The Canadian Horticulturi^ 



Vol. XXXVIII 



JUNE, 1915 



No. (3 



The Methods of a Veteran Fruit Grower. 



ONE of the most pleasant places lu 

 ©astern Canada is the village 

 of Waterville, in King 's County, 

 Nova Seoitia. Everybody there grows 



apples. The eye 

 of tihe visitor is 

 gladde n e d at 

 this season with 

 rich foliage and 

 a profusion of 

 ibloom. Among 

 the prosperous 

 residents is Mr. 

 W. W. Pineo, 

 one of the vet- 

 eran orchardist-j 

 of Canada. Mr. 

 Pineo began to 

 plamt an or- 

 chard forty 

 years ago, and 

 has planted a 

 few acres every spring since that time. 

 He now has one hundred and eighty 

 acres under apple trees, of which about 

 twenty acres are in full bearing. His 

 orchard contains 9,000 trees, and he is 

 setting out five hundred additional 

 trees this spring. 



The varieties represented in his or- 

 chard include Gravensteins, Kings, 

 Blenheims, Northern Spies, Baldwins, 



W. W. Pineo. 



Ben Davis and Starks. He finds Kings 

 and Ben Davis to be the most profitable 

 varieties. "The Tompkins King," he 

 said to a representative of The Canadian 

 Hoirtieu'lfturist, ' ' is perhaps the quickest 

 selling of any of the standard varieties 

 grown in this province. It is in strong 

 demand in the English market around 

 Christmas. It was introduced into th's 

 country about sixty years ago, and ovy- 

 ing to its size and beauty became rapid- 

 ly popular. The King is fond of a 

 warm soil, well drained, and likes early 

 cultivation. The claims of the Ben 

 Davis to popularity are based on its 

 lonig-keeping qualities eomibined with 

 its excellent yields, and the demand 

 that exists foT it among the English cos- 

 termongers in March and April. More- 

 over, it blooms late, and that is an ad- 

 vantage in this climate." 



The soil of a part of Mr. Pineo 's or- 

 chard is a sandy loam, and part is a 

 gravelly loam, with a clay subsoil. Mr. 

 E'ineo obtains the best results from a 

 gravelly soil. He thinks this is due as 

 much to the depth and natural drain- 

 age in such soil as bo any other cause. 

 ' ' In Nova Scotia, ' ' continued Mr. Pineo, 

 "apples are successfully grown on 

 nearly all kinds of soil from light sand 

 to heavy clay. The sandy soils, when 



supplied with plant food and humus, be- 

 come useful for orohard purposes. It 

 is, 'however, on some kind of loam that 

 most of the orchards in this province 

 are grown. Personally, I prefer a 

 northern slope for apple trees and a site 

 if possible somewhat higher than the 

 adjoining land. On such a situation 

 there is, of course, less chance of injury 

 from frosts, owing to the drainage of 

 the cold air to lower levels. Moreover, 

 I find that a northern slope tends to re- 

 tard 'blossioming until after the period 

 of late spring frosts." 



Mr. Pineo claims that young trees 

 from a local nursery, if well grown, are 

 preferable to imported ones. The pur- 

 chaser has the advantage of inspection 

 before ^buying, gets stock with roots 

 subjected to a minimum amount of ex- 

 posure, and local stock is less apt to in- 

 trodnce insect posts and diseases. He 

 uses both two-year-old and three-year- 

 old trees, paying from twenty to thirty 

 cents for them. 



He prepares the soil thoroughly be- 

 fore setting out the trees. This pre- 

 paration is begun at least one season 

 ahead. A root crop is generally grown, 

 bo which is applied a liberal supply of 

 barnyard manure. He has never util- 

 ized sod land for orchard purposes. The 



The re.sldence of W. W. Pineo, In pleasant Watervltle, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. 



