THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



199 



EARLY CABBAGE, 



for which he said he would get $80. 

 These were planted in the fall and win- 

 tered in frames. He told me he had 

 frequently returned with $100 for his 

 waggon load. 



Mr. Smith drove me to his grounds. 

 More grape vines I saw that day than 

 I have in my life time, enough it seems 

 to me to stock Ontario. What friend 

 Smith doesn't know about grape vine 

 growing isn't worth knowing. I took 

 leave of my kind friends in St. Cath- 

 arines Saturday afternoon for 



GRIMSBY, 



where I was met by friend Woolverton. 

 We had just time before night to climb 

 the hill above the town, from which we 

 had a magnificent view of that garden 

 land. We reached his home in time 

 for tea, to which we did ample justice. 

 In the evening we went over his well 

 kept grounds. It surprised us here 

 and at St. Catharines to see a full crop 

 of fine cherries. Here at Aultsville, 

 and to a distance far on each side of 

 us, we have healthy looking ti-ees, but 

 have not had a cherry for many years. 

 The reason why we can't tell. Notable 

 at Grimsby are its trees. No where 

 have we ever seen finer specimens of 

 foi-est and fruit trees. We measured 

 one apple tree in Mr. Woolverton's 

 yard, and found its trunk to be seven 

 feet eight inches in circumference, the 

 height of the tree about thirty feet, 

 and the branches to cover a space of 

 ground fifty feet in diameter ! Beat 

 that who can. Mr. Woolverton tells us 

 there had been gathered once from one 

 tree, 20 bbls. of apples ! Very few of 

 such trees would be more profitable 

 than wheat at 50 bush, to the acre. 

 As our custom is, we drove with our 

 friends on Sabbath morning to Church 

 — tlie Presbyterian in the morning, and 

 the Baptist in the evening, and good, 

 sound gospel we heard in both places. 



Leaving, with regret, our kind friends 

 in Grimsby on Monday morning, we 

 visited Hamilton and Toronto, and 

 started for our Collingwood meeting, of 

 which there is a good report, not exag- 

 gerated, in the last number of the 

 Horticulturist. 



On arriving home, 2nd July, we 

 found hay cutting just commenced, and 

 the strawberry season half-ovei*. Up 

 to this time we had weather favorable 

 to the crops, but soon after, a time of 

 excessive heat and 



DRY WEATHER 



set in, which has been very damaging 

 to the crops. In the last five weeks, 

 when the thermometer has most of 

 the time stood about 90, we have only 

 had rain twice, which, falling on the 

 ground as dry as ashes, was hardly felt. 



Grapes and weeds alone seem to have 

 thriven, even the late kinds of the 

 former will be likely to mature. In 

 spite of the weather, we have had weeds 

 in abundance, and of purslane especi- 

 ally, as luxurious a crop as ground ever 

 grew. A writer in the Montreal Star 

 says, that twenty years ago the seed 

 of this weed came to Canada in a 

 packet of seeds from a celebrated seeds- 

 man, and adds : It is j ust so with evil 

 influences ; they are scattered with 

 careless hand, and no one feels account- 

 able for the I'esult, but the harvest is 

 often sad indeed. Peace to the seeds- 

 man's ashes. We hope he has sowed 

 better seeds for the world to come. On 

 him this one has not lost a benefactor. 



The strawberry crop — where the 

 plants were not winter killed, and 

 many were — was good. Our Wil- 

 son's Albany was badly rusted and 

 the fruit worthless ; other kinds grow- 

 ing side by side were all right. Of 

 raspberries we can grow here but the 

 hardiest kinds ; we have mostly the 

 Reliance, which needs no winter pro- 

 tection. The Cuthbert and Marlboi'o' 

 have stood the last two severe winters 



