114 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



point of taste and beauty, as well as of convenience, how much better an 

 orchard of upright, well-ordered trees appears, compared to one in which 

 some of the trees lean one way and some another ; and when you drive a 

 waggon for gathering, or a riding vehicle through your orchard, how much 

 nearer to the trees you can get, and better you can work in gathering, and 

 in other ways, if your trees stand perpendicularly instead of at incon- 

 venient angles. If trees are trained straight and shapely the sap flows 

 more freely, and they will make a thriftier growth in a given length of time, 

 and the chances are that they will bear earlier and a greater quantity than 

 if allowed to grow cramped and ill-shaped. I am confident, too, that a 

 firmly staked tree, as soon as it is set out, has a better chance to recover the 

 transplanting than one that is left to the caprice of the wind and the 

 power of the sun's rays around its root, open as the ground will be by the 

 waving of the tree in the wind. This is especially true in sandy land and 

 its results apparent in a dry season, and many lose their young trees from 

 this and kindred reasons, as from the loose, careless manner with which they 

 are set out. All air should be excluded from the roots as the tree is set in 

 the ground, the dirt firmly tread around, and if any loose litter of any kind 

 can be piled around the roots to keep in moisture, all the better. While 

 cultivating among my trees and bushes, I draw all hoed up weeds around 

 the roots and they serve as a protection against the sun's rays. A coat of 

 lime white-wash on the trees every spring is a protection against borers, 

 and serves to keep a clean appearance to the bark of the tree. A good 

 cedar stake, driven about six inches from the tree, with a leather loop around 

 just below the lowest branches, with the ends fastened on the top of the 

 stake by a three-inch nail, will well repay the trouble of doing, as to 

 immediate effects, and the future life and usefulness of the tree will be 

 greatly helped thereby. 



Nepean, Ont. L. FOOTE. 



THE ONTARIO APPLE. 



Q) 



AVING held the Ontario Apple in high esteem for several years, and 

 recommended it to my friends with free distribution of scions, I was 

 much pleased to note its rating in the January Horticulturist, 39 

 in a possible 40, ahead of all the others named, including King, Gravenstein 

 and Northern Spy. I shall be glad to see the Ontario Fruit Catalogue 

 completed on that system ; it will be a most valuable guide to planters. I 

 would not mark Ontario so high for dessert, but my locality does not develop 

 high quality. For thrift, productiveness and long keeping I have nothing 

 equal to Ontario. 



Yarmouth, N.S.. . ' C. E. BROWN. 



