CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



2715 



are generally objected to on account of 

 the quantity they contiin unless the 

 fruit is very fiiin. Do not hold early 

 varieties too long. They lose their 

 flavor and the later ones coining iu 

 fresh and nice are preferred. — Ameri- 

 can Garden. 



Handling- Fruit for Market. 

 Cold storage will not make good 

 fruit out of poor, Seckel pears into 

 Bartletts nor bruised fruit solid. Much 

 depends on the picking. If the fruit 

 be left on the tree until fully ripe it will 

 not keep ; nor fallen fruit nor that 

 whipped ort" the tiee. The fruit should 

 go to the cooler before any sound speci- 

 men shows ripeness, and a single pear, 

 apple or grape that is imperfect may 

 and probably will entirely spoil all that 

 are put with it in the same package. 

 The nearer to the cooler the orchard is 

 and the sooner the fruit is stored after 

 picking, the better it will keep. Where 

 late winter pears and appK s are stored 

 they are often after late picking put 

 in bush;>l boxes and stacked on the 

 north side of some building to remain 



until quite severe weather before going 

 into the coohsr. These same bo.xes are 

 then removed to their places in the 

 retiring house and piled one on another 

 witjj thin pieces of lumber between 

 them to admit the air. Summer pears 

 should be picked before they ripen and 

 put in the cooler if the best prices are 

 expected. To know whether the fruit 

 is ready, raise a specimen carefully by 

 putting the hand under it, and if it 

 part readily from the tree, althougli it 

 bt! "as green as grass" it is ready to 

 ai'tiHcally ripen. Pears that become 

 mealy on the tree, often rotting at the 

 core, are juicy and delicious if ripened 

 in the low, steady temperature of the 

 cooling room. 



A great point regarding profits is in 

 properly selling what is handled. A 

 good reputation and neat packing are 

 as necessary as good fiuit. Attractive 

 packages and surroundings often sell 

 the fruit at once. .So ini[)ortant is this 

 that very choice cases of fruit often 

 ■'go begging" for a buyer while hand- 

 somely arranged lots of inferior varie 

 ties in poor condition sell rapidly. — 

 /•' & II. 



HORTICULTURAL. 



Northern Spy Apple. 



The diversity of opinion on the 

 value of this apple is owing to 

 ditieience of soil and treatment. The 

 remark was frequently made when half 

 a century ago this fruit was first intro- 

 duced and disseminated, that it was 

 smaller and more scabby on old trees 

 standing in grass, with crowded and 

 stunted branches, than on vigorous 

 younger trees ; and tin; difference was 

 so distinct that it was pronounced 

 absolutely essential to fair success, to 

 cultivate the ground and to prune in 

 the crowded branches. As a fair 

 average, the apples on the vigorous, 

 young, and well-pruned trees were at 



least twice as large as those from the 

 old and crowded heads. Cultivators of 

 this variety, who wish handsome and 

 fine specimens, should bear this distinc- 

 tion in mind. — Country Uentleman. 



Sheep in the Apple Orchard. 



The advantage of pasturing sheep in 

 the orchard has been frequently spoken 

 of in these columns, but a letter from 

 Mr. J. M. Drew, in the Rural Nkw 

 Yorker, emphasizes it still more in the 

 following terms : — 



A few days since I had the pleasuie 

 of seeing and learning of a successful 



