164 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



June, 1915. 



Horticultural Demonstrations in 

 Prince Edward Island 



L. Tennaiit, B. S. A., King's County 



THE grant made to Prince Edward 

 Island under The Agricultural In- 

 struction Act has enabled the local 

 Department of Agriculture to do consider- 

 able demonstration work along horticul- 

 tural lines. This work included pruning, 

 spraying, grafting, instruction in the general 

 care and cultivation of orchards, and 

 demonstrations In the grading and packing 

 of apples. Many of the Island orchards 

 were set out some years ago, and in several 

 instances these orchards have became un- 

 profltaJble, either on account of lack of care 

 or the tact that many of the trees are of 

 poor varieties. The question of the renova- 



tion of the orchards of the Island Is, there- 

 fore, an important one. 



Many orchard owners have rather hazy 

 ideas regarding the pruning of an apple 

 tree. Too frequently they measure tlie 

 success of their operations by the quantity 

 of wood which is removed from the tree. 

 The oibject of pruning is not to cut out a 

 large amount of wood, tout to leave as much 

 bearing wood as possible, to have this wood 

 evenly distributed throughout the different 

 parts of the tree, and to give each branch 

 and twig sufficient light and air so that the 

 fruit It ibears will mature and color pro- 

 perly. In our wofk the cutting out of largo 

 branches was avoided as tar as possible. 

 The pruning largely consisted in thinning 

 the outer twigs and branches. In some 

 cases where the trees had been neglected 

 for some time It was found necessary to 



T! 



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Big Ben is known as 

 the watchlike alarm clock 

 with a human brain — a 

 clock smart enough to call 

 just when and as he's told. 



He's ringing up more 

 than three million families 

 each day of the year- 

 some with a steady five- 



minute call, and some on 

 the "installment" plan. 



Big Ben stands seven inches 

 from tip to toe— big, faithful and 

 exact— with bold numerals and 

 clean-cut hands which show 

 plainly in the dim, early morn- 

 ing light. 



The next time you go to town cull at 

 your dealer's and ask to see Big Ben. If 

 your dealer hasn't got him, send a money 

 "'■'I" for $3.00 to his makers Weslclox, 

 La Salle, Illinois— aai he'll come to you 

 preoaid. 



remove large branches, but whererer this 

 was done the cut was made as close to the 

 main limlb as possible, and the wound wa^ 

 covered witlh a good paint. 



Here and there were found trees thai 

 would be very liable to split In a high wind, 

 or when carrying a heavy load of fruit. To 

 prevent this, the main branches on oppos- 

 ite sides of the tree were tied together. 

 Screw eyes were placed In these branches 

 between two and three feet from the crotcli 

 Thes« screw eyes were Joined together b 

 a loop of heavy galvanized wire, which wa 

 twisted tight. By this meanis the tree wa,s 

 supported and the danger of splitting 

 avoided. 



A small amount of grafting was done in 

 a couple of orchards. There are several 

 in.^tances in whJch top grafting could b' 

 done quite profitably. A considerable num 

 bar of .trees in many orchards are either 

 early varieties, or varieties that do not. find 

 a ready sale. By changing these trees over 

 to varieties that are in demand and that 

 will keep well, the returns from a larp 

 number of orchards would be material!; 

 increased. 



Demonstration work In si)raylng wa 

 done in several localities last year, and wa 

 attemded wit)h good results. Home^mad 

 concentrated lime-sulphur and arsenate o 

 lead were the materials used. The or- 

 chards on the Island were all fairly fre«j 

 from insect attack last year, so that there 

 was not much difference in this respect be- 

 tween .sprayed and unsprayed orchards. In 

 a few unsprayed orchards the Oyster Shell 

 Baric Louse is quite bad. In the control of 

 scajb, however, there was a big difference 

 between the sprayed and unsprayed or- 

 chards. In the sprayed orchard a large per- 

 centage of the fruit was No. 1, but in the 

 unsprayed orchard the bulk of the fruit 

 that was marketed was of No. 2 grade, and 

 the percentage of culls often ran as high 

 as 35 to 40. A large quantity of home- 

 made concentrated lime-sulphur was manu- 

 factured at Charlottetown and sold at cost. 



Glass vs. Cotton 



Referring to the use of cotton Instead of 

 glass for covering cold frames and hot beds. 

 Dr. Andrews, of Regina, Sask., writes, "Glass 

 has its uses. But many of our gardeners 

 leave home in the morning, which may be 

 cloudy, clearing up by nine o'clock and our 

 hot sun is apt to raise the temperature too 

 high. Cheesecloth quilted double by sewing 

 across every twelve inches is preferable. It 

 is like ventilated underclothing, open but 

 warm on account of imprisoned air. 



"Hard cotton Is of little use, or rather of 

 less use than one more open. We are simply 

 using the same protection and means of 

 ventilation which is making the cotton 

 window so satisfactory In some of the pub- 

 lic schools, and in sleeping rooms during the 

 winter. I hope many will try the new de- 

 vice. The plants are hardy, and stand trans- 

 planting well. The cost of cotton is so low 

 that one can afford to have a large area of 

 cold frames and hot beds for melons, squash, 

 tomatoes and bush beans and protect them 

 from autumn frosts." 



The Commission of Conservation r 

 Canada at Ottawa is distributing- a littU 

 booklet dealing- with "Town Planninjr." It 

 is beine a special issue of their magazine, 

 entitled "Conservation of Life." 



The Tournament of Roses is an annual 

 event conducted in California that has at- 

 tracted wide attention. A special booklet 

 dealingr with this event and beautifully il- 

 lustrating this ereat event and beautifully 

 illustratinfir it has been issued by the Pasa- 

 dena Daily News, Pasadena, Cal. 



