THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



159 



view is held also by Mr. G. C. Caston, of Craig- 

 hurst, who contends that should growers find 

 time for only one spraying in a season, that one 

 should be with copper sulphate, three pounds m 

 40 gallons of water, and done early m spring 

 r when trees are dormant. 



A Large Crop of Fruit Probable 



Prizes for Celery Growers 



At a meeting of the Executive Committee of 



fehe Ont. Vegetable Growers' Assn., held in 



foronto May 22, it was decided to recommend 



Jto the branch associations throughout the 



■province that prizes be offered this year for 



[the best crops of celery; judges to be sent 



Taround to inspect the different crops. As 



submitted to the branch associations for their 



approval, it is proposed that the competition 



shall be conducted as follows: That there shall 



be two classes, one for growers with 1,000 to 



10,000 plants, and one for growers with 10,000 



plants or over, competitors to enter their whole 



crop. Five prizes will be offered in each class 



of $25, S20, $15, SIO, and $5 each. 



Competitors must be members of the assn., 

 and must send their entries to the secretary of 

 the provincial assn. by July 10, accompanied 

 by an entry fee of $1. Judging will start Aug. 

 1, and will be completed by Aug. 15. The 

 committee reserves the right to make such 

 alterations in the regulations governing the 

 competition as later may seem desirable. 

 Should either class have less than six entries, 

 the committee reserves the right to cancel any 

 or all the prizes in such class. Each competitor 

 will be required to furnish full information in 

 regard to his method of growing his crop and 

 the completeness and value of the information 

 thus furnished will be taken into consideration 

 by the judges in awarding the prizes, and later 

 will be published in the annual report of the assn. 

 The sec.-treas. was authorized to watch the 

 bulletins issued by the various U.S. expt. stations 

 and to purchase extra copies for the members 

 of the assn. when same are likely to be of value 

 and can be bought at reasonable prices. 



It was decided to correspond with the Ont. 

 Fruit Growers' As.sn. favoring joint action in 

 approaching the Dominion Minister of Agri. to 

 request that the next census figures shall be 

 so arranged as to separate the figures showing 

 the total production of vegetables and fruit 

 which hitherto, in some important sections, have 

 been lumped together. 



Otta-wa Horticultural Society 



Some new features will l)e introduced by the 

 Ottawa Horticultural S<jc. this year. The ex- 

 hi?iti<ms of flowers instead of lasting only one 

 evening, will be continued until 5 o'clock the 

 following dav, so that more people may see 

 them. Exhibitors who remove their exhibits 

 before the close of the show forfeit their prizes. 



The inaugural exhibition was held last week 

 and was a great success. At each exhibition 

 three prizes of $8, $5 and 82 are offered for the best 

 displays of cut flowers arranged for effect in a 

 S[)ace 20 sq. ft. in size. This is one of the feat- 

 ures of the exhibitions. Lady Grey has an- 

 nounced that she will continue the garden 

 competitions that were introduced and conducted 

 by Lady Minto. The work among the school 

 children of the city, that has been conducted 

 for several years by Mayor Ellis and Mr. R. B. 

 Whyte, will be continued' this year. Interesting 

 addresses are given at each of the monthly 

 meetings. 



Russet apples should be packed in a close box 

 because they evaporate and become wrinkled 

 so quickly. A close box tends to prevent this 

 evaporation. — A, McNeill, Chief of Fruit Di- 

 vision, Ottawa. 



The Horticulturist is going ahead of all 

 others in the matters of horticulture. — Nelson 

 Caron, Prairie de Loup, Que. 



THE following reports on fruit crop 

 conditions in N.S., Que., and Ont. were 

 received too late for publication in our 

 last issue, but are still of interest. 

 They show prospects for a large crop of fruit 

 in all three provinces are bright. 



NOVA SCOTIA 



Trees have wintered all right. I do not see 

 any winter kiUing; no loss from mice, no breaking 

 with snow. We ought to have a good crop of 

 apples, but it is June that tells the tale. Orchard 

 setting is up to former years. Many farmers are 

 increasing their settings, and commercial orch- 

 ards as a business proposition are becoming 

 more common. Better care is being taken, 

 clean cultivation and cover crops in midsummer 

 becoming the rule rather than the exception. 

 Spraying for fungii and insects will be practised 

 this year in tenfold ratio, as last year's experi- 

 ence was an eye-opener to many: 100 pumps 

 have been sold for use in this section — R. S. 

 Eaton, Berwick, N.S. 



Fruit trees wintered splendidly; even peaches. 

 Every variety of fruit looks well, Quie a few 

 persons have' planted 1,000 apple trees each. 

 This has become so common a piece of work 

 that it creates no remarks. I^arge numbers are 

 planting 200 to 500. Plum, peach and apple 

 were light last year, and we expect a good 

 showing, possibly 800,000 bbls. We should 

 have tiiis if a good year. — R. S. Eaton, Kent- 

 ville. 



QUEBEC. 



Fruit trees are in good condition. Many of 

 our orchardists are increasing their acreage 

 year by year, and the present season is no 

 exception. Fameuse and Mcintosh Red are 

 the favorite varieties. An unusual amount of 

 dead wood was pruned from old orchards 

 this year, likely due to the excessive cold 

 winter of 1903-4. The past winter has been 



an unusually open one for this province, and 

 vegetation has suffered more or less. Grass 

 in many sections is ' injtired, also shrubbery, 

 such as rose bushes, raspberries and blackberry 

 canes and strawberry plants, where not properly 

 covered. — J. M. Fisk, Abbotsford. 



ONTARIO 



Prospects for all kinds of fruit in the Lake 

 Huron district are very good. Trees and plants 

 came through the winter in first-class condition. 

 Very little planting is being done, only a' few 

 trees here and there filling in vacant places. 

 The Bruce Fruit Growers' Assn. is making 

 arrangements to put up an evaporator in 

 connection with their packing house, — A. E. 

 Sherrington, Walkerton. 



There has been a great appearance of bloom, 

 with buds very full and strong. Even the peach 

 trees wintered well. There was very little 

 planting done. People seem to have got 

 completely discouraged with condition of affairs 

 during last few years. However, I think this 

 will soon change, as I notice more interest being 

 taken in the orchards this spring in the way 

 of pruning, spraying, etc, than for many years. 

 The Georgian Bay Fruit Growers, Ltd., are again 

 to the front with highest prices in British market 

 for apples. March shipments averaged on all 

 gi-ades $4.55 net at Thornbury. — J. G. Mitchell, 

 Clarksburg. 



Fruit prospects were never better in the 

 apple line. Pears seem to have suffered some. 

 Peaches are almost a failure. Plums, also, 

 especially the Japanese have suffered. Our 

 section is mainly an apple and pear one, so 

 that we do not feel the loss of plums and peaches 

 very seriously. There may, however, still be 

 a fair crop of these. Apples seem to be in very 

 good condition. We have been busy with two 

 power outfits spraying, and hope for a bumper 

 crop. — W. D. A. Ross, Chatham. 



Fruit Preservatives 



Frank T. Shutt, M.A., Chemist, CE.F., Ottawa 



For a number of years past experiments have 

 been carried on to ascertain the most satisfac- 

 tory fluids for the preservation of fruits for ex- 

 hibition purposes— fluids which not only would 

 be antiseptic, but also, as far as possible, would 

 keep the fruit with its natural size and color. 

 For the information of those who may have 

 occasion to exhibit fruit several months after 

 it is picked, the results of these trials, with 

 recommendations, have been published from 

 time to time as the work progressed. In the 

 course of investigation the merits of more than 

 50 solutions with various kinds of fruit have 

 been tested. Tliat the problem is a difficult 

 one will be apparent from the fact that more 

 than 75 % of these fluids have been found more 

 or less unsatisfactory. 



The experience gained from trials made dur- 

 ing the season of 1905 enables us to offer the 

 following recommendations, the final examina- 

 tion of the fruit being made on April 1, 1906. 

 Much credit for the success in this work must 

 be accorded Mr. W. H, Charlton, of the chemical 

 staff, who has had this investigation under his 

 charge. 



STRAWBERRIES 



The most satisfactory fluid for this fruit is 

 formalin, 2%; hydrogen peroxide, 2%; alcohol, 

 10%. It has been under trial for two years, 

 and berries kept in it for this period have re- 

 tained, in a very large measure, their natural 

 appearance. 



RED CURRANTS 



A fluid of zinc chloride 3 % and alcohol 10 % 

 has given excellent results, and can be strongly 

 recommended. 



GOOSEBERRIES 



Copper sulphate 1 % and alcohol 10 % can be 

 spoken of in the highest terms. Fruit of last 

 season has retained its natural form and color 

 practically uninqmired. There was no split- 

 ting of the fruit or apparent shrinkage. 



RASPBERRIES, RED AND PURPLE 



This is a difficult fruit to preserve without 

 the fluid becoming so dark that the berries can 

 scarcely be seen. By an occasional change of 

 fluid, alum 5% gives fairly good results. It is 

 the best of the many solutions ex])erimented 

 with. 



PEAS AND BEANS 



Zinc chloride 3% and alcohol 10 % has proved 

 very good for preserving peas in the pod. The 

 samples rfetained their natural color and ap- 

 pearance. For green beans in the pod a solution 

 of sodium sulphide 4% has been found excel- 

 lent, and can be recommended. 



When possible distilled water should be used 

 in making up these fluids. Having determined 

 the quantity of fluid required, the amount of 

 the various chemicals to use may be readily 

 ascertained by remembering that one gal. is 

 practically 160 ozs. Ten %, therefore, means 

 16 oz., 5%, eight oz. to the gallon, and so on. 



We are Booming in Canada.— I must congrat- 

 ulate you on the great improvement in The 

 Canadian Horticulturist. You are doing 

 good work at Toronto. The HoRTicuLTtmisT 

 is one of the very best papers of many horti- 

 cultural journals we have on file here. I read 

 with great interest the report of the recent 

 meeting of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Asso- 

 ciation. Horticultural affairs certainly are 

 booming in Canada.— (Prof. W. N. Hutt, Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, Maryland, U.S.A. 



