109 



grown in the neighbourhood of a garden, where the ground has been spaded in the 

 autumn, preparatory to spring sowing, hundreds of little maple and ash seedlings 

 are found growing before any other plant comes up. In a very short time a 

 sufScient number can be transplanted to stock a little nursery. 



The PfiEsiDENT.^This is a very interesting paper, and deserving of considera- 

 tion, but we have four more papers to read, and hardly time to discuss it. 



Mr. Thomas Frankland, of Stonewall, Manitoba. — Mr. President and Gentle- 

 men, — I feel extremely grateful for the kind consideration that has been shown to 

 Manitoba and the North-West Territories. We stand in a peculiar position. You, 

 for a few years, have been growing fruit sufficient for yourself, while we are only 

 beginning. I think it is a very fitting prelude to the paper that I am about to read, 

 the one that has been read by the Hon. Mr. Joly, as it just fits in with the idea 

 that Mr. Gibb had in regard to the Province of Manitoba. He sent me some nice 

 little trees, and he thought our first beginning ought to be in shade trees. We 

 wanted more shade, ho thought, in the Province of Manitoba. It reminded me 

 when I saw these seedlings that I would like to add a word to Mr. Joly's paper in 

 that respect — that is, the facility with which these one year old seedlings can be 

 planted. We had a number of these that I got from Mr. Papin, of Iowa, yqtj 

 cheaply, and in order to facilitate the planting 1 may very safely now give away my 

 secrets. I had a boy assisting me, and the boy went before me with a crowbar, 

 rather a curious instrument with which to plant one year old trees, and of course 

 the ground had been ploughed as deeply as possible, and he planted his crowbar in 

 the ground and I followed him with the seedlings, taking them out of a pail of 

 water one by one and planting them in the hole he had made with the crowbar, and 

 we planted over 2,000 seedlings, 4 feet apart, in a vei-y short time. I give this 

 secret to anyone, and they all are perfectly welcome to use it. My paper is on 

 " Experiments in Fruit Culture in Manitoba." 



Experiments in Fkuit Culture in Manitoba: by T. Frankland, Stonewall 



Co., LlSGAR. 



The fixing of the boundaries of the fruit-growing belt has long engaged the 

 attention of north-western horticulturists. Theories have been as numerous as 

 experimenters, and many of these have dropped from the ranks, and with them their 

 theories. Experiments have hitherto been conducted on old lines and with southern- 

 grown and unsuitable varieties — without due consideration as to the changed condi- 

 tions of temperature, moisture, sunlight, &c. This cannot, perhaps, be better illustrated 

 than by detailing a few facts as to past experiments. Early in the history of the 

 Province, the ofScers and servants of the Hudson Bay Company and others planted 

 trees and shrubs imported from their former homes to make their adopted homes 

 as homelike as possible. The currant and gooseberry, native to the soil, flourished 

 well in their gardens and bare abundantly. The native black currant, especially in 

 size, excelled the Naples, and was little, if any, behind that variety in fruitfulness 

 and' quality. The native plum, grown in thickets with moderate shade, succeeded 

 well. No wild apple or crab was, however, known, and experiments were made by 

 raising seedlings from southern-grown fruit, and importing trees from European and 

 southern nurseries. These seedlings and importations were "of few days and full 

 of trouble " In 18*72 W. B. Hall, of Headingly, procured from Minnesota three- 

 year-old dwarf trees of Duchess, Wealthy, Tetofsky, and half a dozen other 

 varieties of apples and crabs, which were carefully planted on a northern slope, 

 protected on three sides, in rich sandy loam soil. Two years from planting most of 

 these came to bearing and fruited for several years; but Mr. Hall says, "They com- 

 menced dying at the top," and now only a few Siberians survive. His Lordship 

 the Biishop of Eupert's Land for some years has taken interest in fruit culture. 

 His first importations were destroyed on three successive occasions by locusts — one 

 Yellow Siberian and one Transcendent crab being all now left. Both of these 

 blossomed heavily last spring; but, on account of late spring frosts, the fruit was 

 siderably short of previous years' records. From a more recent purchase he 



