(JA iVA J) J A A IIOUTICUL TIJHIST. 



•JHI 



Si'UiNu Wac.on KOii Cautinu ApI'LKS. 

 — Mr. Brodie, oE Moutreal, in tJie last 

 report of the M. H. Soc, condemns the 

 very common practice of carrying 

 apples in lumber wagons without 

 springs: — " Always use a spring wagon 

 for carting them. I know a fanner 

 who made a loss of |!20 on a load 

 of Duchess of Oldenberg apples ; 

 he had sold them a couple of days 

 previously for $4 per barrel and 

 brought them to the city in an old 

 lumber wagon without springs, the 

 barrels standing on end. Wli(;n 

 they were opened, what a sight ! all 

 bruised and sunk about a foot down in 

 the barrel. Of course the purchaser 

 would not accept them, so he had to 

 peddle them rouml for what they 

 would bring." 



PRUiMNfJ OUT rilK UlaCKUKKUY 



CAN'hs. — Among other work that may 

 engage the attention of the practical 

 gardener at this season is the cutting 

 out of the dead canes in the blank 

 berry and raspberry plantation. Some 

 advocate leaving them until spring 

 for the use they would be in gathering 

 snow for winter protection, but if this 

 is all the precaution taken, we judge 

 the purpose would be poorly served. 

 The advantage is in the ease with 

 which the work can be done after 

 the ground is frozen, and the saving 

 of more valuable time in the spring. 

 We have tried various tools for this 



purpose. An instrument like tig. 83 is 

 very useful, being a hook niade of steel 

 flattened out and made sharp, the 

 whole being about 20 inches in length 



We have al.so found ordinary tree 

 pruners with handles about the same 

 length very u.seful ; with these one man 

 first cuts off' th(^ dead bushes and 

 another removes them to the brush 

 boat with a long-handled fork. 



Fall Pkunin(; Gkapk Vines. — The 

 advantage of this season of the year 

 over the spring for pruning the vine 

 has often been emphasized in these 

 columns. The experience of a writer 

 in Vick's Magazine well agrees with our 

 own, and will be seasonable just now. 

 He says: — "I advise the practice of fall 

 pruning for grape vines over that of 

 spring pruning, I do this becau.se in 

 the fall the ground is hard and firm, 

 and as grape vines are often a part of 

 the garden fruitage, it is more desir 

 able to stand upon a dry, lirm .soil while 

 pruning than upon a wet one, as is often 

 the case in spring. Then, too, the 

 weather is more propitious. In the 

 spring the weather is frecpiently so 

 unfavorable, even until (|uite late, that 

 out door work is almost always delayed. 

 The cntting winds of March are far 

 more severe than the tem[)erature of 

 November, and one not accustomed to 

 great e.xposure freijuently dreads to 

 perform this labor at a season as early 

 as necessary. The weather, however, 

 would furnish but a shallow reason, 

 were it the only one, but it is not. My 

 vines have done l)etter the ne.xt season 

 after fall pruning, and have borne more 

 grapes than when pruned in the spring, 

 and this fact is worth more than a 

 thousand theories and opinions. I am 

 not aware tiiat any exact experiments 

 have been made to test this point ; in 

 my own practice the difference is suffi- 

 ciently marked to warrant my adhesion 

 to tall pruning, but if the product of 

 the vines is no greater the advantages 

 are still with fall pruning. 



TriE Elberta Peach is a new and 

 very pronn'sing variety, that is again 



