176 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



weeks before ripening of the fruit. It 

 is done by removing a ring of the bark 

 about half an inch wide, from such 

 fruiting branches as are to be removed 

 at the next pruning. 



Summer Pruning Grape Vines. — There is 

 no art in summer pruning grape vines. 

 Simply do not allow any shoots to grow 

 that you do not want to retain next 

 year. Go over the plants occasionally 

 and rub out with the finger and thumb 

 the sprouts you do not want. This is 

 particularly desirable in young vines. 

 — Gardener's Monthly. 



No Cultivation. — Col. Curtis writes in 

 the American Ganhn that he considers 

 the plow an enemy to orchards. The 

 trees are bruised and barked, and the 

 roots are torn, thereby checking the 

 growth and reducing the feeding capa- 

 city of the ti-ees. The orchards are 

 also made prematurely old. His plan 

 is to build a secure fence about his or- 

 chard, and make it a pasture for hogs. 

 It makes a perfect pig paradise. He 

 feeds them in movable long wooden 

 troughs, in which he scatters grain or 

 meal when required. 



The Concord Grape. — Mr. S. S. Crissy 

 writes in the same journal, that the ex- 

 pei'ience of Chautauqua County, N.Y., 

 growers is that no giape is so uniformly 

 and certainly sure to yield a good crop 

 as the Concord ; and no grape is more 

 free from mildew and black-rot. 



Six tons per acre has not been an 

 unusual yield, as the result of the best 

 modes of tillage. Frequent shallow 

 cultivation is given from May 1st to 

 Sept. 1st, and phosphate and potash are 

 applied. 



The Concord needs special care in 

 handling. Easily injured when first 

 picked, it can be handled much better 

 after standing from 24 to 28 hours. 



Apples kept till July. — The Prairie 

 Farmer, of the 18th June, says that 

 at that date there were ten or more 



varieties of winter apples still offered 

 for sale at from .§4 to .$6 a bushel. 

 The apples are kept in good con- 

 dition by cold storage until tlie 4th 

 July. Some of the most valued kinds 

 for keeping in this way are Golden and 

 Roxbury Russett, Ben Davis, Willow 

 Twig, and Baldwin ; the two last-men- 

 tioned not keeping as long as the 

 others. 



The Yellow Transparent Family. — Dr. 

 Hoskins has an article in the July 

 number of the American Ga.rden, in 

 which he says that his experience leads 

 him to believe that • the Charlotten- 

 thaler. Sweet Pear, and Grand Sultan 

 are one variety, and that the Yellow 

 Transparent, Green Transparent, and 

 White Transparent are another variety. 

 The apparent differences between the 

 latter seem to be occasioned by poorer 

 or richer soil, or by earlier or later 

 picking. 



The clipping of th'^- gi-owing ends of 

 Raspberry and Blackberry bushes, if 

 not already done, should be attended 

 to at once. We do not want great 

 long straggling fruitless canes, wasting 

 their energies in trying to occupy as 

 much ground as possible, and in block- 

 ing up all accession to their fruit. We 

 want the canes to branch, and to be 

 kept well under control. The writer 

 has found a pair of hedge shears most 

 useful in cutting back the canes. 



The Parry Strawberry, says Mr. Upson 

 in Prairie Farmer, is very fine in 

 shajje, large and jiroductive. But in 

 Indiana it ripens very little earlier 

 than the Sharpless. 



The Crescent. — Whatever objections 

 may be made to the Crescent as a mar- 

 ket strawberry, it still holds its own as 

 the favourite berry for profit. The 

 coming berry does not come, and until 

 it puts in an appearance the Crescent 

 will Vje the leading market berry. From 

 reports received from many sections, it 



