20 



CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Ladders. -7-In the leisure of the 

 winter season the fruit-grower may- 

 still find many ways of. using his time 

 to advantage. Among other things 

 his ladders need to be all gathered in 

 from the orchard to fruit packing house, 

 all necessary repairs given them, and 

 then a coat of paint. There is enough 

 danger climbing about among trees, 

 without asking a picker to use a dilapi- 

 dated half-rotten ladder. Some may 

 be broken, and with them a useful ad- 

 justable ladder might be made, as sug- 

 gested by a writer in the Farm and 

 Home. The upper round of the wide 

 ladder runs through slots in the nar- 

 row one, and the slots are made wider 

 3n one direction than the diameter of 

 the round, so as to receive a block to 

 fasten it segurely in its place. A 

 step-ladder may be made of this by 

 setting it at the desired angle. 



Pruning may be done in small way 

 on mild days, when the wood is not 

 frozen. Wounds more than half-an- 

 inch in diameter should aways be 

 avoided on orchard trees if possible, 

 but if necessary, they should be covered 

 with paint or melted grafting wax, to 

 favor the healing process. The vine- 

 yard perhaps was left half pruned last 

 November, and advantage may be tak- 

 en of the fine days to continue the 

 work of cutting off" the superfluous 

 wood. This may be cut up and stored 

 in damp sawdust or sand until time for 

 planting cuttings or for using them 

 as scions for grafting. 



Mice. — The orchardist needs to keep 

 a sharp lookoutagainst the depredations 

 of these pests during the months of 

 January and February, especially after 

 eacn heavy fall of snow. Our custom is 

 to carefully clear away all rubbish and 

 grass from the trunk in the month of 

 November and pack a small mound of 

 fine earth about it. This is a perfect 

 protection from mice, unless near a rail 

 fence, where deep snow banks accumu- 

 late. In such places the ttamping of 

 the snow about the trees is the only sure 



safeguard at this season. The Weekly 

 Star gives the following method of 

 poisoning mice in an orchard : " Get 

 small blocks of wood four or five inches 

 square, and bore inch holes in them 

 half inch deep. Mix cornmeal with any 

 kind of poison and ram a small quantity 

 in the holes. Leave a good many of 

 these blocks around the trees. No 

 other animals can reach the poison but 

 the mice, and they will soon disappear. 

 Before the snow comes, gather the 

 blocks into several places and cover 

 each of them with a sheaf of straw. 

 The mice will gather under these and 

 find the baits, and the trees will not 

 be damaged. 



The Winter Meeting. 

 In accordance with the desire of 

 several gentlemen connected with our 

 Association who reside in the eastern 

 part of the Province, it has been 

 decided to hold the next meeting in the 

 City Hall, Ottawa, on Wednesday and 

 Thursday the 8th and 9th days of 

 February, 1888. As this meeting will 

 be near the eastern limits of our Pro- 

 vince, a cordial invitation is extended 

 to fruit-growers and gardeners in the 

 Province of Quebec to be present and 

 take part in our discussions. It is 

 difficult to make a complete programme 

 in advance, but the following is 

 a forecast of it, subject to some 

 minor changes. 



PROGRAMME. 



8 p.m. — Directors' meetuigatthe Windsor 

 Hotel. 



WEDNESDAY. 



10 a.m. — Public meetings begin, free to 

 all. Subjects, — (a.) Experience with Russian 

 apples in the cold north, introduced by Mr. 

 A. A. Wright, Renfrew, Out. (h) Best five 

 varieties of apples for Carleton County, (c) 

 Raspberries, and their culture in the Ottawa 

 Valley, P. E. Bucke, Ottawa. 



2 p m.—(d) (irapes in the Ottawa Valley, 

 R. B. Whyte, Ottawa. {(^) Best and hardiest 

 shrubs for the lawn in Northern latitudes, 

 Mr. Jas. Fletcher, of the Experimental Farm, 

 Ottawa. (/) Hardy roses for outdoor cul- 



