CANA DIA iV //OJi TICUL TURIST. 



147 



the limbs, and as a result tliat limb 

 was weighed down with fruit, while the 

 rest of the tree was barren. 



We are of the opinion that the cause 

 of so uiuch barrenness in the oi'chard.s 

 of some portions in Western Ontario 

 is to !)(' found, not in a too vigorous 

 growth, but rather in a lack of vigor ; 

 and that the remedy that is more fre- 

 quently needed is better care and culti- 

 vation, rather than any of the cures 

 mentioned above. Too often the apple 

 or pear orchard is e.xpected to go on 

 year after year producing abundant 

 crops without any attention, unpruned, 

 uncultivated, unmanured, subject to 

 bark lice, canker-worra, borer, web- 

 worm, codling moth, etc. ; and then be- 

 cause the acre of orchard does not pay as 

 well as the acre of grain or roots, which 

 has had all the woi-k, and all the man- 

 ure, the owi.er in disgust resolves upon 

 its total eradication. 



CULTIVATIOX AND FERTILIZATION. — 



After many years of careful e.xperiment 

 we must give our vote for at least an 

 occasional working up of the apple, 

 pear, and (|uince orchard with the plow 

 and harrow, even when full grown. 

 When the new shoots are less than a 

 foot in length, the foliage a light shade of 

 green, and the fruit is below the average 

 in size, a thorough working up of the soil 

 will be one of the most efiective means 

 of restoration. No doubt where the 

 ground beneath the trees is densely 

 shaded so that it cannot become sod- 

 boundand where by top dressingsof suit- 

 able fertilizers, the soil can be kept suf- 

 ficiently rich, it would be a mistake to 

 introduce the plough. The cherry tree 

 especially needs little cultivation, and 

 little manure ; and the pear tree, if 

 forced to a very vigorous growth, will 

 meet an early death from blight, but 

 on the other hand, if starved, the fruit 

 will be knotty and worthless. 



Mr. J. S. Woodward, Secretary of 

 the New York State Agricultuial 

 Society, recently stated that an api)le 

 orchard draws more heavily upon the 



soil than grain growing. One iiundred 

 barrels of apples, in his estimate, re- 

 moved from the land about as much 

 phosphoric acid as one hundred bushels 

 of wheat, and about as much potash as 

 fifty bushels of wheat. He therefore 

 concludes that potash and phosphoric 

 acid are the principal elements which 

 we should take pains to apply to our 

 orchards. 



The FLAT-nF,Ai)p:ij Apple Tkee 

 Borer. (Chrysobothris femorata.) Hav- 

 ing in time past, lost some valuable 

 apple trees from this unfriendly ex- 

 cavator, we warn our brother orchard- 

 ists against liis depredations. The 

 months of June and July are the season 

 when the parent beetle is most active 

 in her search for a favoiable place 

 under the scaly bark, or in the crevices 

 of the trunks of the apple trees. 

 When an orchard is growing vigorously 

 the young larva seems to be outwitted 

 by the rapid growth of the wood, but 

 when an orchard is grass bound and 



(rt) Fio. 50. (h) 



growing very slowly, the trees are 

 almost sure to suffer, and oftentimes, if 

 neglected, will be wholly destroyed. 



The beetle is about half an inch long, 

 of a shining greenish black above, and 

 like burnished copper underneath, and 

 will be readily recognized from the en- 

 graving. It is said to sometimes at- 

 tack the pear and plum trees, but we 

 have never been troubled with it ex- 

 cept in our apple trees, where it was 

 trouble enough until we knew how to 

 fight against it. The presence of the 

 larva may be detected by the rough, 

 dark, and sometimes cracked state of 

 the bark, usually on the north or north- 



