22 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



January, igif. 



"Concerning The Shortage 

 Of Potash" 



•f HAVE have been asked to say a few words to my 



I farmer friends concerning the shortage of potash. 



Now, friends, although the European war has put a 



stop to the shipment of Potash Salts from Germany, 



here is really no immediate cause for worry. 



Government experts in the United States and Canada, 

 and the experts in the fertilizer companies, have been 

 busy finding ways and means of overcoming conditions 

 arising from this potash shortage. They have entirely 

 succeeded. And the new booklet on 



DAVIES' 



Fertilizers 



have won a big reputation, 

 and you may prefer to use 

 tJiem. If so, Tiie Ontario 

 Fertilizer Co. will gladly 

 supply you. 



Harab 



shows exactly what to do 

 in every case where more 

 potash is needed than the fertilizers contain. 



Don't mistake me, friend, and think that Harab Fer- 

 tilizers contain no potash this year. You can obtain 

 Harab Fertilizers containing up to 3% potash. Where 

 fertilizers containing above that amount are required, 

 other fertilizing agents are necessary and are obtainable 



from the Ontario Fertilizer 



Company. 



If you will fertilize your crops 

 according to the directions given 

 in this new Harab Fertilizer 

 Booklet, you will get excellent 

 results. If'you will take my ad 

 vice you'll write for a copy 

 right now. 



^ 



^Uj 





The Ontario Fertilizers, Limited 



WEST TORONTO, CANADA 



the liKhleninjj: of the screw press. Although 

 some apples from refrigerator cars have 

 landed frosted, yet the most frost was seen 

 in the box car. 



It was a most unusual shipping season 

 for regular steamers. Lack of steamers, 

 and overdue steamers caused by storms off 

 the coast, caused the shippers of perishable 

 fruits most anxious moments. The ship- 

 ments are the smallest since I became am 

 inspector in 1901. 



An Experiment in Thinning* 



F. M CItMBt, Viatlud, Ont. 



.An experiment conducted at the \ ineiand 

 Kxperiment Station during the summer of 

 I9]4, in the thinning of apples, is of special 

 interest. Forty-six trees in our old orchard 

 were admirably adapted to such an experi- 

 ment. The varieties were largely Baldwins 

 and Greenings, and this year as a whole 

 they were heavily loaded. Twenty-six of the 

 trees were selected at regular intervals and 

 thinned, care being taken to leave the fruit 

 well scattered over the tree and in as per- 

 fect balance as possible. .An average of 

 3,191 apples were removed from each tree. 

 We aimed to leave only one apple to a spur 

 and often not that if there was any likeli- 

 hood of the fruits touching each other when 

 they had attained full size. 



The work was done from July 8th to 16th, 

 when the fruit was about the size of a shell- 

 ed walnut and smaller. Thinning shears 

 purchased from E. k. Franz, Hood River, 

 Oregon, at a cost of thirty-one cents a pair, 

 were used to cut the stems rather than pull- 

 ing oflF by hand. Five and three-quarters 

 days for two men or eleven and a half days 

 foi one man, were required to do the work, 

 at a cost of one dollar and sevemty-five 

 cents a day. This is an average cost of 

 seventy-seven and four-tenths cents a tree. 

 The fourth of this time was used in pick- 

 ing up and counting the apples, which is 

 equal to nineteen and three-tenths cents a 

 tree, leaving fifty-eight and one-tenth cents 

 net for the commercial thinning of the tree. 

 The twenty-six thinned trees yielded a total 

 of forty-eight and seven-tenths barrels of 

 firsts, including fancy, fifteen and one-tenth 

 barrels of seconds, and twenty and six- 

 tenths of culls. The culls included all the 

 windfalls. This gives an average of 2.46 

 barrels a tree, which are worth $1.90 f.o.b., 

 or $4.66 per tree f.o.b. The twenty unthin- 

 ned trees yielded 25.4 firsts, 23.6 seconds, 

 and a3.7 culls including windfalls. This 

 again is a.n average of 2.46 barrels per tree. 

 .At $1.90, the return per tree is exactly the 

 same for thinned as unthinned. The firsts 

 sold the seconds, but on an estimate of 

 $2.25 for the first and $1.70 for seconds, we 

 have a return of $5.20 for the thinned trees 

 and $4.86 for the unthinned trees, a gain 

 of 34 cents per tree in favor of the thinned. 

 \ fairly accurate record of the time required ' 

 to pick and pack the thinned trees gave 

 again an average of six minutes per tree in 

 favor of thinned trees, for four men, or 

 twenty-four minutes per tree for one man. 

 This at $1.75 per day is worth seven cents 

 making in all a gain of 41 cents in favor 

 of the thinned. The net cost of thinning 

 was 58.1 cents per tree all told, making af 

 cash loss of 17.1 cents per tree. i 



Three other factors we must consider: 

 First, .A share of the firsts were fancv and 

 might have been sold for more monev if 

 sold alone ;• second, it is doubtful if it is 

 I'ood policy to put seconds on the market 

 at all this year when there is an abundance 

 of first and fancy. Their value is really less 



•Extract from an address delivered at the 

 recent annual convention in Toronto of the On- 

 tano Fruit Growers' Association. 



