$ ©per? Letters. $ 



Gooseberries. 



Sib, — I should think this would be a good 

 section of the country to raise gooseberries 

 for market. I have a very large gooseberry 

 growing in my garden, I have had it for over 

 twenty years and it never fails to give me a 



food crop of berries. Mildew is a thing un- 

 nown to me, I have never seen it, I do not 

 know the name of the berry in question. I 

 sent you six of them by mail in July, to see 

 if you could give me the name of them. I 

 don't know if you received them. I am also 

 testing some other varieties, viz. : The 

 Downing, Pearl, Whitesmith, Triumph and 

 Industry. I intend to give these all a fair 

 trial. I don't raise any fruit for market, but 

 I am testing several kinds of fruit. 



A. Bridge, 

 West Brook, P.O. 



Hardy Roses. 



Sir, — In July number of the Horti- 

 culturist, rose growers are invited to give a 

 list of hardy roses suited to cold districts. I 

 am able to speak from experience, having 

 wintered about fifteen varieties through last 

 season, which was the coldest for many years, 

 the thermometer going down to 28° or 30° 

 below zero. 



The following have proved very satisfac- 

 tory to me ; Madam G. Luizet, Jacqueminot, 

 Paul Nevron, John Hopper. Magna Charta, 

 Earl of Dufferin, Marshal P. Wilder, King of 

 Sweden, and Gen. Washington. This list 

 gives a variety in shade and delicacy of per- 

 fume worthy of a place in any garden. All 

 roses are the better for winter protection and 

 will repay the grower for the trouble of lay- 

 ing down. I bend them down, lay a sod on 

 the tops and cover with straw. I would ad- 

 vise amateurs to purchase H P. roses on 

 their own roots, they prove less troublesome 

 as you are always sure the new growth is 

 flowering stock. I have wintered tea roses 

 outside here with fair success, but they need 

 more care and should be completely covered 

 with sods. I have added some new plants to 

 my list which I may be permitted to report 

 on in the future. 



W. A. Brownlee. 



Report of Plants. 



Sir, — I will, in the following give a short 

 report of some of the plants and trees re- 

 ceived since the year '73. 



'79. Salem grape still living, bears well, 

 rather late for this section, still ripens fairly 

 well. 



'75. The F. Beauty pear is doing well, get- 



ting to be a large tree, bears heavy, but 

 black spots and cracks open badly. 



'76 The Glass plum is a fine smooth bark, 

 thrifty tree, hearty, and is a moderate 

 bearer, ripens late. 



'77. The purple raspberry is still on the 

 place, a good bearer, the yellow one is thrown 

 out as worthless. 



'78. The hybrid grape (Burnet) is a farce 

 at the best, though strong grower, too late, 

 coarse, sometimes bearing two kinds of ber- 

 ries on the same bunch, divided into two 

 periods of ripening. The small berries are 

 about the size of a Delaware, ripen about a 

 week earlier than the remainder of the 

 bunch, which are a large berry ; no use. 



'79. The Canadian Hybrid apple is a 

 splendid winter apple ; lost my tree ; mice 

 girdled it, though it bore a few good crops. 



'80. Congres Pear ; tree did not grow, but 

 from grafts taken from it I now have a lot 

 of big bearing trees, extreme bearers every 

 year, fruit enormous size, high flavored, little 

 tart. 



From the year 1880 I will only report in 

 bulk The winter St. Lawrence apple tree is 

 dead, too weakly to live, caused by having 

 bad, dried up roots, but from grafts taken 

 from it I now have a large bearing tree of 

 excellent winter fruit. The remainder of the 

 trees and berry plants, and so forth, are 

 nearly all dead or thrown out as worthless, 

 excepting the two last plums are living. The 

 Improved Lombard plum of this spring is the 

 best tree I got for a long while ; it's making 

 a good growth ; I hope to have good luck 

 with it. 



Report on fruit in general apples in our 

 section are a very light crop. Pears ditto. 

 Early cherries such as Richmond, were well 

 loaded, but the trouble is, people don't plant 

 enough of that kind of trees, cherries would 

 again do well if more trees were planted. 

 Plums are a small crop, still enough for home 

 use. All kinds of berries are plentiful. 



D. B. Hoover, 



Almira, Ont. 



The Plant Distribution. 



Sir, — I would say discontinue the plant 

 distribution amongst the members or readers 

 of the Canadian Horticulturist, and lay 

 out the money to something that will make 

 the Journal more showy by adding well got 

 up lithographs of the best new as well as old 

 fruits ; our aims should be in the interest of 

 fruit culture, the plants are very often worth- 

 less by being crippled and dried up before 

 they reach their distant receivers. 



D. B. Hoover, 



Almira, Ont. 



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