former. But for the 

 most part it is the European varieties 

 that are grown. The best 10 commer- 

 cial sorts would probably range about 

 as follows: Washington, Bradshaw, 



Grand Duke, Reine Claude, Yellow 

 Egg, Monarch, Lombard, German Prune, 

 Imperial Gage, and Shropshire Damson. 



Spring planting is followed almost 

 altogether, as our winter conditions are 

 too variable to make fall planting very 

 sure of success. From my experience 

 in the government model orchards, I 

 would never use manure in the hole at 

 planting time. During the first year or 

 two we sometimes put a small quantity 

 of manure in the hole after the tree had 

 been set and the roots covered, in cases 

 where the soil did not seem to be rich 

 enough. But we found that this com- 

 paratively large quantity of fertilizer 

 (and that too in a form which would 

 only become gradually available) tended 

 to induce too much and too late a 

 growth, which often resulted in winter- 

 killing. Since then we have usually 

 been careful to use the surface soil about 

 the roots and occasionally to scatter 

 some manure over the surface about 

 the tree. 



In ail cases we have reserved a strip 

 alongthe tree rows,beginningateightfeet 

 in width and increasing year by year, 

 for the exclusive use of the trees. I am 

 strongly of the opinion that the growing 

 of a crop right up to the trees (particu- 

 larly a potato crop, which requires late 

 culture and the digging of which amounts 

 to another later cultivation) is to be 

 condemned as too likely to induce late 

 growth in the trees. This strip we culti- 

 vate every week or 10 days till July 1, 

 and then sow a leguminous cover crop, 

 usually crimson clover. With these 

 two — good culture and a cover crop of 

 this kind — we can usually get all the 

 growth necessary with but little manure 

 while the trees are young. 



The operation of grafting should be 

 so contrived that a permanent and con- 

 siderable pressure be applied to keep 

 the surface of the cut places closely 

 together. 



Varieties of fruits recommended for 

 planting in Prince Edward Island and 

 British Columbia are mentioned else- 

 where in this issue in letters from the 

 regular correspondents of The Cana- 

 dian Horticulturist. 



