262 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



their enormous load of fruit, and this, too, of fine size and beautiful color. Our 

 custom is to gather this apple, just as it gets its full color and greatest beauty, 

 going over the trees two or three times a week, just as one would gather 

 peaches. They are brought to the fruit house, where they are emptied out on 

 the packing tables and the fancy ones selected out for packing in baskets, and 

 the balance of the stock put up in barrels. For a long time it has been the gen- 

 eral opinion that there was no money in early apples, and certainly our home mar- 

 kets are easily over-stocked with summer and fall apples, for which there is no 

 outlet, owing to their perishability. For fancy fruit, however, there is almost 

 always a good sale, and although we find the prices this year are very low for 

 Red Astrachans in our Canadian markets, yet, taking one year with another, they 

 are as profitable, when properly handled, as winter varieties. 



Our Yelloiv Transparent trees are beginning to yield a few specimens, 

 and, while we are much pleased with their size and waxy whiteness, yet we 

 fear that they will scarcely come into the market in time to avoid competition 

 with the beautiful Red Astrachans, which are so captivating to the eye that, after 

 they are once placed on the markets, no other apple is wanted by the pur- 

 chasers. 



Good Pears. — It should not be forgotten that whether any one kind of pear 

 is good or not depends as much on the treatment it receives from the grower as 

 from its own efforts to be good. If a kind is inclined to bear large crops, the 

 quality will be poor unless some of the great number be thinned out. Again, if 

 a tree, which usually bear-s fruit of a good quality, gets a little sick, bringing on 

 premature ripening, the fruit will be poor. Still again, those pears which ripen , 

 very soon after gathering are much improved by being taken from the tree before 

 quite mature, while late ripening kinds like to stay on as long as possible. Some 

 ripen better in a dark room, and others in full light. In nothing is skill more 

 at home than in the proper ripening of pears. — J. F. M., in Meehan's Monthly. 



Nitrate of Soda. — No manure that I have ever seen used, not even cow 

 manure, in which I have great faith, has produced such immediate effect in the 

 growth, vigor and full color of foliage. Mr. J. J. Willis, writing in the Garden- 

 ers^ Chronicle., maintains that it is a most valuable factor in the production of 

 vegetable crops and fruits. He strongly recommends it for strawberries, celery, 

 cabbages, onions, in fact, for all kitchen garden produce. But he recommends 

 it to be used in conjunction with ordinary manures. He says : " It may be 

 stated that nitrate of soda is not regarded as a substitute for other manures. 

 Taking horticulture as we find it, we recommend nitrate of soda as the cheapest 

 and best form in which to apply nitrogen to plants. To those who are using 

 ordinary stable manure we say, continue to use it, but use nitrate of soda in 

 addition. — W. Watson, in Garden and Forest. 



