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TABLE OF CONTENTS.

HOW OUR NEIGHBORS DISPOSE OF THEIR APPLES.

Having occasion to visit the City of Rochester in the interests of the Canadian Horticulturist during the past month, the opportunity was improved by making some inquiry into the disposition of the large crop of apples harvested the past season. There has been an unusually large yield of apples in the vicinity of Rochester, and we expected to hear that a great many bushels had gone to waste because there was no method whereby they could be turned to account. But such was not the case. A good market had been found in the cities for all the really sound first-class fruit at fair prices. Then the evaporators had bought up all of the next grade and prepared them so that they would keep for an indefinite length of time, diminished in bulk and weight so that they can be easily transported. And last of all the Cider Company had bought up all the rest, so that there was not an apple of any quality, good or bad, that had not found a market.

The Reports of the Fruit Growers’ Association having very fully described the process of evaporation, and given exhaustive accounts of the products and their use, it was decided to spend the time at command in visiting the works of the Duffy Cider Company. The main building of this manufactory is one hundred and twenty by two hundred feet, in which are the steam engines that supply the power, the mills for grinding the apples, the presses for extracting the juice, and the vats in which the cider is filtered and clarified before being barreled for market. The building in which the apples are received is of two stories, and at present only three hundred feet long, but being extended two hundred feet, so that when completed it will be five hundred feet long. Into the second story the apples are unloaded from the cars, in which they are brought from a distance; and the first story receives the apples brought by the farmers from the adjacent country. The mills, there are two, are capable of grinding each a thousand bushels per hour, so that with one set of hands they can work up ten thousand bushels per day. The yield is about three gallons and a half to the bushel of apples taking the average of the season. Each press takes one hundred and ten bushels of apples to a cheese, and about forty minutes is consumed in the pressing of each cheese. During the past season they had used up about five hundred thousand bushels of apples, all of which were of no value for any other purpose, not being good enough for the evaporators. The apples had cost them about fifteen cents per bushel, averaging to the grower this year from ten to twelve and a half cents.

This year the farmers got fifteen cents per bushel for apples that were good enough to use in the evaporators, but this was a season of great plenty and prices ruled low. Usually they get for such fruit about twenty-five cents per bushel.

The cider manufactured by this company is mostly clarified by filtering through sand of a peculiar character, which is brought from Massachusetts, and after being prepared for market will keep without change the year round. It is retailed by them at two dollars per barrel of thirty-two gallons, and sold at wholesale at one dollar and twenty-five cents.

After the cider has been pressed out, the pomace is saturated with water and left to ferment, and when this fermentation has reached the proper point it is again pressed, and the product made into vinegar.

To what uses this cider is put after leaving the factory is matter for conjecture. Doubtless much of it is used in the manufacture of wines of various sorts, most prominent among which are the various sparkling wines that are so much sought after in the American market. Some of it is probably distilled and made into beverages of a more potent character.

If these methods of using up inferior apples become general, it would seem that the temptation to barrel apples of poor quality should be much lessened, and we may hope to see only such as are strictly sound and of first quality sent to market in the fresh state. It is trying to the producer to sort his apples with the proper care, when he knows that all that are not marketed in the barrel are of no money value to him; but when he knows that there is a market for every one, even the very poorest, and that unless his barreled fruit is put up with the greatest care it will bring but a poor price, then he will not be so anxious to get rid of his apples as to spoil the price of his barreled fruit.

Another result from this clean consumption of all the apples will doubtless be a very great reduction of the codlin moth; for every apple being removed from the orchards, and the wormy fruit in particular subjected to these processes of manufacture, the insects will be taken to factories and there so severely handled that most of them will perish. Is there not in this a more sure and universal trapping of the codlin moth than would be effected in a century by the scattered use of bands of paper or cloth or any other of the traps that have been devised for lessening their numbers? Should this result follow, there will soon be an abundance of perfect fruit, free from the excavations of these little pests, to gladden both producer and consumer.

THE BUSH HONEYSUCKLE.

Honeysuckles we generally think of as climbers. Their rich, shining, glossy leaves, and in many cases, sweet scented flowers, are seen clustering above the eaves of every cottage by the wayside. No plant is more generally healthy, and none bears with less injury the rigours of the most trying exposures. Lonicera is the botanical term applied to all honeysuckles, but under the term are included forms that are as far removed from a climbing vine as any shrub. These forms of honeysuckles are genuine shrubs, not climbers artificially trained into shrubs after the method often applied to wistarias and trumpet creepers. They have every attribute of a shrub, and some of the best attributes developed in a high degree. These attributes are naturally shared in nearly equal degrees by both climbers and bushes of the genus lonicera, and they consist largely in extreme hardiness and vigor or growth. In the roughest, most exposed positions by the seashore, or on bleak hillsides, may be seen in the thriftiest, healthiest condition, honeysuckles of all kinds, and particularly those called fly honeysuckles or bush honeysuckles, Lonicera or Xylosteum. It is true the habit of the bush honeysuckle is a little coarse, but it is so vigorous, and such a lively green throughout the season until late fall, that one forgives it a little want of fineness of nature.

Their flowers are not specially conspicuous, but always pleasing, ranging in the several species and varieties through many shades of white, yellow, pink and red. There are at least fifty species and varieties known in collections, and among them is considerable variety of color and form, although the general appearance of all bush honeysuckles is much the same. All have good-sized, bright green leaves, quite distinct from those of the climbing honeysuckle, but the general appearance of the leaf and size of the flower is much the same. The different species come from widely diverse regions of the temperate zone, from both Europe and Asia. One of the very finest, L. fragrantissima, with white petalled and yellow stamened flowers, early bloom and vigorous habit, was introduced from Japan a little more than thirty years ago, while L. alpigena and L. cœrulea have been mentioned and more or less employed for nearly 400 years. The best known in gardens of the present day are the red and white Tartarian honeysuckles L. xylosteum or English fly honeysuckle, L. ledebouri and L. canadensis. The flowers of the last three are yellow or yellowish brown; and canadensis, more inclined to climb than other bush honeysuckles, is specially noteworthy for leaves of a beautiful silvery-grey color.

But honeysuckles have another charm in their fruit or berries, that cannot be praised too much or too often. All through August and September these berries stand in small, thick clusters on the ends of the stiff, upright branches. They are red or orange, and very effective, especially as shrubs with ornamental seed vessels are none too plenty. The positions that bush honeysuckles should occupy on the lawn are within the outskirts of the group, among the more massive and less refined shrubs.

Bush honeysuckles cannot be fairly classed among the most beautiful deciduous shrubs, yet their vigor and general hardiness are so excellent, their flowers in spring, in many species, so sweet, and the foliage of such a bright, attractive green, that no lawn, and scarcely any considerable shrub group, can afford to neglect their charms. After this assertion I need hardly say that bush honeysuckles receive too little employment at present.

—S. Parsons, Jr., in Country Gentleman.

MOSSING THE SURFACE OF POTS.

Covering the surface of pots with moss is very beneficial, as well as enhancing to the appearance of the plants. A good many kinds of succulent growing plants during their season of rapid growth require when growing in pots a great quantity of moisture at the roots. This is the case with such kinds as carnations, bouvardias, heliotropes, geraniums and roses, especially if grown in a house heated by artificial means, and a minimum of 50 degrees maintained. A good many failures with roses during winter are caused by not supplying sufficient water to the roots when growing. For years I made this mistake myself, but as we are daily learning the nature and requirements of plants better, I find that too much water cannot be given roses growing in a high temperature, having plenty of healthy foliage, so long as there is sufficient porosity in the soil to prevent saturation. Dryness at the roots is often the cause of mildew on plants, and is also the cause of the plants producing imperfect buds. I have seen a house of roses in strong, succulent, healthy growth, allowed to get dry at the roots (not sufficient to cause the shoots to wilt, but enough to check the rapid circulation of the sap in the shoots,) to be covered with mildew a short time after, and the cause laid to injudicious airing or to extremes of temperature, when insufficient moisture was the real cause. I do not say but that mildew arises often from injudicious airing and firing, but I do assert from observation that it also often arises from injudicious watering.

Now, for the purpose of helping avoid this evil and maintaining a better degree of moisture at the roots, during a period of severe weather when strong fires have to be kept up to maintain the required temperature, it is a good plan to cover the surface of the pots, or if growing in shallow benches, the surface of the bed, with moss, which may either be the green moss found growing on stumps and stones in moist parts of woods, or sphagnum moss found in swamps; this latter is the kind I generally use, but the other is the prettiest for house plants. Peter Henderson recommends mixing bone dust with the moss as a fertilizer to the plants. For plants somewhat exhausted from being a good while in pots, this is very desirable, and for the last year during which I have adopted this plan, I found it very beneficial for recuperating plants which make feeble growths from being long in pots. The moss, from its moistness, brings the roots to the surface, and if food is supplied them, a fresh and vigorous growth is the consequence.

Instead of mixing the bone dust with the moss, I often mix it with a little soil, and sprinkle it on the surface of the pots before putting on the moss. This is the better way with house plants, as it keeps the bone covered, and therefore prevents any disagreeable smell from arising. Fertilizing house plants has generally been a difficult matter with window gardeners, but the above method overcomes most every objection formerly met with, and will be found as beneficial as any method generally recommended.

All my bouvardias, heliotropes, roses, and other plants growing in pots for winter flowering, I had covered shortly after placing them in their winter quarters—the result being more flower, larger trusses and buds, and I think better colored, than when grown without any covering on the surface.

—M. Milton, in Country Gentleman.

THE MANUFACTURE AND USES OF GRAPE SUGAR.

We clip the following article from the Breeder’s Live Stock Journal, and ask, if the manufacture of glucose or grape sugar is so profitable, what is there that prevents its manufacture in Ontario, to the benefit of the producer of the corn and the consumer of the sugar, and the establishment of another home industry. The manufactory that consumes two thousand bushels of corn per day, or about six hundred thousand bushels a year, would help to steady the price of corn. The article is as follows:—

Not long since Mr. John L. Alberger, of Buffalo, N. Y., one of the original inventors of the process of making glucose and grape sugar, brought suit for $450,000 against the Buffalo Grape Sugar Co. Mr. Horace Williams who, it is claimed, understands the question thoroughly, testifies as follows in that suit:

“The manufacture of grape sugar from corn was commenced originally by Williams and his partner. He invented some of the machinery by which the process was brought to perfection. He obtained patents in order to keep his process a secret. Their firm name was then A. W. Fox & Co. They commenced with two or three hundred bushels a day, and increased this amount gradually to two thousand. This was the amount in 1874. The Buffalo Grape Sugar Company was then organized. There were two hundred shares, of which Fox owned 102; witness owned sixty shares, and the balance was held by William Hamlin. Improvements have since been made in the machinery, by which a better article of sugar is made and with greater facility. They first produced a crude sugar—used in the manufacture of ale and lager beer, principally ale. The sugar was used in the place of malt. At a later date they refined the sugar. Grape sugar was also used in 1874 by tobacconists. As its quality was improved it was used in other branches of business. A large quantity is now used in making sirups for table use. Witness knew there was very little pure cane syrup sold now. The grape sugar is more wholesome and delicious. Glucose and grape sugar are one and the same thing—glucose being the sugar in liquid form. When it is called grape sugar it is in a solid form. This is being used considerably in New York in mixing sugar, making what is called improved sugar. Witness understood that the Buffalo Grape Sugar Company was interested in this mixing of sugars in New York. At the present time the demand for grape sugar exceeds the supply, and the price of it has increased. In 1864 thirty pounds of sugar were made from one bushel or fifty-six pounds of corn. The price was then from 3½ to 4 and sometimes 4½ cents a pound. The refuse is sold as feed, and the price of it was from 7 to 8 cents a bushel. In mixing sugar the grape sugar is pulverized and about twenty-five per cent. added to cane sugar. It improves the color of the sugar, and enables dealers to sell it for a better price.

During 1874 and 1875 the earnings were about $15,000 a month, and in 1876 they averaged from $19,000 to $20,000. In 1878 the earnings for one month were $35,000. Witness did not see many statements during 1878. A starch factory was run in connection with the sugar works, about 500 bushels of corn being used each day. Witness did not know about the earnings of the starch factory. He was aware that the business was profitable. He understood all of the process of the establishment and had charge of the manufacturing of the sugar, glucose, etc. He made estimates from time to time of the cost of turning a bushel of corn into sugar, and in doing so took into consideration the outlays, cost of machinery, buildings, etc. He estimated it to be about twenty-five cents per bushel, and the net profit of a bushel of corn at forty five cents a bushel, when turned into sugar, to be seventy cents. A number of small manufactories have sprung up in this country, but there are only four or five of any account. The amount of corn consumed in 1879 was from 4,000 to 6,000 bushels a day. In some respects it costs less per bushel to run a large amount of corn than it would to consume a small quantity. The net profit per bushel from 1874 to 1879 was from 40 to 50 cents.”

EARLY GRAPES AND ENEMIES.

“Bees don’t cut grapes.” Don’t they, though? I have known grapes ever since the days when the York Madeira, the Isabella and the Catawba were the only sorts out, and these only very little disseminated, but I have never had them injured, as by bees or wasps, until this season. I first noticed the depredation going on over some fine bunches of Iona which were growing on a frame between Concords. I covered these with paper bags and so secured them; but the bees went on along the frame of Concords and soon there were I and X shaped slits cut on the ripest berries of nearly every bunch, and crowds of bees buzzing and sucking and bearing off the juice. A very few wasps were participating, and in one place some ants, and I was troubled to find who began it, who made the first cut, much as one is over the asseverations of a set of boys who have been conjoints in a piece of mischief. The ants and wasps have been here through all the fifty years of my experience, and never were known to do such things; neither have our common bees. But the bees at work here were the ring streaked with yellow Italians, and although I cannot see well enough to make out how they snip the grape with a cut just like that of a can-opener, I believe they do it. It is somewhat singular that other Concords on a higher frame have not been touched, nor any other sorts near, since we cleared the frame first attacked and used what fruit was left to make syrup and marmalade.

As to earliest grapes, the downy stout wood of the Champion makes it seem to be a seedling of the Hartford. Both fruit and bunch are small, and the quality is less than tolerable. But it does not drop as Hartfords are so apt to do. I have a grape called the Paxton, which resembles the Hartford in every particular of vine and fruit, is evidently of the same strain, and would appear identical with it, only that the fruit hangs well, becoming very tender and rich when Concords are entirely ripe and passing their prime. If the Creveling would fertilize so as to have complete bunches, uniformly, it would be the best earliest grape among all here, (Central Pennsylvania.) It also hangs well and attains a very delectable flavor. All things considered, we count the Worden our best earliest.

—W., in New York Tribune.

A SPLENDID EARLY PEAR.

Petite Marguerite is one of Mr. Andre Leroy’s seedlings, and it was held in such high esteem by that celebrated French pomologist that he named it after the youngest of his grand daughters. In the year 1863 it was first offered in France, and in this country it has been on trial several years, but not until recently have its merits been recognised, and its propagation and dissemination seriously undertaken. This shows how much time is required to determine the value and to raise a stock of new fruit. Mr. Leroy was remarkably fortunate in the production of choice pears, but many of his seedlings, like Eugene Appert, Henri Desportes, Madame B. Desportes, Mad. Andre Leroy, and Maurice Desports, are such indifferent growers that nurserymen will not attempt to propagate them, and these sorts must therefore remain comparatively unknown, at least until a higher estimate is placed upon quality, and cultivators are willing to pay an extra price for choice kinds that are difficult to raise in the nursery. These varieties will all have to be double worked, which of course adds to the cost of the tree. Petite Marguerite, although a moderate grower, both on pear and quince, is sufficiently vigorous to satisfy nurserymen, and I hope in the near future to see this valuable pear extensively propagated in the nurseries. The list of choice early pears is not so large but a few more good sorts may be added, and I am certain that all lovers of fine fruits will welcome the new comer. There is no doubt that when this pear becomes known, it will be regarded as indispensable.

It is of medium size, just large enough to be acceptable as a dessert fruit; skin green, covered with grey and brown dots, and sometimes bronzed on the side exposed to the sun; flesh greenish white, fine, melting, juicy, acidulous, with a pleasant perfume. Ripening, as it does, about ten days before the Bartlett, it possesses a particular value as an early pear. As a fruit of the very first quality, it can be highly recommended to connoisseurs for the table, but it is not large and showy enough for market. Mr. Leroy, in his Dictionnaire de Pomologie, describes it as the best pear ripening in August. We believe this statement to be as true in America as it is in France.—W. C. Barry, in Country Gentleman.

BLOOMING WINDOW PLANTS FOR WINTER.

One of the most constant winter bloomers is the Chinese primrose. I have had them in bloom from last October and the end is not yet, for some of the precocious things seem to say: “I will not rest, but keep right along in flower.” The ones raised from seed every year are, however, the most floriferous, and for that reason I grow them from seed.

The Bouvardia is another abundant bloomer. It likes abundant heat, and the leaves must be frequently syringed or they will certainly drop off with rust. Heliotropes are good window plants, luxuriating in all the sun they can get, with abundance of water at the roots.

Calla lilies, if potted in September, will commence to bloom about Christmas.

The Browallia makes a very pretty pot plant for fall and winter decoration of the parlor, and by planting a few seeds of it together with mignonette and alyssum, a little nosegay may be gathered late in the fall. For this purpose the seed should be sown at intervals during the summer for succession, and as soon as the plants are large enough, put in small pots and shift to larger ones as the plant grows.

All geraniums are excellent window plants, and some of them are handsome enough in their foliage even if they produce no flowers. The most constant bloomer is Mater Christine, but is a single pink, a color I am not personally fond of. Jean Sisley, a good scarlet with a large white eye, is a great favorite of mine, and Fannie, with her beautifully bronzed foliage and monstrous truss of salmon colored flowers, is a gem. Geraniums delight in the sunshine, fair dirt and a moderate supply of water. They require to spread themselves to get the best results from them.

Certain varieties of fuchsias are good winter bloomers, and all are excellent window plants. They are voracious feeders, however, and will not thrive upon the same dirt that geraniums will. A liberal quantity of well decayed manure must be given them. They are very fond of copperas, and some people put rusty nails in the earth they are growing in. A correspondent says, having heard of the above, she knew where there was some water standing in an iron kettle which had been in it for months till thoroughly impregnated with the iron. She put a cupful of the liquid to a pail of water and gave her plants a taste of it occasionally. She is so much pleased with the result she advises all her friends to try it.

Now I have said considerable about plants which delight in the sunshine, and of course there will be some wanted for the shady places. I have yet to find a better class for the purpose than the Rex Begonias. In a log basket only fourteen inches long, I have two of them, on which the leaves are sixteen inches long, and they get absolutely no further care than abundance of water at the roots, and constant shade. Some people think it hard to grow these plants, but it is an erroneous idea. They increase and multiply very rapidly once one understands how to grow them; and flowering begonias are capital window plants, constant bloomers, easily grown and just the thing for an amateur.

The winter window garden is also much enlivened and perfumed by the hyacinth, lily of the valley and other plants which grow from bulbs, to be planted in the Fall.—Mr. Rennie.

HYDRANGEA PANICULATA.

This new hardy flowering shrub is offered to those members of the Association who wish to give it a trial, in the expectation from what is now known of it that it will prove to be a very gratifying addition to the number of those shrubs which are in flower in the latter part of the season. We have comparatively few which bloom after midsummer, and none which retain their flowers for such a length of time. It is said to be as hardy as a lilac, and is esteemed by cultivators as the finest addition to our list of flowering shrubs that has been made within the past twenty years. The flowers are borne in large clusters or panicles on the ends of the branches. Sometimes these panicles are nearly a foot in length and almost as broad. The flowers are white, and remain for several weeks, often changing in the end of the autumn to a pink color.

It is the custom now-a-days for newspapers and horticultural periodicals to make a present to each subscriber of some strawberry or raspberry plant or some flowering plant in order to increase the circulation of the paper. Now every subscriber to the Canadian Horticulturist may have one of these new Hydrangeas who desires it, and we venture to say that no paper in America is offering to its subscribers a more valuable if as valuable an article as is here offered to our subscribers.

Through the politeness of Mr. Jas. Vick, of Rochester, N. Y.,—so distinguished for his zeal in disseminating a taste for beautiful plants and flowers—we are enabled to give our readers an illustration showing the form and appearance of one of the flower panicles, though much reduced in size. From this one can imagine the appearance of a shrub of three or four years growth, bearing from twenty to thirty of these panicles a foot in length.

Besides this, there is offered to every one who will remit to the Editor ten dollars with the names of ten subscribers, new or old, a copy of the Horticulturist for 1881 free, and the choice of any one of the following articles sent post paid to the person making the remittance, and to each of the subscribers whose names are sent. The following is the list of articles, any one of which that the subscriber may designate will be sent: 1, The Senasqua Grape; 2, two pounds of the Dempsey Potato; 3, Hydrangea Paniculata; 4, a one year old tree of the Wealthy Apple.

THE WEALTHY APPLE.

This variety, so valuable for planting in the coldest parts of the country, originated in Minnesota from some seed of crab apples sent to Peter M. Gideon from Bangor, Maine, about the year 1861. Since that time it has been extensively disseminated, and at the meeting of the State Horticultural Society of Minnesota, held in January, 1879, the only apples recommended for general cultivation in that State are the Duchess of Oldenburg and the Wealthy.

The fruit is of large size, nearly round; color bright red on a yellow ground; flesh white, sometimes stained with red; tender, juicy and melting; season about with the snow apple; quality very good.

The tree is a free grower and very productive. It has been introduced into northern Iowa, where the climate is very trying to apple trees, and is there pronounced to be a perfect iron-clad. Those members of our Association who live in Muskoka, Manitoba and other places where the thermometer sometimes falls to thirty and forty degrees below zero, will do well to avail themselves of the opportunity now afforded them by the Association of giving this variety a trial.

LEE’S PROLIFIC CURRANT.

Some years ago, when this currant was first brought to the attention of fruit growers, the writer imported some plants from England, since which time he has had it in cultivation; and now after fruiting it for a number of years is able to say that it is a very valuable variety, well worthy of attention from those who are in the habit of using black currants.

Representations have been made with regard to it that have not been borne out in the experience of the writer, especially such as make the bunch as long as that of the Red Dutch, and the berries very much larger than any other sort. In these respects it has not seemed to be in any marked degree in advance of the Black Naples, which has stood for some time at the head of our black currants. But as a cropper it has been the most reliable of any, yielding abundantly in all seasons, and when the plants were cultivated and generously fed, produced very large berries.

To the taste of many, the black currants are not desirable as a dessert fruit, but when cooked they are not only very palatable but a most wholesome article of diet. Made into a jelly or jam they are said to be very useful in cases of hoarseness and sore throat. Certainly it is a very agreeable prescription, and one might well be disposed to imagine a hoarseness, if that were necessary to secure an opportunity to enjoy a taste of black currant jam.

SENASQUA GRAPE.

This variety originated at Croton-point, in the State of New York, and is said to have been a seedling of the Concord fertilized with the Black Prince.

Ordinarily the bunches are of medium size, but with care in cultivation they become large to very large. They are usually quite compact, the berries are of medium size, purplish-black, juicy, sweet, and of very good quality. The vine is vigorous and said to be hardy, but how far northward it will be found to do well has not yet been ascertained. It does not ripen any earlier than the Concord, and will therefore probably be found to be too late to be valuable in those parts of the country where the season is not long enough to ripen the Concord perfectly.

The skin of the berries is as thin as that of the Concord, if not thinner, so that it sometimes cracks, which is against it as a market variety. For home use it will be found to be an excellent fruit, very handsome in appearance and of fine flavor. Some of the samples that have appeared at our exhibitions were certainly magnificent.

A WORD ABOUT NEW FRUITS.

BY A. M. SMITH, ST. CATHARINES.

While I do not advocate multiplying new varieties of fruit unless we make some improvement on those we already have, still it is necessary for some one to propagate and test new varieties in order to make any improvement at all; and while the Fruit Growers’ Association and a few private individuals have brought into notice some few valuable new fruits, I think there has not been as much done in this direction as might have been. I know of dozens of new fruits that have been examined and reported upon by committees appointed by the Association, some of which I am satisfied are equal if not superior to many older ones now in cultivation, that are still in the background, and wholly unknown to the public. The most of them are in the hands of amateurs, who have hybridized and propagated them, not so much to make money as from a love of science and a desire to improve what they have already. Among these fruits are some of the seedling grapes of Wm. H. Mills and Wm. Haskins, Hamilton, the strawberries of Chas. Arnold, Paris, the strawberries and grapes of Chas. Biggar, Drummondville, and the grapes, currants, gooseberries, &c., of P. C. Dempsey, Albury, and Wm. Saunders, London.

Last summer I had the pleasure of visiting the grounds of Mr. Saunders while his currants and gooseberries were ripe, and comparing them with some of the leading popular varieties, and I am sure if they do as well in other places as they do there some of them if they become known will take the place of varieties now in cultivation. He had two varieties of black currants growing by the side of Black Naples and Lee’s Prolific, which as I saw them I should prefer to those varieties. One was a larger berry and fully as productive, the other equal in size and productiveness and much sweeter and better flavored. I also saw several seedling gooseberries, crosses between the Houghton and English varieties—some of which have been brought to the notice of the Association before—growing and ripening along side of Houghton’s Seedling, Downing and others, which in size and productiveness would excel any of the old varieties, and they were apparently as free from mildew; also a very fine red seedling currant.

Now what I want to suggest, is that some means be devised to test the qualities of these fruits and bring them before the public, particularly those whose originators are too much occupied with other things, or are too modest to push them into notice. Could not the Fruit Growers’ Association, now that it has experimental grounds at its command, take hold of these and test their merits, and if worthy to be sent out propagate them and allow the originators a royalty on all that were disseminated? It has been said that any man who makes two blades of grass to grow where but one grew before is a public benefactor, and why should not a man who makes two grapes or strawberries or any other kind of fruit grow where only one did before be considered as such and rewarded accordingly? The Association has in years gone by offered money prizes for new fruits which were equal or superior to standard varieties, but I would suggest that in addition to this an honorary medal or testimonial of some kind should be given by the Association to any one who originates a new fruit of superior quality. I throw out these suggestions, hoping the Association or its Directors will take some action on them at their next meeting.

SEEDLING PEACHES.

The past season has been very prolific in seedling peaches. The preceding winter was mild, hence every peach tree that was large enough to bear fruit was loaded to breaking. Samples of new sorts were received by the Editor from almost every part of the Province, many of which were very fine indeed. Some of those which came from Collingwood were of such fine size, and possessed so many points of excellence, that we are led to speak of these seedlings, for the purpose of calling attention to the importance of raising up a race of more hardy and healthy varieties, which, originating in our climate, shall be better adapted for general cultivation in Ontario than those which are now in cultivation. It has been demonstrated that if you can secure seed from a southern tree growing at its northern limit and succeed in raising plants from this seed, the seedlings thus grown will be more hardy than the parent, and better able to resist the severity of the climate. We trust that our fruit growers upon the shores of Lake Huron and of the Georgian Bay will not lose sight of this fact, but will experiment in this direction, particularly in the raising of seedling peach trees from seed ripened there, for we are confident that in a few years they will be able in this way to secure a race of hardy peach trees that will give them a crop of fruit, if not as regularly as they secure a crop of apples, yet much more regularly than they can ever hope to obtain from trees originated in a more southern climate.

AUTUMN PLANTING OF PERENNIALS.

The old fashioned garden, in which Larkspurs and Lychnis bloomed side by side with Pæonies and Prince’s feather, while Canterbury Bell and Columbine elbowed each other for precedence, and old fashioned, out-of-date Honesty hung out its silvery seed pouches; and where sweet scented rosemary and bergamot and southernwood weren’t ashamed to flourish rampantly, has given place to the mania for bedding plants and formal arrangements of geraniums and pelargoniums and coleii, and to stately Caladiums and Marantas. But in one of these old gardens in which plants were jumbled together in charming confusion and delightful profusion, every step was a surprise, and a tour of inspection a perfect voyage of discovery, in which were brought to light whole continents of bloom. Here a trailing branch of Honeysuckle, dew laden, swept your face; there a wanton sweet brier clutched you with many thorns. Here is a plant whose presence was unexpected, its growth being concealed by more aspiring neighbors, still it asserts itself, as modest merit does at times, by hanging out a dainty spray of buds and perfected blossoms; there is a regal blossom that two days ago was a tiny, twisted, convoluted bud, that did not act as if it meant to show itself for a fortnight. I have in mind such a garden now, in which York and Lancaster roses stood side by side as the rival factions never did in old England; where Damask roses sent a shower of perfumed petals over a carpet of “Creeping Charlie” and stone crop; where a purple Morning Glory twisted itself round a convenient Hollyhock and dangled its bells from its very top. It was a garden of delight, of unlimited boquets, of happy luxuriance and never ending variety.

But though not all homes can be beautified with so lovely and luxuriant a garden, there are none which cannot afford a few flowers, and to these the hardy perennials will prove more desirable than an attempt at the bedding out system, in which plants must be judiciously arranged with reference to height and color to be effective. Then, too, bedding plants require an outlay of time, trouble and expense which perennials do not.

There are very few farm houses about which there is not some unsightly view which might be hidden by judicious planting of shrubbery. There are very many ornamental shrubs which may be purchased for the purpose at a nurseryman’s if one has means, but our common lilacs and snowballs will answer every purpose. Against these, as a background, may be arranged perennial plants in a manner which will be very effective. Hollyhocks, the double varieties being best, herbaceous Phloxes and the perennial Larkspurs, which often attain a height of four feet, look well against a background of verdure. The old fashioned Tiger Lilies and Crown Imperials also deserve a place. Where more space can be given and some attention paid to their growth, greater things may be attempted.

At this season of the year roots of perennials may be set out with good hope of surviving the winter and making free growth in the spring. One merit, and it is no slight one, of this class of plants consists in the fact that they are always on hand. Once established they go on increasing and growing better every year with no care except to see that weeds do not choke their growth, and to supply them with a little fine manure. Among the most deserving of such flowers we may name, in addition to those already mentioned, Pentstemon, a tall stately plant, whose tubular flowers of scarlet, blue and white grow in panicles; Poppies, whose orange and scarlet blossoms, though not very enduring, are very showy and fine among shrubbery; Pæonies, the deep, blood-red variety being especially beautiful against a green background; Columbines, with horns of honey; the Foxglove, with her purple hood; Sweet William, which is now so much improved that it is hardly the same flower, with its splendid trusses of velvety bloom; Pyrethrums, which are as desirable as fine Asters; Sweet Rocket and wall flowers. Then, too, we have Pinks, both Japan and Chinese, which are perfectly hardy and are never done blooming; Pansies and Daisies; all varieties of hardy Lilies and Roses, which make the garden a bower of beauty in June; the Flowering Almond, “April’s gift to April’s bees;” indeed, the difficulty is not in the variety, but in making a choice among so many. Among climbers there is the Woodbine, so universally a favorite, the varieties of Honeysuckle, the Trumpet Vine and Climbing Bittersweet, and the Perennial Pea, the

In planting out hardy perennials there should be no definite pattern or plan; everything like formality should be avoided. The beds should be thoroughly prepared at the outset that the roots may remain undisturbed as long as possible and still be able to find plenty of food in the soil. Especially avoid crowding, remembering always that the slips of seedlings which look so small and at such a distance from each other will develop into clumps and masses of most decided proportions. Do not set them in an unvarying straight line if they must grow in a narrow border, but break the regularity and monotony as much as possible. Annuals, and bedding and “carpet” plants may be used to fill up vacant spaces with the best possible result. A single verbena may flourish and extend itself as only verbenas will between two tall plants, a carpet of stonecrop may spread itself somewhere else in the same way, a fringe of blue Lobelia may creep about the roots of another, and the sun-loving Portulaca may border the walk. A Scarlet Runner Bean may be allowed to climb the stalk of a Sunflower, thus furnishing a combination quite in accordance with the popular idea of harmony of color, while the Cypress Vine may garland the surrounding shrubs with its fine light green foliage.

Seeds of many varieties of annuals are advantageously planted in the autumn, among which are Candytuft, Petunias, Annual Poppies the Rocket and Larkspurs, Clarkia, Snap Dragon, Sweet Alyssum and others.

To the lovers of flowers these autumn days are grand opportunities for preparing for an abundance of blossoms next spring. Very soon, too, tender plants which are to spend the winter under the snow should be provided with a blanket of fallen leaves, coarse litter or straw, which must be held in place by bits of boards to prevent December’s gentle zephyrs from scattering it.—Michigan Farmer.

WHITE HOUSE WHITEWASH.

Take half a bushel unslacked lime and slack it with boiling water; cover during process to keep in the steam. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or strainer. Now add a peck of salt previously dissolved in warm water, three pounds of ground rice boiled to a paste, half pound powdered Spanish whiting, and one pound clear glue soaked well and melted. Add five gallons of hot water to this mixture; stir it well, and then let it stand for a few days covered from dust. The mixture to be put on hot.—Alex. Lindsay.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

A table of contents has been added for convenience.

Obvious printer errors including punctuation have been silently corrected, with the following exceptions:

Inconsistencies and variations in spelling have been preserved.

[The end of The Canadian Horticulturist Volume 04, No. 01 edited by D. W. Beadle]