CA NA I) I A N IIOR TICUL Tl'lilST. 



135 



ety, packing tlieiii in peck baskets, and 

 selling them for 90 cents per basket. 

 The plums seem to be curculio-proof, 

 and the trees proof against all diseases. 

 The fruit is used chiefly for dessert, and 

 for table decoration. 



Two Nice Shrubs. 



A. S. FuLLEF{, in Aineriraii (inrtle^t, 

 recommends the Japan Quince, and the 

 Dwarf Flowering Almond. The former 

 grafted upon the apple, pear, or haw 

 thorn stock about four feet high ; and 

 the latter budded upon plum stock at 

 about the same height. 



Sometimes several colors of each may 

 be worked upon the same stock. 



In Canada, the flowering almond is 

 too tender except for favored localitie.';, 

 but perhaps it would succeed better on 

 the plum stock. 



Caeti in Mexico. 



Thk cereuses alone are very numer- 

 ous, and on account of the various 

 colors of their stems make an interest- 

 ing codection. There are said to be 

 over two hundred species of them, 

 mostly natives of tropical America, 

 where the soil is dry and rocky. Oui- 

 engraving gives a Hne notion of the 

 wild appearance of a country where 

 these and other cacti flourish. The 

 traveller seems to be actually hedged 

 in by these terrible spines, which defy 

 nearer approach. Towards the left 

 hand appears an immense agave, of tin; 

 same class as our common century 

 plant, and of which there are over one 

 iiundred varieties. In Mexico they are 

 sometimes used as hedge plants, and 

 also valued for the manufacture of a 

 beverage called "pul((ue," prv pared from 

 the young flower stalks of Agave 

 Americana. To the right is a tin;' 

 specimen of a cereus, tree-like in its 

 form, but not in foliage. Mr. lilanc 

 says the gigantic columnar cactus, 

 cereus giganteus, is ijuite common in 



the lower part of the valley of Santa 

 Cruz, and is there called the saguarro. 

 It presents a thick fluted column, about 

 the thickness of a man's body, and from 

 thirty to flfty feet in height, with three 

 or four blanches at the top, the whole 

 looking like a gigantic candelabrum. 

 (Jrowing beside the cereus, and also 

 upon the rocks, is to be seen the 

 opuntia, or prickly pear cactus, referred 

 to by Mr. Robertson on page 125. 

 This also is used for fences in Mexico. 



The Summer Meeting. 



Thk Summer Meeting of the Fruit 

 Growers' Association of Ontario will be 

 held at the town of Picton, Prince Ed- 

 ward Co., in the County Council Cham- 

 ber, on Wednesday and Thursday, llth 

 and 12th of July, 1888, beginning at 

 ten o'clock, a.m. 



Certiticates for reduced fares on all 

 the railways may be had by addressing 

 the Secretary, L. Woolverton, Grimsby, 



