The Canadian Horticulturist. 



307 



and would care for them, also, by having a 

 liberal portion of the small fruits. 



The most economical fence is one of posts 

 and wire. Land intended for fruit trees 

 should be ploughed up this fall and exposed 

 to the winter's frost. If in aod, it would be 

 better to cultivate it to some farm crop the 

 first season, in order to bring it into fit con- 

 dition to receive the trees and plants. The 

 sample of soil sent appears to be light and 

 sandy, but, if wheat, corn and potatoes have 

 been grown successfully upon it, no doubt 

 fruit trees will also succeed. 



SHIPPING APPLES. 



97. Sir, — Would you please give the differ- 

 ent methods, and proceedings in each method , 

 of shipping apples to the old country, especi- 

 ally with regard to railways and steamships ? 

 — A. M. Monro, Glanworth, Ont. 



There is no great secret in exporting 

 ones own apples to the old country markets. 

 The first great point is to secure a good and 

 reliable house in Great Britain to buy or to 

 handle your fruit. There are plenty of these, 

 and some of them advertise in our journal. 

 It would of course have been better to have 

 opened up a correspondence with the house, 

 to which you intend shipping, in advance ; 



but this is not necessary, for in most cases 

 the best will be done for you. You need not 

 necessarily mark the shippers' address on the 

 packages ; many only use their own particu- 

 lar brand, by which their fruit is to be 

 known in the markets, and the full name of 

 the consignee only on the railway and steam- 

 ship way bills. At most of the G.T.R. and 

 C.P.R. stations through shipping bills can be 

 made out to the principal cities in England ; 

 but if you want your fruit to have especial at- 

 tention on the journey, so as to arrive in the 

 best possible condition, you would do well to 

 correspond in advance with one of those 

 steamship companies which are making 

 special provision for carrying apples, and 

 then ship your fruit to their care, timing your 

 shipments to arrive in time for the next 

 steamer to leave. Some people seem to think 

 it necessary to have a great quantity of fruit, 

 in order to place it in the old country, but 

 this is a mistake. The only point is to ship 

 only the very best, and put it up in the best 

 manner. We would warn our correspondent, 

 however, that fortunes are not always made 

 in the export of fruit, but that very often 

 there are heavy losses to those who are green 

 in the business, and sometimes even to the old 

 and crafty shippers. 



Open o ^cttepo ^^^ 



MAMMOTH CLUSTER, [HILBORN 

 AND GREGG. 

 Sir, — In reply to Mr. Beall's note in your 

 last issue, p. 275, comparing Mammoth 

 Cluster, Hilborn and Gregg black caps, — as 

 fruited here this season they ripened in the 

 above order, with Gregg fully one week 

 later than Hilborn and a trifle larger. Hil- 

 born is first in quality and yield of the three, 

 while Gregg is firmer and a better market 

 berry. Mammoth Cluster did not compare 

 with the others in yield. In quality was on 

 a par with Gregg. — John Craig, Experi- 

 mental Farm, Ottawa. 



CONGRATULATIONS FOR MR. P. C. 

 DEMPSEY. 



Sir, — I wish to offer my congratulations 

 to our worthy and highly-esteemed ex-pre- 

 sident, Mr. P. C. Dempsey, on his recent 



escape from the hand of the would-be assas- 

 sin. How would it do for Mr. Dempsey to 

 present that hat, with the bullet-hole 

 through it, at our next Association meeting 

 as an example of the ravages of the borer ? 

 Could our esteemed ex-president and fellow- 

 director now say that 'tis better to have 

 been shot at and missed than never to have 

 been shot at at all ?— T.H.R. 



THE PEAR ON ASH STOCK. 



Sir, — In reference to pear stock grafted 

 into mountain ash (see p. 263), would, you 

 just permit me to say that five years ago I 

 grafted four varieties of pear into a few 

 thrifty young ash on my premises. The 

 scions all united and grew the first year from 

 six inches to two feet in length. The first 

 winter thaw that came they all turned black 

 as ink. A second trial and a thorough cut- 



