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The Canadian Horticulturist.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

THE MOST PROFITABLE VARIETIES OF PEACHES, NEW AND OLD, FOR PLANTING IN THE GRIMSBY SECTION.

BY L. WOOLVERTON, GRIMSBY, ONT.

As a matter of course I will place the Early Crawford first among the most profitable varieties of peaches. More money may be made some years from very early or very late kinds, but the best variety of any fruit, other things being equal, is always the most profitable in the long run. I venture to say that you can place ten bushels of Early Crawfords in any town or village in Canada to one of any other kind. If growers were to plant as heavily of either the late or early kinds as they do of the Early Crawford the glut would be shocking to think about. I say Early Crawford, but I think this is a misnomer now-a-days, for since the introduction of so many earlier kinds, it occupies neither an early nor a late place, but the very middle of the season.

The second place for profit I give to the Old Mixon Free Stone, a very old, but a very deserving variety. Its qualities are equal to those of the Crawford, indeed it is almost perfection in points of flavor and appearance. It just succeeds the Crawford, and comes in so welcome to a grower after his hurry and excitement with his Crawfords. Those hot September days ripen up the latter variety so fast that it is almost an overwhelming task to get them picked, packed and marketed fast enough. Just then, when Crawfords are over-ripe for shipping, it is a pleasure to fall back upon the firm, beautiful Mixon, and find that it will command the top price in the market. It has no compeer. It does not begin bearing very young, but it outlives almost any other kind, and the older it gets the better crop it yields.

Third in order of peaches for profit in this section I would place the Early Purple. I am aware that some will differ from me in this, but it has always been a favorite peach of mine. I believe it is our most hardy peach, often yielding a crop when others fail. Its season is the last week in August, just connecting the ripening time of the Hale’s Early with that of the Crawford. It is a most regular and abundant bearer, and its delicately tinted purplish cheek and luscious flavor make it very popular as a dessert peach. Of course it is too soft for shipping far, and therefore cannot be grown profitably in very large quantities, for if you are a day behind in the picking you cannot ship at all, but for all that, I would not yield its place for any other of its season.

The fourth place I rather reluctantly give to Hale’s Early. If it would only get ripe without rotting, and not be so long about it, I would put it third in order of profit, for when well ripened and fully colored it has no rival in beauty of external appearance. To grow this variety successfully the fruit needs careful thinning when it is small, else the tree overbears, and the specimens are both small and unsaleable. I received the enormous sum of $5.00 for twenty crates of this variety shipped to Montreal during the past season. Then again I have received the top price of the market for large, well-grown and well-colored samples.

Next in order among the old varieties for profit I would place the Smock. It is a free-stone peach and has a yellow flesh, but it has a somewhat musky flavor, and often has a very dull colored skin; indeed in unfavorable seasons it is almost worthless, and as soon as a better peach ripening at the same period is introduced, we may cease to plant the Smock. Nevertheless, it is an excellent bearer, and ripening as it does about the first week in October, it has the monopoly of the peach market.

I believe I have now named my choice of five varieties for profit among our old sorts. If I were required to give a more extended list, I would add to these, as number six in order of merit, the Morris’ White. This is the most popular of white peaches, and fills in a gap between the Old Mixon and the Smock. The flesh is white to the stone, somewhat firm, but juicy, sweet and rich. It commands a ready market.

I have passed over our Crawford’s Late entirely. I have nothing against its quality, which is little inferior to the Early Crawford, but we are speaking of peaches for profit, and I do not think it deserves to rank among our most profitable varieties, because it is such a scant bearer. I have also passed over the Honest John and the Early Barnard, old and familiar friends and good bearers, but surpassed in excellence by other kinds of the same period of ripening. I have almost always found the Barnards unsaleable when offered by the side of the golden Crawfords. Last year the Barnards were like the Hales, overloaded, and consequently too small to sell at any price.

I have made no mention of the Foster, Mountain Rose, Royal George and some other kinds, because I think there are more profitable peaches ripening at the same time with them.

I would place the Lemon Cling next after Morris’ White for profit. It is a beautiful large yellow peach, and will always prove profitable for market in small quantities, but being a cling-stone it will never be demanded in large quantities. It ripens in this section about the end of September.

There is another old variety that comes about this time, the Stump the World, that should perhaps be mentioned next. It is not much cultivated about Grimsby, but in Delaware and other peach sections it is highly valued. It is a free-stone, and a very large white peach with a bright red cheek. Its quality is very little inferior to that of the Old Mixon.

Among the new varieties, new at least to growers in this section, we will notice the Waterloo, Conkling, High’s Early, Rivers’ Seedlings and the Salway.

Of these the Waterloo seems to stand out foremost as the most promising of them all. It is a native of New York State, and it is only two years since it was fruited for the first time. It is said to be about three weeks earlier than the Hale’s, and about one week in advance of High’s Early Canada. The fruit is of large size, the skin is whitish green with a crimson cheek. Altogether it must prove a most valuable acquisition.

The Conkling is another of the new varieties that deserves the attention of growers for profit. It is a native of Parma, N. Y., and Mr. Barry states that it was first fruited in 1873. It is large, with a beautiful yellow skin, and succeeds the Early Crawford. If it proves later and more prolific than the Old Mixon Free Stone it will be very profitable, otherwise little will be gained.

The Amsden’s June, Alexander and High’s Early Canada so closely resemble each other that there is little choice among them. I am myself inclined to the High’s Early Canada, as being a native Canadian, and not inferior to the others. This variety then we would commend as at least second among the new varieties, if indeed it should not be placed before the Waterloo. Its beautiful color, good size and fair qualities combine to make it very saleable and very satisfactory.

The Rivers’ Seedlings, viz, the Early Beatrice, Early Rivers, Early Louise and Early Silver were originated some years ago by Lord Rivers, a nobleman, in England, who ships large quantities of fruit to the London market. The Beatrice is a week earlier than the Hale’s Early, but is not profitable in large quantities, because it is too small and too perishable. Last season I saw heaps of them wasting in Toronto, notwithstanding their earliness. The Early Rivers and the Early Louise have not yet been fairly tested in this locality, but the latter being of a pale straw, is, I think, too delicate and too easily marked to be profitable for shipping. I do not know that any one here has tried the Early Silver. It is two or three weeks later than the others. It is of a silvery color, and the flesh is white to the stone.

The Salway is also a stranger to most growers here. It is a very large yellow, free-stone peach, imported from England about fourteen years ago. It presents a beautiful appearance, and the quality is good, but its chief merit is its extreme lateness, for it is said to ripen just after the Smock. I do not advise planting many very late peaches for market. By the month of October people are about satisfied with peach eating; all canning, drying and preserving is over, and the market could easily be glutted.

Now to recapitulate. Were I asked to give the names of five old varieties of peaches most profitable for growers to plant in this section, naming in order of merit, from this standpoint I would reply, Early Crawford, Old Mixon, Early Purple, Hale’s Early and Smock. If more varieties were wanted, I would add Morris’ White, Lemon Cling and Stump-the-World.

Or if I were asked to give a list of the most profitable varieties of peaches for this section, new or old, naming them in the order of ripening, I would give the following list:—Waterloo, High’s Early Canada, Hale’s Early, Early Purple, Early Crawford, Old Mixon Free-stone, Morris White, Lemon Cling, Smock, and Salway.

THE “YELLOWS.”

BY T. H. WATT, M. D., NIAGARA.

The disease called “yellows” in the peach, has taken quite a prominent place in the discussions of the various fruit associations; and to me it is a matter of surprise that any one taking an interest in the growth and culture of this most delicious summer fruit should be so lukewarm about so virulent and destructive a malady. To hear the various crude undigested ideas expressed, the ridiculous remedies advanced for its cure (which are purely imaginary so far) by orchardists, whose income, to a greater or less extent, is dependent on the health, fruitfulness and longevity of this tree—forgetting the fact that while they are quietly waiting for something to turn up, for a miracle to be worked for their benefit, the insidious disease is hidden in the soil, the spores of the same are blown by the wind in the fallen leaves, the pruner’s knife is inoculating hitherto healthy trees; and I can easily imagine the diseased pollen being conveyed by bees and insects, all these acting as active agents to spread this dread disease which is taking possession of their orchards. How can this be stayed? We have tried to enlist the sympathy of the Legislative Assembly, so that those who would not destroy diseased trees might be compelled to do so. We have tried by ventilating this subject to call the serious attention of the orchardist to the risk he ran, and the cruel wrong he was doing not only his neighbor, but his own family, in this do-nothing case of infection. Now the only method is to arouse the public, through the medium of the press, to what are the symptoms of the yellows in the fruit as exposed for sale, (any quantity of which, I have heard, has been placed on our markets.) Look with suspicion on any variety of peach that comes to market before its real time of ripening; for Chas. Downing says in his work (which has all been fully endorsed by the practical experience of peach growers in the Niagara peninsula,) “that this disease causes the fruit to ripen from two to four weeks earlier than the proper season.” The first season the fruit may acquire its size, the next, should the tree survive, the fruit will only be from a fourth to half its natural size. It is always marked externally (whatever may be its natural colour) with specks and large spots of purplish red. Internally the flesh is more deeply coloured, especially around the stone, than in its natural state. In many cases the red colour of the external blotch will extend to the flesh—(it did in those cases that I personally examined.) Another symptom mentioned is that in freestone varieties the flesh is more or less adherent; and in all cases the fruit has lost its nice taste, in fact is worthless.

Mr. Wright, of Drummondville, told me that he and his family suffered from bowel complaint, having eaten some stewed peaches picked by his wife inadvertently.

Surely any government of a paternal character should at least impose a heavy fine on any one offering diseased fruit for sale, and cause its immediate destruction. He learned from what was said at Hamilton, at the Fruit Growers’ Association, (by Mr. Woodward, the delegate from the Western New York Horticultural Society,) that it was in almost every section there. We also saw from the laws passed by the State of Michigan that they were alive and doing—the Ontario Association having tried to bring pressure to bear on the growers, and failed. I think it is now the duty of some one to bring this prominently before the public in the papers circulated among consumers, that they may guard themselves against growers and fruit dealers.

I have only given the certain symptoms of the “Yellows” in the fruit; this may be preceeded or followed or accompanied by yellow leaf, (from which it takes its name), and by the small wiry branches with small narrow leaves of an unhealthy character; but as the borer will cause an unhealthy leaf, and other causes, I should not feel justified in asking any one to eradicate and burn his tree unless the fruit symptom was also present, though for my own trees I should perhaps act on the principle that prevention was better than cure. I hope this paper may lead to discussion for the benefit of all.

REPORT.

FROM E. H. RYERSE, PORT DOVER.

The Wagner Apple and Grimes’ Golden Pippin I grafted on large trees, and have had apples two years. The trees seem hardy and good bearers, but the fruit was so much inferior to several of our older kinds, that I cut the limbs out of the old tree and dug up the young ones. The Clairgeau and Clapp’s Favorite Pears are growing nicely, but have not fruited yet. The Salem and Burnet Grapes both died; the latter was broken off so it never came out. The Downing Gooseberry is a small bush, and the berry is sweet and nice. I have grafts of the Swayzie Pomme Grise Apple growing, but they have not fruited yet. Glass’ Seedling Plum is doing well. The Diadem Raspberry died. The Strawberry is doing nicely, and I think it is the third best in my collection. Arnold’s Ontario Apple died, but I have a graft growing. I have ten pear trees, most of them bearing; have had no blight except one limb of a tree was affected three years ago; I cut it off well below the affected part, and the tree has been as healthy as the rest of them since.

You accuse me, with the other members of the Association, of joining and belonging to the Association for the “bonus,” as you call it. A paltry apple tree can be bought for fifteen cents; or perhaps a raspberry not half as good as we have in our own garden. I deny the charge.

I am an old man, and not capable of writing my experience, but I have cultivated fruit trees ever since I was fifteen years of age. I had my little nursery, and when I came on the farm where I live now, I planted out fifty trees, and have since at different times increased them to over one hundred, with the choicest varieties of apples; I had over fifty different kinds. I have since grafted and dug up, so that I have only twenty left, and that is twice as many as I want. I think five or six different kinds are enough for winter apples, and about the same number for fall use.

I do not see any good in sending out new apples or pears to the settled parts of Ontario unless they are superior to our old kinds. If you can get new hardy kinds to send north it is all well enough, but I do not want them here. I would rather have a house plant, berry bush, or a shrub—anything to remember you by. The Horticulturist and the Annual Report are what I want.

My land is what we call sandy loam with clay sub-soil, and lays in the County of Norfolk, Township of Woodhouse, one mile from Port Dover.

Note.—It is singular how tastes differ. Many think Grimes’ Golden Pippin the highest flavored apple we have. The Wagner apple is largely planted in Michigan for market, and is very popular in the markets of the western cities. Downing says that in quality they rank from “very good to best.”—Ed.]

REPORT ON PLANTS RECEIVED FROM THE ASSOCIATION.

FROM JOHN W. CUMMING, MONTREAL.

I see by the last No. of the Canadian Horticulturist, that members are expected to report on the plants distributed to them, and as I think I have omitted to do so, will no longer delay.

The Burnet Grape is the first plant I received two years ago, and planted it soon as received, in good soil, with old stable manure. In about six weeks after I wrote you for another plant, thinking it was dead; however, in a few days afterwards it burst through and grew rapidly four or five feet in length during that year. Next year I removed it out to St. Hilaire, and planted it end of April in a sandy and clay soil, manured it with bones, urine, &c., and had it carefully attended by an experienced gardener; but I did not think it grew vigorously, and had no fruit on it. I planted several other kinds on the same ground, and one of them (Hartford Prolific) had a bunch of ripe grapes on it the first year after planting. The Burnet seems to me slender in the stem, and not so vigorous a grower as some other varieties. If it does not bear fruit this year I will not think much of it.

The Ontario Apple received last spring was a splendid young tree, and grew vigorously. It is about eight feet high now above ground, has stood the winter well in an exposed part of the ground, soil sandy loam, and promises good growth this season. Many of my trees, (Fameuse) have had the bark split by the sun, but this one has not suffered at all from that. Altogether I am well pleased with the tree, and hope it will flourish in this colder locality.

I have an orchard of about 600 trees, mostly planted two years ago, principally Fameuse. The soil is a clay marl, and the habitans here (St. Hilaire) say that when the tap root gets into the clay in a year or two they will all die. What is your opinion of this? I can hardly believe it to be true.

Have any of our readers any experience that will enable them to answer this question? We cannot understand why an apple tree should be injuriously affected by clay soil. If the ground be wet and cold the tree will not thrive, no matter whether the soil be clay or sandy loam.—Ed. Hort.

THE AMBER SUGAR CANE.

The interest which is taken by many of the readers of the Canadian Horticulturist in the cultivation of this plant, is our apology for calling attention to the following letter from the Western Rural:

Having grown sorghum for the past twenty years, and been a manufacturer of syrup for fifteen, I hope what I may write from my own experience will prove a benefit to my brother farmers who are at present engaged in the culture of cane, and if so the object for which I write will be accomplished.

It is of the utmost importance to procure good, pure seed from cane which gave good results in quality and quantity of syrup and sugar. The best variety of cane that I have grown is the Minnesota Early Amber, which yields from one to three hundred gallons per acre.

Sandy land makes the best syrup. New land makes good syrup and a large yield. Clay land gives good syrup but light yield. Cane should not be grown on freshly manured land, as it always makes a poor article of syrup. It should be planted at least one year to some other crop before being planted to cane.

Plant with rows but one way, running north and south. If possible plant three and one-half feet apart east and west and fifteen to eighteen inches north and south. Plenty of seed should be planted and then thin out, so as to leave from four to six stalks in a hill. The ground should be ploughed at least ten inches deep and planted as soon as ploughed. One-half inch is deep enough to cover the seed.

As soon as the cane is up it should be hoed around the hill; great care needs to be taken to keep the hills free from weeds. When the cane is of sufficient height so the rows can be seen plainly, it should be cultivated, and this is best done with a five-toothed cultivator; the teeth should be small, or at least the outside ones, which allows one to get close to the cane and not cover it up. Cane needs no cultivating after it is three feet in height; indeed, cultivating after that injures the cane.

There are a great many different opinions in regard to the right time to cut cane. Some say cut cane when the seed is in the dough, while others maintain that it should stand until ripe. My experience is, that it will make more syrup if cut when seed is in the milk, and will granulate much sooner than when allowed to stand until ripe. Cane should be cut when the seed is in the milk or dough, and put under cover, letting it remain there ten days or two weeks before being worked. Cane can be kept one, two, or three months, if kept from freezing, without injury.

In making syrup I use the Climax Mill made by the Madison Manufacturing Co., Madison, Wis., and the Cook Evaporator manufactured by the Blymer Manufacturing Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. Both of these companies are held in high esteem by those who are engaged in the culture of the cane. Good machinery and good dry wood are two of the most essential things needed in making good syrup and sugar. Without these we may expect poor results. Cane juice in its crude state contains a variety of impurities, such as fragments of cane, particles of earth and like matter that can be removed by filtration. As cane juice in its raw state contains a certain per cent. of acid which needs to be removed, this can be done by the use of lime. As cane that is grown on manured land contains a larger per cent. of acid, it can best be tested by litmus paper. A strip of blue litmus paper being dipped into cane juice will be changed from blue to red. Lime should be added until no tint of red appears. If too much lime has been added, by dipping a strip of the red litmus paper into the juice it will be changed from red to blue. More juice should be added until no tint of blue appears on the red litmus paper. No juice should be allowed to stand more than six hours; better to boil immediately after being ground out.

FIG CULTURE AT THE NORTH.

BY G. F. NEEDHAM, WASHINGTON, D. C.

The secret of growing figs in the Middle and Northern States lies in the fact that the wood must be ripened before it is laid down in autumn or it will rot. As with all deciduous trees, the leaves fall when the wood is matured. But if the frosts destroy the leaves the wood cannot mature. This difficulty is not confined to the north. A note before me, recently received from a fig grower in the State of Georgia, says: “All our fig trees were killed in the latter part of November, by a sudden cold snap which caught them in sap.” Certainly it could not be worse at the north!

An old fig producer has said, “Only a little care is necessary to grow this fruit, but they must have that little.” And no fruit of any kind can be grown without care and pains. Yet it pays. My pamphlet shows how easily figs may be grown. The fig will endure a cold of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and one can make sure whether the thermometer will go below that figure before the next morning. Should the indications be that it will, the fig bushes must be covered with whatever may be at hand, brush, paper or cloth caps, boards, a barrel, etc., to shield them from the present cold. After one or two frosts we have mild weather, in which the wood will ripen, when they may go into winter quarters, as per instructions.

Reader, you can grow figs in abundance, and those just as delicious as the imported, for you can have them fresh.

THE REPORT OF THE FRUIT GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO FOR 1879.

This Report has been published and distributed to the members, and we presume that a copy of it has before this been received by each of the members of the Association. We are sure that it contains practical information of great value, and that the Report alone is well worth the annual fee paid by the members, and we trust that it will often prove to them a valuable assistant and guide. From among the many appreciative letters that have been received by the Secretary, we select to lay before our readers one that was received from the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, President of the American Pomological Society, than whom there is no one more competent to judge of its merits. We do this not from any desire to glorify ourselves, but that our members may know the estimate put upon their report by a gentleman who has spent a life time in horticultural pursuits, and for full half a century has stood in the front rank among American pomologists.

Boston, March 28, 1880.

My Dear Sir,

I have received two reports of your Fruit Growers’ Association, for one of which I am, I presume, indebted to your kindness. Thanks for it. I have perused it with great interest, and am happy to state that I consider it a remarkable document, evincing the great enterprise, care, and good judgment which characterize the fruit growers of Ontario. I have seldom read a report that contains so much pertinent, well-timed, practical and useful information. The address of the President is very able, as well as ornate, just what is needed on such occasions, gathering up the results and progress of the year. Your association is a noble, live institution, one of the best of our age. May God prosper it. Yours as ever,

Marshall P. Wilder

CORRESPONDENCE.

CALLA CULTURE.

The reason many fail with the African Calla is because they remove all the suckers, and keep them growing all the year. This is all wrong. Water should be gradually withheld from the middle of April, and the plants planted in the richest soil in the garden about the middle of May. They will then die down and rest, and start to grow about August. In early September pot in rich soil and keep growing, at a temperature of 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

DISAPPEARANCE OF INSECTS.

We used to have in this neighborhood a very beautiful little beetle which frequented Apocynum in considerable numbers. Color, the brightest green, with golden reflections. Of course there can be no connection between the two insects, but it is a strange coincidence that in the same year that saw the arrival of the Colorado Beetle, this one totally disappeared, and none had been seen since until the end of last summer, when I observed a very few on their favorite weed.

GLASS’ SEEDLING.

This plum has made free growth, requiring free pruning. It fruited two plums last season, of large size and handsome appearance. The foliage is very handsome, large, and of a dark green. I had a large crop of other plums, with not the slightest trace of Curculio.

RASPBERRIES AND STRAWBERRIES.

Of the plants received from the Association, the buds of the raspberries were destroyed before arrival. The strawberries were in such a bad state that with all care they did not survive the summer.

THE BURNET GRAPE.

Made a vigorous growth of nearly four feet before the month of May, 1878, when the frost of that date killed it to the ground. It again shot forth, and shows now two fine stems, and will probably fruit this year.

PEARS.

No signs of the slug this year or of blight. The slug was very bad the two previous years. I dusted the trees with dry earth, or sifted coal ashes, with good effect.

THE ONTARIO APPLE.

The Ontario Apple was received in good order, and has made fair growth.

My garden is a small one, and the varieties are chiefly dwarfs. Soil medium clay. I manure chiefly with sifted coal ashes, rotted manure and superphosphates.

I think the directors of many of our Agricultural Societies would do well to submit their horticultural prize list to the Association. Many of them are absurd, and tend to encourage the growing of varieties long discarded for better ones.

ARRANGEMENT OF LAWNS.

Happy indeed ought to be the possessor of a wide, sloping lawn, on which the turf is thick, soft and elastic, and such an expanse of verdure may be made yet more beautiful by exercising a little taste and skill in planning and arranging the shrubbery. Too often the beauty and grace of the whole is spoiled either by a superabundance of flowering plants and shrubs, like “Ossa upon Pelion piled,” or else by the queer fancy that every tree must be duplicated, each shrub must have its counterpart on both sides the prim unswerving walk from front door to front gate. Flower-beds on strictly geometrical principles only are permissible, and the whole effect to an artistic eye is as pleasing as a patchwork bedquilt. Nature never works in this wise; she flings a wild vine here, a rose-bush there; two or three shrubs of different species grow in loving juxtaposition, but she never duplicates or repeats herself. To many eyes, the unbroken sweep of greensward is more charming than if its expanse were broken by any object, however beautiful, while others prefer to mingle flowers and foliage plants in picturesque confusion. Many plants are far more beautiful in the emerald setting of deep green grass than in the flower garden proper. Among these, the Pæony ranks high, its large, deep red blossom and lighter hued leaves contrasting finely with the darker tint of the surrounding grass. A double scarlet Zonal Geranium, if planted where it is partly shaded, will keep in bloom, by a little attention in the way of a drink now and then, nearly all summer, and its vivid scarlet is ever charming. But a new departure is a “grassy bed,” in which grasses of various colors and kinds are intermingled with Lilies and Gladioli, and various other plants, to vary the light foliage of the former, and give effective relief to the glow of the Gladiolus, and the pallor of the Lily. Those who can devote a large circle or capacious oval in a place upon their lawns where it is in full view of the windows, will not regret such an arrangement. Just a breath of air, on a serene summer morning, will stir the light feathery grasses, and give that movement to the group that adds life to its beauty. No matter if the bed is partly shaded, it will do no harm. In the highest part may be planted the Tritoma, or “Red-hot Poker,” as it is sometimes called. The tropical looking Yucca, with its tall spike of flowers, is fine in such a location. The Pampas grass is beautiful, but will not endure our northern winters, but its twin, Erianthus Ravennæ, is perfectly hardy. The Arundo has golden-yellow striped leaves, and grows six feet high. Next to these may be planted Lilium Longiflorum, a spotless oval of purest white, the fretted spires of the Gladiolus, and the pale yellow of the old fashioned Lemon Lily, so well known but so universal a favorite. There are places too for the Euphorbias, whose curiously margined leaves suggest its common name, “Snow-on-the-Mountain,” and which is more strictly a foliage plant, but may be used here with good results; also for the broad corn-like leaves of “Job’s Tears,” Coix Lachryma. Near the edge of the bed we may have Briza maxima, one of the very best of the ornamental grasses, and also B. geniculata, a smaller variety. Among these may be planted Tulips, “the wine-cups of the sun,” as Southy calls them. A pretty dwarf grass may form a margin about the bed, and among the roots may flourish “fair yellow Daffodils,” red and white daisies, garden cowslips, or the nodding Cyclamen.

It is possible that some who read this may be appalled at so distinguished an array of lengthy appellations, sigh, and say, “Can’t do it, but I’d like to.” Try it, and see what good results you can produce at a very small expense. Select some tall growing ornamental plants for your centre piece, invest half a dollar—even less than that—in the seeds of grasses, which may be obtained at any florists, and even if you have but two varieties of grass, the effect of these with the brilliance of Gladioli, a root or two of Crown Imperial, Tiger Lilies, and the feathery bloom of Spiræa, cannot fail to give entire satisfaction; and the fortunate possessor of such a “grassy bed” may also “lay the flattering unction to their souls” that they have something quite new, and different from the stereotyped arrangements of bedding plants, so long “the rage.” There is something very delightful about these beds of grass and flowers, the airy grace with which the winds take liberties with the long waving grass; and in contrast between the untrained natural freedom of their growth and the formal regularity of shrubbery taught to grow by rule.

On large open lawns a very beautiful effect may be obtained by purchasing a quantity of Crocus bulbs, and planting them irregularly over its surface. Before the last snowbank is fairly out of sight, the white, blue and yellow blossoms will dot the lawn like stars, and as the leaves die down very soon after flowering they are entirely unnoticed during the summer months, but are on hand each spring to hail the return of “etherial mildness.”

THE GREGG RASPBERRY.

We clip from the Western Rural the following account of the introduction of this new black cap raspberry, written by J. W., Aurora, Indiana:

The following is the true history of the origin, name, first cultivation and introduction of the Gregg raspberry. This most remarkable variety of the black raspberry, doubtless by far the most popular and best for market, culinary, canning and drying purposes in existence, originated about four miles south of this city, on the Gregg farm, on the ridge between Langbury and Armoles creek, in Ohio county. It was found during its fruiting season in 1865 or ’66, and removed to a piece of ground prepared for it by Messrs. R. & P. Gregg, in the corner of one of their fields, near their residence, where it was first brought under cultivation. They were brought to me at the post-office (I being postmaster as I am now.) They were examined by quite a number of persons besides myself, and greatly admired for their beauty, large berries, and enormous sized clusters. They were pronounced by all a new and remarkable variety. I then noted the fact of its discovery, first cultivation, and a brief description of the fruit, which I reduced to an article, that was published, entitled “The Gregg Raspberry.” In that article I christened it the Gregg, in honor of the gentleman who saved it from nature’s waste basket, into which doubtless many valuable varieties of fruit have been negligently cast and lost.

This berry before being introduced to the public in the fall of 1874, when plants were first disposed of for cultivation, had received a thorough and searching test at home. Its managers, the Messrs. Gregg, after having for several years cultivated it, in July 1872 sent a cluster of its fruit to the Clarke and Floyd Counties Horticultural Society, where it met with almost unbounded favor. The action of the society was published at the time in the Indiana Farmer. They next brought it to the notice of the Indiana State Horticultural Society. In 1873 the society in its published report gave it a very high commendation. In July 1876 they put it on the tables of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, where it was unanimously pronounced the best black raspberry ever exhibited before the society. In 1876 they prepared drawers of sufficient depth, and lined the bottoms and sides about two inches thick with wet moss, into which they inserted the stems of the clusters of berries, which served as a kind of cushion, and kept the berries moist and cool, putting two or more drawers together like ordinary fruit cases, and in this way they expressed several shipments to the Centennial Exposition, a distance of about 700 miles, where they were received and exhibited in as good condition as when taken from the patch.

QUESTION DRAWER.

(1.) What is the most effectual way of destroying the Caterpillar on currant and gooseberry bushes? I am aware that there are some very effectual remedies, but being poisonous would not like to use them. You may perhaps know of something which would not be poisonous to persons, but at the same time would destroy the insects.

We have not found any inconvenience to result from the use of hellebore, which, though poisonous to man in considerable quantity, is washed off the currants and gooseberries long before they are fit for use. The Saw-fly Caterpillar makes its appearance very early in the season, and if the hellebore is promptly applied as often as a brood is hatched, they will be all gone many weeks before the fruit is ready for use, and the rains will have washed off all trace of the hellebore. We know of nothing that will meet these Saw-fly larvæ so certainly and promptly as white hellebore.

(2.) Also, the most effectual way of destroying the striped and black bugs on cucumber, melon and squash vines?

We have found Scotch snuff sprinkled on these plants as soon as they appear above ground, and repeated as often as it is washed off by the rain, sure to keep off the striped bug. It does not kill them, but keeps them away. The black or Stinking Bug is not so easily driven off. The only way known to the writer is to watch the insects closely, and catch and kill every black bug as soon as it appears, and carefully examine the underside of every leaf, both in order to find the bug and to find the eggs, which latter need only to be rubbed off and allowed to fall on the ground to perish. This is the only effectual method known to the writer, and it is not as troublesome as it may seem, for the egg-laying season is soon passed, and if none of the eggs are allowed to hatch there will be no bugs to destroy the vines. It is the young brood that do the mischief, not the parent bugs, in the way of sucking the life out of the vines.

I have a dwarf apple tree which I find this spring month with what I suppose to be sun scald. The bark on the smooth side of trunk just above the collar is blackened, split and loosened from the tree. What shall I do with it? Had I better apply to the diseased spot pine tar, or shellac, or linseed oil; which would be best? And if applied, should the loosened bark be removed first?

Remove the loose bark from the tree, and apply a thick mortar of fresh cow-dung and clay; then bank up with earth, to keep it moist.

Black-knot.—I wish you would state in the Horticulturist who are the parties to apply to in order to have the act relating to Black-knot put in force. There is considerable of it here, and some parties will not attend to it until compelled to do so, and I want to know the best way to get at them.

The Statute, 42 Victoria, chapter 53, sec. 3, provides that any municipal corporation in Ontario may appoint an officer or inspector for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the act; and if no such inspector be appointed, it shall be the duty of the Overseer of Highways, upon request of any person interested, to give notice in writing to the owner or occupant to cut out and burn up the Black-knot, unless he shall be satisfied upon inspection that the disease does not exist in the place complained of. If after two weeks notice the owner or occupant knowingly suffers any Black-knot to remain, he shall upon conviction, be liable to a fine of not less than one nor more than five dollars for every such offence. The offence shall be punished and the penalty recovered on conviction before any Justice of the Peace, and the fines paid into the treasury of the municipality in which the offence takes place.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

[The end of The Canadian Horticulturist Volume 03, No. 06 edited by D. W. Beadle]