58 



THE CANADIAN H0BTICULTURI8T. 



roots grown on the ground the year be- 

 fore planting berries will help the 

 ground ; the gi-ound should be worked 

 late in the fall, as late as possible ; that 

 is one of the secrets of success. 



With regard to varieties Mr. Gran- 

 tham said he could do better with the 

 Crescent than with any other kind. The 

 Manchesters were larger, and when the 

 others were small and dying out they 

 extended the season considerably. 



The Chairman — If we grow the 

 Crescents as extensively as the Wilson 

 it will kill the market, being a poorer 

 berry and of a light color. The buyers 

 are asking for a darker berry even now. 



Mr. W. H. Lee — Had a seedling to 

 introduce shortly, coming between the 

 Sharpless and Ci'escent Seedling. 



Mr. Cornwell — Had found that the 

 James Vick on good rich soil was as 

 large and iirm as the Wilson. 



Another gentleman spoke in favor 

 of the James Vick for fertilizing. 



The next subject was the " Culture 

 of Raspberries " — best modes of culti- 

 'oating, and best varieties. 



Mr. W. Lee spoke for half-an-hour 

 or so on the subject, giving some ex- 

 cellent practical advice based upon his 

 own experiences as a successful grower. 

 The soil must, he remarked, be good 

 strong dry loam, flat land fairly dry, or 

 well drained. The soil must be pi*e- 

 pared as carefully as for the strawberry. 

 The raspberry could be grown success- 

 fully for ten years in certain varieties, 

 and could sometimes be cultivated suc- 

 cessfully in hills. As to the varieties, 

 the Marlboro' was xmdoubtedly the best 

 early berry, though it laps too close on 

 the end of the strawberry season. For 

 a fine late berry he would recommend 

 the Cuthbert. The color was against 

 the Philadelphia, and that variety had 

 stood the wear and tear as long as it 

 would. Of coui'se he was getting a 

 little shy of raspberry-growing as com- 

 pared with strawbeiTies. He recom- 



mended planting them at distances of 

 eight feet one way and four feet the 

 other. 



Before adjourning it was resolved 

 that the price for picking strawberries 

 should be one cent per quart and no 

 more. 



OPEN LETTERS. 



The Alexander Apple. — Mr. R. Brodie, St. 

 Henry, P.Q., writes : — We generally 

 sell our Alexanders as soon as they are 

 well colored in the fall, as we get a 

 good price, averaging 33 per barrel, for 

 them, and no risk in keeping them. 

 This has Vjeen a remarkable season for 

 keeping fall apples. I have Plumb's 

 Cider and a few Alexanders in my cel- 

 lar at the present time (Jan. 29). 



Paris Green. — Mr. Dickson, Parkhill, 

 writes that by using too strong a solu- 

 tion the leaves were wilted off his apple 

 trees. In our experience thi'ee ounces 

 to 40 gallons of water is quite sufficient. 



The Yellow Transparent.— Dr. Hoskins, a 

 famous fruit grower of Vermont, writes : 

 " I note your beautiful picture and 

 correct description of the Yellow Trans- 

 parent apple, but wish to correct the 

 great error (in the quotation from the 

 proceedings of the Michigan Pomologi- 

 cal Society) that it is the same as the 

 White Astrachan, a later, much in- 

 ferior apple, and very unproductive." 



The Wilson Strawberry. — Mr. J. P. Cock- 

 burn, Gravenhurst, writes as follows : — 

 " With reference to Mr. Morden's re- 

 mark about the Wilson Strawberry, I 

 think it wise of the Wilson "to give up 

 the idea of running " when there are so 

 many better candidates in the field. 

 For a general crop on medium to light 

 soil, vote for Crescent, Manchester, 

 Miner, and Glendale ; for fancy crop, 

 Early Canada and Sharpless. These 

 will furnish a continuous crop of first- 

 class berries all through the season, 

 with the advantage of the plants with- 



