THE CANADIAN HORTICIL PURIST 



February, 191 5 



Two foiir-year-olde at Bethanbreck Orchards, Ltd., Waterdown, Out. 

 old Alexander bearing: thirteen applee. 



On the riijht is a two-year- 



just the condition you do not want to 

 have in a lemon tree. A six-year-old tree 

 of this type will bear not more than one 

 packed box of rough, poor quality fruit, 

 and this fruit is all borne at one or two 

 picks in the fall. The lemons from this 

 type of tree grade as low as one per cent, 

 or lower first-grade or fancy fruit, and 

 practically all go with a third-grade 

 or culls. 



Look at the difference. Both trees are 

 healthy, vigorous ones — one produces 

 live boxes of fine quality fruit in a year, 

 the other, one box of poor, almost worth- 

 less, fruit. We hope we have made our- 

 selves clear on this matter of types. A 

 variety is made up of a number of types, 

 some worthy of propagation, others not. 



Now, in addition to these variations 

 in types, there is a great individual tre^ 

 variation within each type. Take two 

 standard Washington Navel trees grow- 

 ing side by side. One produces ten box- 

 es of oranges, the one next to it four. 

 These differences are consistent from 

 year to year. Both receive the same 

 care, the same fertilizer, the same prun- 

 ing, thfe same culture. No matter how 

 much attention you give the four box tree 

 you can never bring it up to the stan- 

 dard of the ten box tree. One is inher- 

 ently a heavy producer, the other is not. 



You will ask, "How have you found 

 out these variations?" They are not the 

 result of "swivel chair observations." 

 We pick each one of our trees separately, 

 grading the fruit, counting and weighing 

 the fruit in each grade. These records 

 are kept in special performance record 

 blanks, following the tree through from 

 year to year, and keeping a yearly ser- 

 ies record. 



We will discuss the blanks more in de- 

 tail when we take up the deciduous fruit 

 work. We can turn to our notes and 

 show you the actual amount of fruit, the 

 numbers, weights and grades of fruit 

 borne by each of our trees for the last 

 five years. Our work is not based upon 



theory but upon actual observation in the 

 groves and orchards. 



Now we come to the second part of our 

 work : the propagation of these differ- 

 ences. In the citrus work we only use 

 or recommend for use for bud wood bear- 

 ing, wood with the fruit attached, be- 

 cause we believe the fruits on a limb can 

 be taken as a guide as to what we can 

 expect the buds from that limb to pro- 

 duce. One or two examples will suffice 

 to show that these differences can be pro- 

 pagated. 



One striking bud sport that we found 

 was a limb on a standard Eureka lemon 

 tree. This limb produced striped fruits 

 and variegated foliage. Buds have been 

 taken from this limb and show in the bud- 

 ded trees the same variations in fruits and 

 foliage as the original limb. 



Three years ago at Corona, Califor- 

 nia, the National Orange Company, on 

 whose property some of our experimental 

 work is located, decided to rebud three 

 thousand of the unproductive or "shade 

 tree" type of Eureka lemon out of their 

 200 acres of Eureka lemon trees. This 

 is the typ>e we referred to previously as 

 being a shy bearer, bearing a few poor 

 quality fruits in the fall. We selected the 

 buds for this rebuilding from as good 

 productive type trees as we could find 

 without having actual performance rec- 

 ords to base our judgment on. These 

 trees came into bearing last year, and 

 every one of them were productive type 

 trees. This year as three-year-old rebuds 

 they are bearing four times as much fruit 

 as they formerly bore as large unproduc- 

 tive trees. Just think what that means. 

 In three years time the worthless, un- 

 productive type has been replaced by a 

 valuable productive type, which bears four 

 times as much fruit as it formerly bore. 



Now, take the third part of our work. 

 Are these differences consistent from vear 

 to year? We can show you whole groves 

 in which the buds were selected from un- 

 productive trees, and the budded trees 

 have been consistently p)oor producers 



from year to year. We can show you 

 other groves where the buds were taken 

 from productive trees and the.se budded 

 trees have been consistently high produc- 

 ers from year to year. 



We have three and four years' records 

 on some of our own budded trees and in 

 every case differences in type and differ- 

 ences in production, could be propagated, 

 and were consistent from year to year in 

 the budded trees, (jfo be continued) 



A Eulogy on the Apple 



R. J. Mtistagtr, Lawrencctown, N S. 

 This afternoon I cut an orange in two 

 equal parts crosswise and emptied the 

 contents with a spoon into that region 

 from which food scarcely ever returns. 

 It was a good orange, of just the right 

 acidity and fuller of juice than most. 

 Feeling unsatisfied after this exjjerience, 

 and having no more oranges at hand, I 

 picked up a Northern Spy, and without 



The Apple— The National Dish 



The following- resolution was adopt- 

 ed unanimously at the annual conven- 

 tion of the Nova Scotia Fruit Grow- 

 ers' Association held in January : 



Moved by H. Shaw, 



Seconded by R. J. Mesenger, 



"Whereas, there has been during 

 the past year an agitation in the press 

 and elsewhere regarding the necessity 

 of adopting a national dish or edible, 

 and, 



"Whereas, the fruit interests of the 

 Dominion in various ways have ex- 

 pressed the wish that the apple 

 should be given the place of honor 



"Therefore, Resolved, that this Nova 

 Scotia Fruit Growers' Association re- 

 commend the selection of the apple 

 as a national dish or fruit." 



any preliminaries of peeling or coring, 

 bit into it. Now, when I eat apples, I 

 generally destroy three or four at a sit- 

 ting, and generally choose out the four 

 first before work begins for the follow- 

 ing reasons : I like to begin on the poor- 

 est of the lot and finish up on the best, 

 then as my appetite fails the fruit gets 

 better and my interest and enjoyment 

 keeps up until the end. 



Now, when I took up the Northern 

 .Spy after finishing the orange, I expect- 

 ed an unfavorable drop in enjoyment, 

 but I was surprised to find that the apple 

 tasted good. 



In the orange the juice was good, but 

 the remaining pulp was useless. Now, 

 the pulp of the apple remained with the 

 juice through a thorough mastication and 

 lost none of its delicious, spicy juiciness 

 in the operation. Long live the apple. 

 It is healthful, delicious, and appetizing, 

 and forms the best and most eatable 

 part of pies, puddings, dumplings, and 

 sauces that should be a daily part of our 

 menu. It is easy of production, can be 

 kept almost the year around, and is be- 

 ing increasingly appreciated. 



W'hile the Northern Spy is a leader 



