304 The Canadian Horticultur;st. 



Cottage gardening among the employees of the Cotton Company is encour- 

 aged through the liberality of the President, Mr. A. F. Gault, who offers prizes 

 each year for the best kept and most beautiful garden lots. 



The small fruit and truck gardening business of the island is mainly done 

 by Messrs. Hood Bros., who have been engaged in the work for the past fifteen 

 years, the success of which is amply testified by their comfortable surroundings. 

 They have worked on the principle of the " Little farm well tilled," and have 

 done it so thoroughly that their thirty cultivated acres in orchards, small fruits 

 and vegetables, bring them a much larger income than many areas four and 

 five times as large. It was a surprise to find that Concord ripened thoroughly 

 every year, and is one of the principal grapes grown. Champion, Moore's Early, 

 Prentiss, Niagara. Delaware and Lindley, are grown with success, though 

 Niagara cannot be said as yet to have passed the experimental stage. No mil- 

 dew has appeared this year, probably owing to the early application of Bordeaux 

 mixture. A few vines of Champion were badly attacked by anthracnose, whicl^ 

 I fear is likely, on light soils in the Province of Quebec, to prove a troublesome 

 disease. Of plums, Hood Bros, some years ago planted about 200 Moore's 

 Arctic, which have now entirely disappeared, as have most other blue sorts, 

 a few Damsons excepted. I was pleased to find the Lucretia Dewberry grow- 

 ing vigorously and bearing profusely. This I may say is the first instance of 

 the kind I have noted in Eastern Ontario or Western Quebec, though there 

 may be other cases which have not come under my attention. The vines in 

 question were planted between rows of Gregg's and Shaffer's. It is possible 

 that cross fertilization may have had some effect on their fruitfulness. 



Twig and apple blight have appeared in this section, being first noticed 

 about three years ago. It has increased somewhat each succeeding year till 

 now it has assumed rather serious proportions. While no direct remedy is 

 effectual, preventive measures should be instituted. All affected branches should 

 be cut out and burned as soon as the injury becomes apparent. The cutting 

 should be made some distance below the injured portion, and as soon after the 

 presence of the disease is noted as possible. Orcharding is yet in its infancy 

 on Grand Isle, but with natural conditions so favorable, a convenient market, 

 and the growth of knowledge, as to varieties and methods of culture, fruit-grow- 

 ing cannot fail to become wide-spread in that locality. 



J. Craig. 



Pure, fine-ground bone and a good quality of unleached ashes form a com- 

 plete fertilizer, and, if we use twice as much ashes as bone, a well-balanced fer- 

 tilizer for almost any crops. We doubt if the fertilizer men can devise a better 

 formula. True, the nitrogen of the fine bone is not so soluble as the nitrogen 

 of nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia. We need only to apply the fine bone 

 a little earlier to the land, or for that matter sow a little soda as a starter. 



