352 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



them, which had been broken off when the thoughtless were gathering the ripe 

 fruit. When I pick cherries or plums, instead of hauling off a handful of fruit 

 with the spurs, I take hold of the stems and thrust the thumb nail against the 

 base of the stem so as to separate them from the fruit spurs without damaging 

 next year's crop of fruit. Very few people ever think of this. The consequence 

 is, many fruit trees have long bare limbs on which there is not a fruit spur for 

 ten or more lineal feet ; whereas every naked branch should be covered with 

 fruit spurs to shade the new bark in hot weather and to produce fruit. When 

 children and thoughtless adults are plucking fruit they should be instructed 

 repeatedly to spare the fruit spurs, and the matter should be explained to them 

 often so that they will thoroughly understand that if they persist in hauling off 

 the spurs they will damage the crop of fruit for the next season. Imme 

 diately after cherries are gathered, Dame Nature concentrates all the energies of 

 the growing tree to develop the fruit buds, preparatory to the next crop of 

 cherries. Every fruit spur thrown to the ground this year represents a cluster of 

 cherries destroyed of next year's crop. — S. E. Todd, in Horticultural Times. 



THE CULTURE OF HARDY BULBS. 



The Best Time to Plant. — Any time between now and November will do, 

 but bear it in mind that the bulbs will be better if put into the ground now than 

 they will be if left in the seedman's store for another month or two. And the 

 prices don't get any less, no matter how long you delay buying, but the longer 

 you put off getting the bulbs, the less likely you are of getting a good selection 

 of good bulbs. 



What to Plant. — This will depend on what you want them for. If for beds 

 then tulips, hyacinths, crocuses and Siberian squills ; the first two to fill the 

 centre of the beds and the last two for use as edgings. 



If you want them to set out in your borders to give you a variety and dis- 

 play of spring flowers, then get hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, Poet's narcissus, 

 Crown Imperials, Guinea-hen flowers, crocuses, snowdrops, Siberian squills, 

 Spanish squills, European bluebells, Grape and feather hyacinths, and the like. 

 And this is a most enjoyable way of using them; you can plant them most any- 

 where, and in summer after they have bloomed and died down you may let 

 other plants spread over them without hurting them. In the case of crocuses 

 and snowdrops they seem most at home when spread broadcast in the grass 

 or skirting the bushes. But in thus naturalizing them plant them in good, mod- 

 erately moist ground only, and instead of spreading them thinly all over the 

 grass, keep them together, quite thickly in the main patch and more thinly 

 towards the outer edges. And don't mix up a lot of things, as crocuses, snow- 

 drops and Siberian squills together ; keep each in a colony by itself. — Popular 

 Gardening. 



