July, 1915. 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



167 



ing a fair price for some trashy home- 

 grown fruit, he buys bananas for a 

 while instead of strawberries. 



In part at least it is inexcusable for 

 such defects to be found in our fruits. 

 Slack boxes and baskets are due, 

 among other things, to the racking in 

 transportation, to the use of inferior 

 varieties that are poor shippers, and 

 last, but not least, to neglect to fill the 

 corners of the boxes or baskets prop- 

 erly. The former trouble is beyond 

 the grower's control, but the latter two 

 are under his direction. There would 

 be fewer slack berry boxes if they were 

 properly filled at the packing house. 



Fruit should not be picked when 

 damp with dew or rain. The pickers 

 should be taught to pick only the ma- 

 tured berries and to leave the half- 

 green straAvberries in the patch. We 

 require strawberries to be three-fourths 



red or more when fit to pick. The 

 patch should be gone over at least 

 every other day during the two weeks 

 of the crop, so as to insure no waste 

 through over-ripe fruit. 



Some varieties produce softer fruit 

 than others. The Glen Mary, for in- 

 stance, we consider inferior. It ap- 

 pears perfect at the packing house and 

 wasted on the market thirty-six hours 

 afterwards. The Gibson, Parson's 

 Beauty and Williams hold up much 

 better. 



The writer notes that inspectors with 

 the Dominion Fruit Branch are mak- 

 ing an increased effort this year to 

 show gi'owers the advantage of giving 

 full measure and eliminating imma- 

 ture and over-ripe stuff. Let us co-op- 

 erate with our fruit branch in this ef- 

 fort and do our best to market a su- 

 perior article. 



Grape Vine Posts of Concrete 



THE advancing cost of lumber of 

 all kinds has driven many fruit 

 growers to experiment in the 

 use of concrete for grapevine posts. 

 Some of these experiments have proved 

 successful. This has been due in part 

 to the fact that concrete posts have 

 such rigidity and strength that they 

 can be planted farther apart than is 

 customary with wooden posts, thus re- 

 quiring fewer in number. When pro- 

 perly placed, they keep in alinement, 

 and there is no decay at any point, 

 whereas wooden posts may rot at the 

 ground level. 



The posts here shown were made of 

 concrete consisting of one part Port- 

 land cement, one and a half parts sand, 

 and three parts small stone. They 

 were reinforced by placing in the cor- 

 ners of each post, about one inch in 

 from the surface, a five-sixteenth inch 



square twisted rod. Three-eighths 

 inch round rods could be used in place 

 of square rods. The posts were ten 

 feet long, of which four feet was be- 

 neath the ground and six feet above 

 the ground. They were six inches 

 square at the lower end, tapering to 

 four inches square at the top. Through 

 each post five holes were provided to 

 receive the wires, upon which the 

 vines were trained. At the end posts 

 the wires were fastened to eye bolts, 

 three-eighths inch in diameter, and 

 about twelve inches long. These bolts 

 extended through the end post and 

 were threaded with a nut for tighten- 

 ing the wire. The bolts and fasten- 

 ings are clearly shown in the illustra- 

 tion. 



In the construction of the trellis, the 

 slanting brace for the end post was 

 cast in place. A notch was left in the 



Concrete posts are used in the vineyard. They never decay. 



The form used for casting concrete 

 trellis posts. 



post and the form for the brace was 

 set up. The reinforcement of the 

 brace projected beyond the end of the 

 form and into the notch, the end of 

 the form merely fitting up against the 

 post. At the ground end of the brace 

 an excavation was made. When the 

 concrete was placed this excavation 

 was also filled, thus forming a bulb 

 or enlarged end, which answered the 

 purpose of an anchor. The brace form 

 was then filled with concrete, which 

 was worked into the notch, entirely 

 surrounding the ends of the reinforc- 

 ing rods, the latter being curved at 

 the ends to firmly anchor them. It 

 would be feasible, however, to precast 

 the brace, merely providing for it a 

 notch in the post. The notch could 

 be easily formed by nailing a trian- 

 gular block to the side of the form. 

 The post end of the brace should be 

 set in cement mortar. 



The form for casting the posts is very 

 simple. It consists of three boards, 

 which form a trough the exact size of 

 the finished post. The side boards are 

 attached to the bottom piece by hinges 

 so that they can be readily swung 

 down when the post is removed from 

 the mold. The wire holes are estab- 

 lished by placing at the proper points 

 short pieces of half-inch gas-pipe cut 

 so as to fit between the side boards of 

 the form. Through these short lengths 

 of pipe, which are left in the concrete, 

 are placed temporarily three-eighth- 

 inch bolts. These bolts, which also 

 go through the side forms, serve to 

 clamp the forms together while the 

 pipe spaces them at the exact distance. 

 This method of fastening is shown in 

 the accompanying drawing. The mold 

 should be oiled with a heavy lubricat- 

 ing oil before casting each post. This 

 permits easy removal of the finished 

 post. Under ordinary conditions the 

 posts shown should be made at a cost 

 of about thirty cents each. 



