Tmk Canadian Houiicui.turist. .331 



)()'i"rix(;s AHoLT I RLir. 



IR, As the fruit season is now nearing its close for this year, 1 here- 

 with send you a few jottings about fruit in this district. We are 

 going to have a larger crop of apples than was anticipated a few 

 months ago, and the sample is very fine. There is no fungus scab 

 this year, and the Snow apples are as bright and clean as they used 

 to be before the fungus appeared. There are very few culls, owing 

 to the fruit having attained such a large and even size. The only 

 culls of any account will be the wormy ones. Spraying has not been practised 

 to any extent here as yet ; but as the codling moth and curculio are getting in 

 their work to a great extent, spraying will have to be done to save the fruit. 



The Wealthy apple is becoming very popular here and seems to find its 

 natural climate, as, like the Duchess, it attains to great perfection here. The 

 same may be said of the Pewaukee ; as a winter apple of fairly good quality, it 

 has come to stay. 



The La Rue, alias Baxter, alias Red Pound, is a very fine sample this year. 

 This is the very best market apple we have and sells " like hot cakes " as a fall 

 and winter cooking apple ; for pies and puddings especially it has few if any 

 equals, while its large size and bright red color make it a very attractive variety. 

 T am sending you samples of those varieties, together with samples of a new 

 seedling winter apple, which I believe will keep as long as the Ben Davis, while 

 it is three times as large and, when thoroughly ripe, of good quality. 



Plums were a very plentiful crop this year, especially the common blue ones ; 

 and wherever the trees were sprayed, the larger and finer varieties were very fine, 

 drapes have ripened well, owing to the fine warm weather of September. The 

 yield is not large, owing to the May frosts having injured the blossom buds ; 

 but the samples are fine. Those exhibited at our fall fairs would compare fav- 

 orably with those grown farther south. But, as a rule, our seasons here are too 

 short for late ripening varieties. 



Raspberries were a good crop, the best we have had for several years, but 

 hard to sell as the market was glutted with wild ones, which were sold very 

 cheap. , 



Strawberries have made a fine growth and, from present appearance, we 

 would expect a good yield next year. Speaking of strawberries, reminds me of 

 an article in the July number of the Horticulturist, copied from Popular 

 Gardening. It was written by one E. P. Powell, in which he compares a Wilson 

 strawberry to a Champion grape. Perhaps he is a high authority on such mat- 

 ters, over there ; but one cannot help feeling curious as to what E. P. Powell 

 had for dinner the day he wrote that article. 



He says, "The Wilson will never educate the taste for berries." I believe 

 it has played a larger part in educating the taste for strawberries than all the 



