89 



It would make this paper much too lengthy if I were to enter upon the modes 

 of cultivation adopted in small fruit culture. It may fairly be presumed that all 

 present are familiar with their cultivation and the requirements connected therewith. 



Our small fruit is largely marketed in quart boxes, packed in crates of various 

 sizes, containing from 18 qts. to 54 qts. each. To give you some little idea of the 

 extent of this cultivation with us, I may say that in the village of Clifton alone 

 there is under cultivation some ten acres of strawberries, giving a net income of 

 about $4,500 per year over expenses incurred in picking and shipping. The cultiva- 

 tion of all the smaller fniits are very sucessfuUy prosecuted in various sections of our 

 Province. 



I have thus briefly referred to some of the points of general interest in our 

 provincial fruit culture, and not desiring to weary you, I will close by expressing 

 my most sincere desire that the results of our present meeting may have the effect 

 of giving an increased intei'est to a very pleasant line of our farm husbandry, and 

 through the information imparted by the valuable papers read, and the discussions 

 thereon, we shall be able to make fruit culture much more profitable in the futmre 

 than in the past. 



The President. — This paper is now open for discussion. 



Mr. Allan. — Are the trees you plant standards, half standards or dwarfs ? 



Mr. Peters. — Standards. 



Mr. Allan. — What distance are they apart in the orchard ? 



Mr. Peters. — Mr. Sharpe is an advocate of close planting. He insists upon 

 planting 10 feet apart. I plant my orchard from 25 to 30 feet. Near the city of 

 Predericton a gentleman put out 4,000 trees, and put them so close together that he 

 had to take out every other tree to give them a little sunshine. As a rule, 2') to 30 

 feet will suf3.ce. 



Mr. Allan. — We go so far as to say that in standard trees in practice we find 

 with many varieties that 40 feet is not too close. In giving advice, I tell people to 

 err on the right side and to plant them 40 feet apart. The New Brunswick system 

 of cultivation does not strike me as a proper system, according to our ideas. We 

 believe in cultivating the young orchard for the first two years, and working it to 

 hoed crops. If the o. chard becomes too heavily wooded my system is to seed down 

 with clover, but still to keep the top dressing and use wood ashes and night soil. I 

 certainly admire the picture which Mr. Peters diew of a New Brunswick apple 

 packei'. It is a beautiful pictui'e, but if presented in our Province to the ordinary 

 apple packer it would startle him. There is great need of impressing upon the 

 people generally the necessity of careful packing. It is a most important point to 

 be taken into consideration, and we cannot speak of it or press it too earnestly upon 

 the people. 



Mr. Woolverton. — I quite agree with Mr. Allan as to planting the oi-hard — that 

 is, in rich soils and with most varieties that grow to a large size. I have Greening 

 apple trees on light soil — a deep, sandy loam — and they are of a good age, seventy 

 or eighty years old. They are planted that distance apart, and the branches are 

 interlaced that distance, so that it is quite evident that they are not too far apart. 

 For smaller growing varieties that would be too far; 30 feet might be suflacient, and 

 on certain soils. With regard to the mode of pruning. I do not think so much of 

 making the trees spread and keeping the top as I once did. I want to study the 

 natural growth of the trees, and, if the tendency is upright, to favour that, and thin 

 out merely to give development to the trees. If we interfere with the natural 

 growth of the tree we shall find trouble in keeping out extra shoots and sprouts 

 fj'om the centre that will be sure to spring out. Mr. Peters was saying something 

 about the difiiculty of curing large cuts. We believe that to make large cuts is a 

 great mistake; it is almost a death blow to the tree the way many orchardists do. 

 Where it is necessary to cut I certainly think the tree should be covered with some 

 coatino- to prevent the action of the weather and the air upon the wood. A covering 

 of some kind of varnish, shellac or paint, would answer the purpose. Mr. Peters, I 

 think did not intend to say that the standard barrel was a two-bushel barrel. 



