22 



THE CANADIAN HOKTIOULTDRIST. 



reliable varieties. He much regrets 

 that the Champion has been so largely- 

 planted about Montreal, as it has no 

 merit beside earliness. 



Mr. Thos. Beall, Lindsay, writes : 

 ''The reply to question 12 seems to 

 convey the idea that Orillia is not 

 suited to the cultivation of grapes gen- 

 erally. The climate and soil about that 

 town is well suited the cultivation of 

 any varieties that ripen with or soon 

 after the Concord. You would see at 

 their annual Fair such samples of well 

 grown and well matured grapes as you 

 would find some difficulty in excelling 

 even in Grimsby." Mr. Beall should 

 have named the five grapes which he 

 would recommend for Orillia. 



^etikl\). 



We will gladly give o\tr candid opinion of any books, 

 magazines or catalogues received, especially if they 

 are likely to interest or benefit Canadian fruit 

 growers, but will not insert cut and dried reading 

 notices in fav^r of any publication whatever. 



BOOKS. 

 How TO Grow Strawberries, by 

 Geo. R. Knapp, Greenfield, Mass., 

 price 25 cts. This is a most useful 

 little book of fifty-four pages, and 

 should be in the hands of every straw- 

 berry grower. It deals, in a most able 

 manner, with every detail of strawberry 

 growing, from setting the plants to 

 marketing the fruit. Under the head 

 cultivation, Mr. Knapp urges the im- 

 portance of cultivation after the fruiting 

 season and of continuing it to freezing 

 weather. Most strawberry growers 

 neglect their beds at this time of the 

 year, and we believe thereby make a 

 great mistake. The buds for the com- 

 ing season's fruit crop are formed in 

 the late summer, and every stroke of 

 the hoe, and every round with the cul- 

 tivator, adds to the number of quarts 

 of fruit that will be harvested the fol- 

 lowing season. 



Mr. Knapp's estimate of an average 

 profit of $60U per acre is altogether too 

 high for us in Canada, whatever it may 

 be for growers in the vicinity of New 

 York City. Ten thousand quarts to an 

 acre, at an average of 10 cts. per quart, 

 continued for three successive years, 

 looks fine on paper, but how many of 

 our Canadian groweis, we would like to 

 know, ever get anything like half that 

 quantity, or half that price, on an 

 average in field culture. 



We object decidedly to the practice 

 among our fruit growers, especially 

 those who have plants to sell, of setting 

 forth the brightest and fairest side of 

 their business in such a manner as to 

 lead unexperienced persons to embark 

 in a strange business to their great 

 chagrin and financial embarrassment. 

 It is high time that some of the failures 

 of fruit gi-owers were made prominent 

 enough to warn over-zealous enthusiasts 

 that the fruit business needs as much 

 brain and muscle for success as any 

 other industry, and a good deal more 

 patience. 



Mr. Knapp's book treats also of in- 

 sect enemies and diseases of the Straw- 

 berry, with a description of all best 

 varities of strawberries that have been 

 tested. On the whole we highly com- 

 mend it. 



How to Propagate and Grow Fruit, 

 by Charles Green, Rochester, N. Y., 

 price 50 cts., is another of those books 

 which contain a great amount of valu- 

 able information in a small compass. 



Annual Report of the Board of Re- 

 gents of the Smithsonian histitution, 

 Washington,D.C., in two large volumes, 

 one of which is devoted to the Snuth- 

 sonian Institution proper, and the other 

 to the U.S. National Museum. 

 pamphlets and magazines. 



Agricultural Returns to the Bureau 

 of Industries, Nov. 6, '86, A. Blue, 

 Secretary. — This includes a full Report 



