68 THK CANADIAN HORTICULTUKIST. 



fruit is small and almost worthless. Other varieties are mentioned, 

 and their value for planting in that County fully discussed, but 

 sufficient has been given to show that the paper is a most valuable 

 contribution to our knowledge of the varieties of apple most extensively 

 cultivated and tested in the County of Prince Edward. 



The meeting was continued for two days with marked interest. 

 There was an exhibition of some choice winter fruits, many of which 

 are recent importations from Great Britain, fruiting for the first time 

 in this Province. 



There will be a mid-summer meeting of the Association at the 

 Ontario School of Agriculture, Guelph, early in July. 



ENGLISH SPAEPtOWS. 



BY JOHN KNOWLSON, LINDSAY, ONTARIO. 



Having observed an article in the Canadian Horticulturist 

 headed as above, I beg to say that in the winter of 1878-79 I made 

 a similar discovery to that made by your coi'respondent, Mr. Newhall, of 

 Toronto, I happened to be looking out of a window in the direction of 

 some dwarf pear trees and gooseberry bushes, and saw a numl)er of 

 sparrows picking busily at something, and at the momemt concluded 

 those trees must be infested with some sort of insects, and went at 

 once to examine, but failing to see anything of the kind I began to 

 scrutinize more closely, and soon discovered that they had been 

 picking off the buds, the outer scales of which I found under the trees 

 in quite conspicuous quantities. I mentioned the circumstance at the 

 time to some of my horticultural friends, and expressed a doubt as to 

 whether this importation was going to prove a boon to the Canadian 

 fruit grower. A large flock of those birds visited my orchard and 

 garden that winter, but since then they appear to have decreased in 

 number in this locality, for although I occasionally see a few on the 

 streets, I have not witnessed a visit from them during the present 

 winter. It has occurred to me that possibly there may be a reason 

 for these birds not attacking the buds of my trees the present winter 

 from the fact of its being a very mild open season, affording the 

 sparrows an opportunity to find food on the bare ground ; and conse- 

 quently it may be only in extremely severe winters that they are 

 driven to the necessity of picking buds from the trees/ 



