146 



CA^^ADIA^'' HORTICULTURIST. 



fruits, and then as soon as tested in 

 Canada, to make known the result, 

 whetlier favorable or unfavorable. 



The Winter St. Lawrence which has 

 already been referred to on page seven 

 of this volume, promises to be a valu- 

 able addition to our very brief list of 

 desirable hardy early Avinter apples. 

 It has been secured in a limited quantity 

 for distribution by our Association in 

 the spring of 1889, and will then be 

 widely tested. So far as we know, it 

 has not yet been grown in Ontario, but 

 Mr. !>■. W. Shepherd, jr., has had some 

 eleven years experience with it in the 

 vicinity of Montreal; and says it is 

 hardier than the well-known Fall St. 

 Lawrence. In his list for profit he 

 gives the following order : ( 1 ) Faraeuse 

 (2) Duchess, (3) Canada Baldwin, (4) 

 Winter St. Lawrence ; but he adds 

 that the latter drops from the tree less 

 than any of the other, and is very 



noticeably free from the codling moth s 

 attacks, when compared with the 

 Fameuse. 



As a table apple for the months of 

 December and January it is very desir- 

 able, having the dark stripes and 

 splashes of carmine of the Fall St. 

 Lawrence, and a tender juicy flesh 

 somewhat similar to that of the Fa- 

 meuse. In this last characteristic is 

 its chief fault, because like the Fameuse 

 it is too soft to ship well in barrels. 

 However, Mr. Shepherd has tried ship- 

 ping it to England in the Cochrane 

 case with excellent results, and by this 

 means the difficulty of its exportation 

 may perhaps be overcome, at least 

 providing tlie Cochrane case is not too 

 expensive. 



From the samples which were sent us 

 last winter, we judge that our coloured 

 plate gives a fair representation of this 

 apple. 



HINTS FOR THE MONTH. 



PRUNING FOR Fruitfulness. — 

 Whenan apple orapear orchard has 

 been highly cultivated and manured it 

 is sometimes found to produce a very 

 vigorous wood growth, and little or no 

 fruit. This has led cultivators to 

 resort to various expedients for pro- 

 ducing a fruitful condition, and among 

 these summer pruning, performed be- 

 tween the L5th of June and the 20th 

 of July, has been found somewhat 

 effective. The removal of a portion of 

 the limbs of foliage in winter or spring 

 would result in a more vigorous growth, 

 but at this season the shock checks the 

 circulation, and tends to the formation 

 of fruit buds. 



Root pruning will also tend to de- 

 crease the vigor of a tree, and so 

 induce fruitfulness ; this should not 

 be done in the growing season, but 

 rather in the autumn or early winter. 

 Ringing, or removing a ring of bark 

 fi'om a quarter to half an inch wide, in 

 midsummer, is practiced by some, as it 

 stops the descending flow of sap and 

 compels it to produce fi-uit buds ; but 

 this practice is generally condemned. 

 Bending a limb downward, or tying a 

 band tightly about a branch, will some- 

 times have an equally good effect. We 

 noticed an instance of this in the 

 orchard of a friend, where the childrens' 

 swing rope had been tied about one of 



