158 THE CANADIAN HOETICULTUIIIST. 



not sustain them. The practice of the best orchardists is to seed their 

 orchards to grass when the trees ai'e large enough to shade most of the 

 grouiid. The sheep are turned in soon after the blossoming season, and as 

 soon as the grass has a fair start, and are continued till neai ly the time to 

 gather the apples. The branches of trees which have low heads and are 

 heavily loaded with fruit, will bend down within reach of the sheep before 

 the end of August, and in this case they must be taken out a little sooner. 

 Troughs for feeding them grain are made by nailing two boards together 

 at the ends. They will eat all the grass they want, and keep the surface 

 closely grazed. They will devour every apple that drops, from the small 

 ones early in summer, to those nearly full-grown two, months later, li 

 they do not get enough moisture in these, they will be likely to attack the 

 bark of the trees, unless well supplied with water. Enough for them to 

 drink should therefore be always within reach. If the ■ trunks of the 

 younger trees are coated every few weeks as needed, with a mixture of 

 v/hale oil soap-suds and sheep manure, the sheep will not be likely to attack 

 the bark. 



The amount of enriching which the orchard will need will depend alto- 

 gether on the previous richness of the land. There are very few places, 

 however, where a top-dressing of manure will not be useful or necessary 

 once in two years, in any orchard seeded to grass. The droppings of the 

 sheep will bo a valuable addition — the more so as the quantity of grain or 

 meal is increased. The number of sheep to a given number of trees vaiies 

 with different owners. Some have kept in their orchards half as many 

 sheep as the number of trees, where they have been planted remotely, and 

 orchard grass or other feed gives them a good supply ; and they are careful 

 to make up any deficiency with other food. Others find that all the fallen 

 apples are eaten with only one sheep to six trees. The owner must deter- 

 mine this question himself, by observing the amount of feed required, and 

 the number of sheep to pick up promptly all the dropping apples. The 

 uniform voice of those orchardists who have given this remedy a full and 

 fair trial is, that their crops so treated are but little infested with the cod- 

 ling worm, and that if the remedy is faithfully applied in successive years, 

 the fruit continues to become fairer. The trial of a single season may not 

 effect much ; the remedy must be continued unremittingly year after year. 

 - — Country Gcntlenum. 



COERESPONDENCE. 



I take pleasure in writing a few lines to let you know how we are 

 getting along in this out-of-the-way place. We have had a very cold 

 summer. On the 7th July the growth on all the apple, pear and cherry 

 trees I planted in the spring was badly killed. I am informed by men that 

 have been lumbering here for over twenty years that they have nover seen 

 a season like it before, and I am in hopes we will not see one like it again. 

 I intend planting some more trees next spring if spared. We bad plenty 

 of strawberries, huckleberries and raspberries, but tlie cranberries were 

 frozen on the 16th August, — an unusual occurrence for this district. 



— W. Waknock, jBlind River, Muskoka. 



