THE CANADIAN IIOUTICULTUItlST. 101 



iiiunity of our country. In your examination before the committee, in 

 answer to the A'aiious questions proposed — one of tliem was the time 

 required to bring the diiPereut varieties into bearing — you instance the 

 Ked Astrachan and the Duchess of Oldenburg, but forgot our precocious littlo 

 Wagner ; and then go on to notice other varieties, the Spy among the rest. 

 Now, just here comes in ray object in sending you this " clodhopper" 

 article for your consideration. In my little experience of fruit raising, I 

 hiive observed that both climate and soil have a large influence in deter- 

 mining the time necessary to bring the different varieties into bearing. 

 You say the Spy requires ten years. On my farm, situated at the base of 

 the limestone ridge in the County of Halton — a, calcareous clay soil — the 

 Spy came into bearing in seven years. On A. T. Springer's farm, at 

 Burlington, they are hardly in full bearing at thirteen years, on a sandy 

 loam and under the most favorable climatic conditions. In the County of 

 Simcoe, nearly forty-five degrees north, I have seen Spys that have been 

 ]>lanted nearly twenty years and have never borne fruit yet. On the same 

 kind of soil, ten miles north of Barrie, I have seen the finest specimens of 

 Fameuse that I ever saw grow, and the trees breaking down with the 

 weight of fruit. I think that soil, climate, altitude, contiguity to large 

 bodies of water, and constitution of different varieties, largely determine 

 whether fruit trees are fruitful or sterile. For instance, no one at all 

 af-quainted with the subject would ever think of planting a Bald.win in a 

 climate where the thermometer sinks 25 deg. below zero ; yet it is very 

 frequently done in the County of Simcoe. Of course the trees die. Unfor- 

 tunately, the farmers are often duped by interested, unscrupulous agents, 

 who, in plain English, don't hesitate to lie. 



You mention the Spitzenburg as one of the best ; and so it is. Yet no 

 tree is more capricious in its choice of soil to be able to {)roduce the finest 

 quality of fruit. In your book on Horticulture you say it is a poor grower. 

 When I read it I was astonished. On my farm it was the most rapid 

 grower in the orchard, so much so that although they were planted twelve 

 yards apart, the branches were interwoven and produced the finest fruit. 

 Take for instance the Boxbury Busset, which comes to the finest state 

 of perfection on a sandy loam. On my farm, under the highest cultivation 

 I could give it, it was a miserable failure. 



Some fruit growers are quite mystified when some one or more of 

 their Greenings that have been grafted on natural stocks come to bear, 

 find them small and inferior both in size and quality, and wonder how it 

 is, not knowing that some kinds are very much influenced by the natural 

 stock. So much is the Greening afiected by the parent stem, that if the 

 natural fruit is very small you cannot by any amount of cultivation or 

 trimming produce a large sized apple. Graft a Greening on a Fall Pippin 

 stock and note the diflerence. The Bambo is influenced in the same way, 

 but in a less degree. 



What we want in Ontario is a well written essay on the subject of 

 orchard culture, published in pamphlet form, so as to be within the reach 

 of every one. First, on preparation and kinds of soil ; secondly, locality, 

 exposure north or south ; shelter, how best secured, and in what way ; 



