THE CANADIAN HOKTICULTUKIST. 



23^ 



past, success in the development of the 

 strawberry will lie in the dii'ection of 

 out native species.' We should employ 

 the most vigorous strains of our native 

 stock in developing new varieties, choos- 

 ing hardy mothers, or pistillate varie- 

 ties, like the old " Champion." Instead 

 of petting and stimulating new seed- 

 lings, I should put them in poor, thin 

 soil, and then discard all except those 

 which persist in thriving under un- 

 favouralole conditions. If on sandy or 

 gravelly soil a new variety maintains 

 vigour and productiveness of large, fine- 

 flavoured fruit, we should have good 

 reason to believe that it would succeed 

 in varied soils and climates, when sent 

 out into the rough-and-tumble of the 

 world. — E. P. Roe, in American Agri- 

 culturist. 



HEATING GREENHOUSES. 

 Heating greenhouses with steam has 

 been on trial for several years, but the 

 merits of the method have been various- 

 ly estimated, so as to leave some doubt 

 in the public mind whether it, or by the 

 more common method of the use of hot 

 water, was the better way. At the late 

 meeting of the American Association of 

 Nurserymen, Mr. Hunt, of Illinois, 

 stated his preference for the employ- 

 ment of steam, though his own place is 

 fitted out, "at a hirge expense," with 

 hot water apparatus, and " it works 

 well." In heating by steam, he says, 

 experience has proved " that there is 

 economy in construction, and a great 

 economy in fuel." He gives facts and 

 figures in two cases to support his posi- 

 tion. In the first of these, where by 

 some small changes nearly the same 

 apparatus was employed for steam lieat- 

 ing as had been previously used for hot 

 water, the saving of fuel was thirty- 

 three per cent. In the other, thirty- 

 five per cent was saved in construction, 

 and thirty -three per cent, in fuel. — 

 Vick's Maijazine. 



CHERRY TREES vs. CHERRY BUSHES. 



Dui'infif a two weeks visit amonsf the 

 oi-chardists and nurserymen of the north 

 half of Iowa and Illinois, and the south 

 half of Wisconsin, dead or dying cherry 

 trees have been an ever present subject 

 for discussion, and the pile of letters 

 on my retui'n has a dozen or more que- 

 ries as to the cause of this general de- 

 struction, and the possibility of secur- 

 ing a hardier set of varities. While 

 this is not the time to set cherry trees, 

 it may be well to discuss a few general 

 principles with our tens of thousands 

 of dead and dying trees as object les- 

 sons before our minds. 



A careful inspection reveals the fact 

 that I'upture of the cells of the cam- 

 bium layer of the stems is the real 

 cause of death. In former years we 

 have often noted cases where whole 

 cherry orchards lived and fruited two 

 years after fatal injury of stem by 

 means of a narrow bridge or two of 

 live cells growing inward from the bark 

 and outside of the dead wood of the 

 stem. Mr. L. A. Williams, of Mills Co., 

 Iowa, for instance, reported his large 

 cherry orchards healthy and full of 

 fruit. At the next meeting of the 

 Western Iowa Horticultural Society, 

 he I'eported his trees dead or dying. 

 A section in our wood-collection of one 

 of these stems shows plainly that the 

 real injury of stems occurred two years 

 previous to his first favoi'able report 

 and that two annual deposits of wood 

 had formed over a nariow layer of live 

 cells. This narrow bridge connecting 

 i-oot and top sustained life, and per- 

 fected a crop as the last expiring effort 

 of the tree. A careful inspection of 

 dozens of stems, now, shows that the 

 .stems were nearly or quite ruined in 

 the winter of 1882-3, and the work was 

 finished by the last year's crop and our 

 past test winter. 



Again we notice that young trees 

 standing alone of the Early Richmond, 



