110 THE CANADIAN HOIITICULTUKIST. 



MY EXPERIENCE IN FRUIT CULTURE, itc. 



Some seven or eight years since I got 150 good pear trees, anil all 

 lived, I belive, but oue, until about 4 years ago, when the blight took some 

 of them. The trees were all true to name, which cannot be said of a great 

 number of trees planted ; nearly all of them have fruited ; I have also about 

 350 plum trees planted out, besides a large number of apples. This part 

 of the country is a good section for fruit, but we are troubled with the 

 insect enemies as well as others, two most troublesome being the codlin moth 

 in the apples, and the little turk in the plums. I don't consider the black 

 knot of much consequence if it is watched and kept down, but too many 

 let it alone, and I am afraid the act for its destruction is just like the thistle 

 act has been, almost a dead letter. If I see any black knot on the stock or 

 large branches I apply spirits of turpentine with a small brush, it kills it 

 very soon, and does the trees no harm. I have proved this remedy time 

 and again. If it appears on the small branches cut off and burn. 



Mr. Hood, of Barrie, contributed a very good article on the Bei'berry 

 ill the April No. of the last Vol. of the Horticulturist; but he seems 

 not to have had much luck in raising it from seed. My intention some 

 years since was to go on a farm, chiefly to cultivate fruit, and to grow some 

 live fences, and knowing that Bei'berry would make a good hedge plant, I 

 saved the seed in the fall and put it in a box mixed with earth, left it 

 exposed to the frost; and in the spring, early, sowed it in rows, so that I 

 could hoo it after it came up. My soil was a warm gravelly one. In the 

 spring it came up by the hundreds, although I found some did not come up 

 till iiear fall. It grew very fast, but out on the farm, which is rather a 

 cold clay loam, it does not seem to make much growth, so I think it moro 

 adapted to a light soil. In my opinion it is a beautiful as well as a useful 

 shrub, either grown in hedge or single. 



I have been a subscriber for some years, and have all the Reports, which 

 I value very much. I hail each number of the Horticulturist with 

 pleasure. When I get the last No. of each year, I pull off the covers cut 

 out the name, date etc., and paste on the back, so that I have now three 

 neat volumes. The colored j)lates also adds much more to the book. I 

 think your subscribers have a big dollar's worth every year. 



Walter Hick, Goderich. 



QUESTION DRAWER. 



The codliii moth had been very severe in some localities, while others 

 are only slightly affected. I believe my gardea orchard was injured moro 

 than my neighbor's. Is it because well manured and worked welll V7ell 

 underdrainedl How would it do to woi'k the ground in the frost season 

 around the apple ti'ees? 



We have not been able to find that the larvce of the codlin moth 



at any time enter the ground, and therefore can not see that the 



condition of the soil has anything to do with the presence of tlie 



codlin moth. ' * 



