CA NA DIA N noRTlCUL TURIST. 



8l» 



certain time, compelled to take a short 

 course at the Ontario Af^ricultural 

 College ; and that th(! sclioolyards be 

 made ample enough to contain an arbor 

 Ptum of native forest trees and shrul)s 

 properly labeled. 



The English Sparrow. 



This bird suffered a shower of well- 

 merited abuse at our winter meeting. 

 A paper on the subj(!ct of Economic 

 Ornithology was conti-ibuted by Mr. T. 

 Mcllwraith, Fellow of the Ornithological 

 Society of North America, in which it 

 was shown that the sparrow not only- 

 drives away such birds as the Catbird, 

 tliH Oriole, the House Wren, Blue Biid, 

 Chipping Sparrow and Yellow War- 

 l)ler ; but also himself is a wholesale 

 destroyer of the fruit l)uds of the grape 

 vine, peach, pear, plu:ii, cherry, cur- 

 rant, etc., and also garden vegetables. 

 The authority of such eminent obser- 

 vers as J. H. Gurney. IVIiss Oinerod. 

 Prof. Lintner and Dr. Brodie, were 

 adduced in proof of the position taken. 



After considerable discussion the 

 following resolution was moved l)y 

 Prof. Wm. Saundeis, seconded by A. 

 M. .Smith, and carried unanimously : — - 

 '•That this Association desires through 

 its officers to approach the Legislature 

 of Ontario, recjuesting that immediate 

 steps be taken to so modify the law 

 protecting birds as to permit of the 

 destruction of the English Spaiiow, 

 including its nests, eggs and young ; 

 and further, so as to protect the (Jrcat 

 Northern Shrike, the Sparrow Hawk, 

 and the Screech Owl, which feed largely 

 upon the Spariow." 



Mr. McTlwraitlrs papei- will appear 

 in our R<'p()rt for ISSS. 



Beds and Bedding- Plants 



This was the subject of a somewhat 

 lengthy but exaeedingly valuable paper 

 read by >rr. N. Robertson. Supt. of 

 the Covernment (Jrounds at Ottawa. 

 It was illustrated by photographs show 



ing sphuidid elleets produced with 

 bedding plants, ;ind explaining the 

 manner of arrangement, ^^'e hope to 

 have these illustrations copied for our 

 Report. We had the pleasure of a 

 visit to the greenhou.ses under this 

 gentleman's care, and were much in- 

 terested in finding one of the most 

 complete collections of greenhou.se 

 plants in Canada. 



The Peach Crop for 1888. 



TirosE of us who have engaged 

 largely in peach culture are again in 

 despair. Were it some villain who had 

 broken into our houses and robbed us 

 of from one thousand to three thousand 

 dollars each, we might at least hope 

 for the melancholy satisfaction of see- 

 ing him safely hou.sed in a dungeon, 

 but when old '• Jack Frost " robs us of 

 an equal amount, we can only "grin 

 and bear it " with as much patience as 

 possiljle. 



When the New Yoik Ifrmld an- 

 nounced that the entire Hudson River 

 crop was ruined and the growers des- 

 pondent, we thought it time to examine 

 our own orchard, and after careful ex- 

 amination, must pronounce the fruit- 

 buds de.stroyed. The same conclusion 

 is reached by most growers in the 

 Orimsby peach region ; reports, how- 

 ever, from the vicinity of the Niagara, 

 river are more favorable. 



Is there not some means of protect- 

 ing the peach tree, so that at least we 

 may avoid the humiliation of having 

 a large peach orchard, and yet being 

 compelled to buy jieaches for our own 

 family use? The most plausil)le mode 

 of doing this, whicli we have heard of, 

 is the following by J. P. Macomber, in 

 the Rural Neic Yorker. He says: — 

 My method of training peach trees 

 is shown in the figure, where a is the 

 horizontal ti-unk, d a sujijiort to keep 

 the trunk of!' the ground, and e a 

 stake to which the ujiright trunk is 

 fastened. To train a tree, procure one 



