66 The Canadian Horticjlturist. 



CHERRY GROWING IN ONTARIO. 



IN selecting varieties of fruits for planting, either in the home garden or in the 

 ^ commercial orchard, one very important consideration is the choice of such 

 varieties as will best cover the fruit season ; for, in the first place, it is very im- 

 portant to have a successive supply for our tables, and, in the second place, it is 

 necessary to carefully avoid causing a glut in the market, at any one time, of any 

 particular variety of fruit. With those who are situated in southern Ontario, 

 where the choicer varieties of cherries may be grown, there is perhaps no line of 

 fruit culture more encouraging than the production of the finer varieties of this 

 fruit. There is scarcely any more competition in the offerings of this fruit than 

 in peaches, and the price, therefore, is usually up to a very satisfactory figure. 

 We have tested, at Maplehurst, a large number of the finer varieties of the Heart 

 and Bigarreau cherries, and although, even in this favorable locality, the fruit 

 buds are often cut off when the temperature goes beyond ten degrees below zero, 

 yet, on the whole, we have found them to be a decidedly profitable crop. Pro- 

 bably no fruit would be more so, were the yield regularly abundant, but two 

 years out of three there is more or less of a failure, from one cause or another, 

 in the case of the choicer varieties ; and therefore we would not be justified in 

 recommending them for general planting in this Province. Fortunately, how- 

 ever, we have varieties such as the Kentish, Early Richmond and Montmorency, 

 which can be widely grown in this country, and we are introducing from Russia 

 some still more hardy kinds, such as the Ostheim, the Vladimir and the Bohe- 

 mian Queen, which will no doubt be able to stand even the climate of our cold 

 north. The pie cherries are so much in demand in our markets for culinary 

 uses, that they are steadily advancing in value, and little behind the others in 

 the matter of profit to the grower. 



The following is a list of Heart and Bigarreau cherries that have succeeded 

 well with us at Grimsby, selected with a view to cover a season of about six 

 weeks, from about the first week in June until about the third week in July : — 

 Early Purple, Governor Wood, Knight's Early Black, Great Bigarreau, Black 

 Tartarian, Elton, Napoleon Bigarreau, Black Eagle and Elkhorn. To these we 

 add the Windsor with great confidence, on the authority of many prominent 

 fruit growers of Western New York. 



The Kieffer Pear. — Some of the nursery agents who are selling stock in 

 this part of the world, are recommending the Kieffer pear. Our readers, doubt- 

 less, know better than to invest in any such stock. In the South, where it is 

 difficult to grow fine pears, the Kieffer and Le Conte are better than no pears, 

 and may there be successfully grown. But in this latitude it is practically worth- 

 less. The stories told about its being blight proof are pure fiction — it blights 

 just as readily as any other variety. — Orange County (N. Y ) Farmer. 



