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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



November, 1907 



apple splits readily under pressure; 

 Russets, on the contrary, will stand 

 much heavier pressure without breaking 

 the skin, and appear to recjuire heavy 

 pressure to prevent slackness from 

 evaporation. 



FINISHING THE HEAD 



In finishing the barrels, six nails in 

 each head, if properly driven, are suffi- 

 cient . Liners should be used invariably, 

 and should always be kept damp. Few 

 packers appreciate how much is added 

 to the strength of the barrel by the use 

 of the head liner properly placed. There 

 is no excuse for nailing the second end 

 hoops. It invariably spoils some of the 

 apples and adds nothing whatever to the 

 strength of the barrel. 



them, and so have stopped their use 

 entirely. I have found wood ashes as 

 a fertilizer for fruit growers to be the 



best. One wagon load of good hard- 

 wood ashes is as valuable as four times 

 the quantity of chemical fertilizers." 



OrcKard Manures 



The proper use of fertilizers and 

 manures on orchard soils is a question 

 of importance in successful fruit growing. 

 Progressive growers know the value of 

 keeping the soil fertile. Some men use 

 commercial fertilizers; others prefer 

 stable manures; many rely on cover 

 crops alone; a few use a combination 

 of all. The Canadian Horticul- 

 turist is de,sirous of publishing the 

 experiences of its readers on this ques- 

 tion. Letters are requested for pub- 

 lication. In our October issue a number 

 of letters were published. The follow- 

 ing are equally as valuable: 



The well-known nurseryman and 

 fruit grower, Mr. E. D. Smith, Winona, 

 Ont., wrote: "My faith is pinned largely 

 on cover-crops or green manuring. 

 An orchard in -good soil can be kept in 

 good condition by turning under annu- 

 ally, a cover crop, and the one I would 

 prefer would be the hairy vetch. One 

 of the advantages of hairy vetch is that 

 the seed will germinate where clover will 

 not. Hairy vetch fills the bill in full. 

 It is an excellent cover crop and affords 

 the largest addition of nitrogen to the 

 soil of any plant I know of, and when 

 turned under like any other green crop 

 fills the soil to a certain extent with 

 humus. This enables the soil to absorb 

 moisture, which is as necessary for the 

 successful growth of fruit trees as the 

 fertilizers themselves. Rye answers as 

 a cover crop and makes humus, but 

 adds nothing to the soil in the way of 

 nitrogen. Clover is like hairy vetch, but 

 the seeds germinate with difficulty in 

 the summer time and you do not get 

 the amount of nitrogen in the same 

 space of time. We sow our cover crops 

 in July." 



The following information was taken 

 from a letter received from Mr. I. E Van 

 Duzer, of the same place : "I have always 

 had good results from using stable 

 manures, but although I have experi- 

 mented with a number of different kinds 

 of chemical fertilizers, I have not 

 received much benefit from anv of 



Fall Cleaning in OrcHard and Garden 



Prof. W. Lochhead, Macdonald College, Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec. 



INTELLIGENT fall cleaning of the 

 orchard and garden is now recog- 

 nized as a most important factor 

 in successful fruit culture. After the 

 rush of the shipping and storing of the 

 fruit, there is usually a week or two of 

 fine weather when rubbish can be 

 raked up and burned, and the necessary 

 late-plowing done. The value of care- 

 ful fall cleaning lies chiefly in the fact 

 that many of our most destructive in- 

 sects and fungi are destroyed in the 

 process. A few observations during 

 the fall and winter will show how 

 many insects pass the cold period of 

 the year. The egg masses of the tent 

 caterpillar, for example, will be found 

 encircling the smaller branches. If these 

 bracelets of eggs be removed, whenever 

 seen, much serious injury will be 

 averted the following spring, for each 

 bracelet of eggs destroyed means the 

 removal of 200 to 300 caterpillars. The 

 egg masses of the fall canker worm 

 also may be found in small flat masses 

 near the forks of the smaller branches 

 and twigs. 



LESSENS CODLING WORM 



The codling worm of the apple passes 

 the winter in a cocoon under bits of 

 hark and boards and in crevices. 



Birds destroy many of the cocoons 

 concealed on the trunks, but it is al- 

 ways advisable to scrape off the scaly 

 bark, especially that near the ground, 

 and to cut out all dead and cracked 

 limbs. Codling worms are often car- 

 ried into fruit cellars and store houses 

 in the autumn. In the spring such 

 cellars should be cleaned out thoroughly 

 and the debris burned before the moths 

 escape to the orchard. 



Many species of cutworms pass the 

 winter under old boards, clods, or other 

 protection. A thorough cleaning in 

 late fall will reveal many of these cut- 

 worms. Poultry are valuable helpers 

 at this time. If these are not avail- 

 able, a poisoned bran bait scattered 

 over the soil will 'produce good re- 

 sults. 



White grubs, when present in the 

 soil, may be destroyed in large num- 

 bers by late fall plowing. Tarnished 

 plant bugs, the various leaf-hoppers, 

 squash bugs, the cucumber beetles, 

 Colorado potato beetles, grap vine flea 

 beetles, plum curculios and others pass 

 the winter in or under vegetable trash, 

 and a thorough cleaning often works 

 wonders in ridding the garden of these 

 undesirable guests. 



A thorough cleaning of the orchard 

 and garden in late fall will also de- 

 stroy many of the fungi which remain 

 on the ground in diseased leaves and 

 fruit. It is a well-known fact that 

 many injurious fungi produce winter 

 spores, and though the leaves decay, 

 the spores do not. In early spring 

 these will produce other spores, which 

 soon spread to the early leaves. The 

 various mildews, cankers, leaf-spots, 

 and rots and scab are reproduced in 

 this manner. The diseased fruit, plants 

 and leaves should be gathered to- 

 gether and burned. They should not 

 be thrown on the manure pile, for then 

 the spores will be able to survive the 

 winter and reproduce the disease the 

 following season. Moreover, many 

 fungi persist in the leaves as delicate 

 threads, which develop rapidly in the 

 spring, and produce spores. These 

 spores are soon blown by the wind to 

 the leaves, where they germinate and 

 produce disease. 



If a cover or mulch is desired to 

 lessen root injury and prevent winter- 

 killing, it can be applied after the 

 cleaning has been done. If more care 

 were taken in the annual fall cleaning 

 of gardens and orchards, there would 

 not be that urgent need for summer 

 spraying to control the insects and 

 fungous diseases. Another important 

 factor in successful fall cleaning is to 

 convince our neighbor that he also 

 must clean his garden and orchard. 

 Then what is left undone by the care- 

 ful gardener will often be done by the 

 winter birds. The chickadee, the nut- 

 hatch, the golden -crowned knight, and 

 the woodpeckers, are most valuable 

 agents in the destruction of insects. 

 All winter long they hunt diligently 

 over every limb for hibernating insects 

 and insect eggs. 



Every fruit grower should make an 

 effort to entice the birds to the orchard, 

 by tieing refuse meat and suet in the tree- 

 tops. He would be rewarded abund- 

 antly for his pains. 



Apples should be harvested while they 

 are still firm. In this way only can the 

 finest flavor and keeping qualities be 

 obtained. It is poor economy to store 

 bruised fruit because it not only fails to 

 keep but it will decay other fruit that is 

 put away sound. The keeping qualities 

 of apples can be greatly prolonged by 

 wrapping them in ordinary paper, with 

 wax paper outside. 



