78 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



suitable for distant shipping, but the planting of this variety should certainly be 

 encouraged in the north. 



The following is a description of the apple : Tret', vigorous, healthy, an 

 early bearer. Form of fruit, large, round-obvate ; Calyx partially open, set in 

 a deep cavity, sometimes a little corrugated. Stem short and rather stout, set 

 in deep, narrow and more or less russeted basin. Skin white or pale lemon 

 yellow, more or less marbled or splashed with red in the sun. Flesh white, 

 fine-grained, acid, tender and almost melting. Season, early winter. Quality 

 very good for cooking. 



GIRDLING GRAPE VINES. 



R. JOHN BURROUGHS, of the Hudson Valley, writes in 

 American Gardening on this subject as follows : My opinion of 

 the practice of girdling grape-vines is, that on the whole, it is 

 poor business. Grape-growers, I fear, are killing the goose that 

 lays the golden egg. If all take to girdling, where is the 

 advantage? It is. like the crowd all getting up on chairs at the 

 show ; what better off are they ? Girdling hastens the coloring 

 up of most varieties of grapes, but hastens the ripening very little, while it 

 distinctly injures the quality of certain kinds. Girdled Delawares are uneatable. 

 People who buy them probably lose their appetite for Delawares for some time. 

 They are as sour as vinegar. Red grapes seem to be injured by girdling more 

 than black ones. Girdled Niagaras are large and pleasing to look upon, but 

 their quality is not equal to the ripe ungirdled fruit. Moore Diamond is ruined 

 by girdling. Wordens are not increased in size by girdling, but they color four 

 or five days earlier. They are, however, much more liable to crack, as are all 

 other girdled kinds. Fruit on a girdled Moore Early is larger and earlier, and 

 the quality is not much injured, but it may crack badly. A vine heavily loaded 

 will not ripen its fruit any earlier by being girdled. Girdle other kinds if you 

 will, but when you come to the Delaware, hands off ! 



Mr. Jabez Fisher. Mass., also says : I cannot avoid the conclusion that 

 wherever a grape-vine will fairly ripen fruit by natural processes, girdling is an 

 operation that cannot be commended, certainly not for its commercial results. 

 Its disadvantages are greater than its advantages. The fruit possesses no 

 attractions for the connoisseur, and one year or more must be given the vine to 

 recover from its effects. It is possible that in some situations or circumstances 

 where the seasons are not long enough to ripen the fruit naturally, a crop might 

 be saved by girdling if the grower were willing to devote the succeeding season 

 to generous feeding, without production of fruit, in order to fit the vine for a 

 crop in alternate years. I doubt somewhat if even this is feasible, as my vines 

 girdled in 1890 have not yet fully recovered. — American Gardening. 



