332 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



HINTS FOR NOVEMBER. 



BL'SV MONTH. — With the fruit-grower the month of 

 November is by no means a time of leisure, as with the 

 farmer. The picking and packing, of apples so delays every 

 other work, that Jack Frost has his icy hands upon us ere 

 we are prepared for him. Much fall ploughing should be 

 done in our orchards, in order to expose the soil to the 

 disintegrating influences of the frost, and to rout the mice, 

 who are so fond of nesting in the proximity of fruit trees. 

 Especial care should now be given to young trees 



to guard them against mice, which are almost sure to 



attack their young and tender bark under deep snows of 



winter. The simplest mode of protection is a mound 



of fine earth thrown up about the trunk. This any one liv' 'nM^ 



can do with no expense, except for the labor, and, after 



twenty years of practical experience, the writer can 



commend it as perfectly reliable. Tin guards, wire 



netting, thin flats of veneering placed about the tree 



and simply fastened in place with wire, or string, arc 



excellent. The only question is that of economy of 



time and money in deciding the preference. 



Cuttings. — In enlarging our fruit plantations it is 



quite unnecessary to spend money purchasing vines and 



bushes of such fruits as may be easily grown from cut- 

 tings. Grapes, currants, gooseberries and quinces are 



all easily propagated in this way, even by the merest 



amateur. It costs little trouble to bury or preserve in 



sawdust the wood from the annual pruning, and, at the 



proper season, to plant it in nursery rows which can 



easily be cared for with a one-horse cultivator. Of 



several thou.sand currant cuttings made by the writer, 



and planted out last spring, in such rows, scarcely one 



failed to grow ; and on other occasions we have had 



similar experience with grape and quince cuttings. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller in his '< Grape Culturist," gives the 



following as his method of preparing grape cuttings :— 



"About the last of November, or the ist of December, 



I select the .wood for cuttings, and with a pair of garden 



shears cut it up into lengths of about six inches, leaving 



not less than two buds upon the cutting. If the wood |.'„;, st;. 



is very short jointed, a cutting of this length will have 



