-U& T10N jITY LIBRARY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Brock University - University of Toronto Libraries http://archive.org/details/reportoffruitgro1883frui IITY RY REPORT OF THE FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO, FOR THE YEAR 1883. g rintjctl Ug tot&tt at tUt sgt$i#lst\vtt gwswtttftljj. 026358 DO C C(°v2 PRINTED BY C. BLACKETT ROBINSON, 5 JORDAN STREET. 1884. INDEX PAGE. Abies 102,319 304 Acer 268 Act to prevent forest tires , Advantages of fruit culture ... 9 .Esculus 97, 305 Agricultural divisions 6 Ailanthus . , . . 97 Alders 96, 305 Allan, Alex. McD., Paper by, on Onions 28 ' ' on Asparagus . . 190 " " on Bones 191 " " on Farm Em- bellishment.. 52 " " " on Apple Orch- ards 128 Almond 97 Alnus 305 Althea 105 American Pomological Society 13 Amelanchier 97, 305 Ampelopsis 108 Annual address 9 Annual meeting 6 Apples, Russet 22 Apple, Black spot on 25 Apples, Profitable 32 Apples, Packages for 91 Apple orchards 128 Apples, Early 181 Apples, Russian 198 Apple blight 31 Apricot 228, 306 Arbor Vitee 103 Arboriculture 122 Aristolochia 108 Aria , , 306 Armenica 306 Arnold, Chas., Resolution on death of 179 " " Poem by 46 Arrowroot 108 Ash 99, 309 Asparagus 190 Associations, Local 168 Association of interest in forest culture 274 Asiatic poplars 313 Azalea 104, 306 B. Balsam 319 Barry, W. C, Paper by 296 Becker, Geo. L., Address by 235 Beech 99, 309 Berberry 104, 307 Berberis 307 Betula . 97, 307 Birch 97,307 Black spot on apples 25 Blackberries 48, 185 Black-knot 187 Bladdernut 107 Blair, John, Paper on Grape-trellising 176 Blight, The. 31 Bones 191 Branch societies 53 Bucke, P. E., Poem by 84 Buckthorn 315 Burned forests 270 Burson, D. C. , Paper by 200 F. G. PAGE. Calycanthus 104, 307 Canada Thistle 187 Caragana 307 Carya 97 Castanea 98 Catalpa 98 Chestnut 98 Cherry 98 Cherries, Profit of 165 Cherries 224 Clematis 108 Climbing shrubs 108 Climates in Canada and Russia 194 Complimentary resolution 50 Committees 112 Concentric rings indicating age of trees 289 Conifers, New and noteworthy 300 Cornus 98, 104, 308 Corylus 104, 308 Cotoneaster 308 Crab 100 Crataegus 99, 308 Currants 106, 228, 315 Currants, Cultivation and varieties 153 Cydonia 104 Cypress 102 Cytisus 309 Daniels, Professor, Paper by 286 Daphne 104 Deutzia 104 Diervilla 105 Directors for 1884 6 Directors' Report 7 Distribution of forests 239 Dogwood 98, 308 Early peaches 179 Early apples 181 Eby, A., Paper by. 31, 292 Education in its relation to forestry 276 Effects of last winter 159 Effect of climate on the forest trees of Florida. 279 Eleagnus 309 Elm 101, 319 Elder 106, 317 Embellishment of farm 52 English sparrow 15 Enlisting schools in aid of forestry 286 Euonymus 105 Exhibitions in connection with forestry con- vention, etc 287 F. Fagus 99, 309 Farm Embellishment 52 Farmers' gardens and lawns 44 Fernow, B. E., Paper by 270 Fertilizers for fruits 86 Filbert 104 Fir. 102 Flowering currant . 1 0(5 Forestry 14. 60, 132, 233 IV. PAGE. Forest-tree planting as an investment 250 Forestry, experimental stations 252, 258 Forestry education 255, 276 Forsythia 105 Fraxinus 99, 309 Fruit growing in Ontario 10 Fruit on exhibition, Report on 72 Fruit list for the Province 88 Fruit culture and character building 116 Fruits for the north 192 Fruits in central Europe ... 215 Gardens, Farmers' 44 Garfield, C. W 21 Genista 310 Gibb, Chas., Keport on Russian fruits 192 " trees and shrubs of northern Em-ope and Asia 302 Glycyrrhiza 310 Gooseberries 184 Gott, B., Paper by, on raspberries 141 ' ' Report on fruit in Lambton county. 188 ' ' Paper by, on branch societies 53 " on fruit culture 116 " " " " on arboriculture 122 Golden bell 105 Grapes, Profitableness of 74 Grapes 132, 228 Grape culture 172 Grape trellising 176 Growth of various trees 288 Grub, White 163 Halesia . 105 Hardy shrubs 146 Hazel 308 Hemlock 102 Hibiscus 105 Hickory 97 Hippophae 310 Holmes, Thorpe, Paper by, on roadside tree planting 130 Honeysuckle 106, 109, 311 Horse chestnut .97, 305 Hough, F. B., Paper by 255 " " 274 Hubbard, Gov., Address by 236 Hydrangea 105 Hygienic value of forests 290 Increase of forests Insects injurious to the 'hite pine . . . 236 290, 322 J. Joly, H. G., Paper by 276 Juglans ..... 99, 310 June berry .... 305 Juniper 103, 320 Juniperus 320 K. Kerria 106 Knowlson, John, Paper by, on forestry, sor- ghum, grapes, and wine 132 Kolreuteria , 100 L. TAGE. Lachnosterna fusca IS Larch 100, 310 Larix 310 Lawns, Farmers' 44 Letter from C. W. Garfield 21 Leue\ Adolph, Paper by 252, 287 Ligustrum 310 Lilac 107, 317 Linden . 101, 318 Liquidambar 100 Local associations 168 Locust 101,315 Lonicera 106, 109, 311 Loring, Geo. B., Address by 236 M. Magnolia 311 Maidenhair tree 101 Management of burnt forests 270 1 • our natural forests 292 Maples 96, 304 May grub 18 Meadow sweet 107 Melons 229 Meteorological table 197 " influences of forests 247 Michigan Pomological Society 29 Minier, G. W. , paper by 288 Mock orange 106 Morus 311 Mountain ash 100, 317 Mulberries 228, 311 IT. New apples 71, 198 ' ' blackberries 68 " currants 68 " gooseberries 68 ' ' grapes 68 " pears 72,218 1 ' peaches 70 " plums 70, 227 , " raspberries 67, 136 " strawberries 66 " fruits 66, 192 " " Committee on 112 1 ' and noteworthy trees 296 Need of forestry department in colleges 288 Necessity of forests 245 Northrop, B. G 288 Oak . . ... 100, 315 Officers for 1884 6 " of the forestry congress 249 Onion culture 27 Orchards, Apple 128 Ornamental trees and shrubs 95 ' ' " Committee on 112 Ornithology, Committee on 72 Packages for apples Panax 91 312 Pavia 305 Pears 113, 218, 314 Peaches, early 179 Picea 102,319 Phellodendron 312 Philadelphus 10g Pine 103, 320 Pinus 32n Plums 106, 227, 314 Poem 46,84 Poplar 100,312 Populus 312 Poplars, Asiatic 313 Potatoes, Most profitable ... '. 40 Potentilla 314 President's address 9 Preservation of forests 243 Privet 310 Profitableness of grapes 74 Profit of cherries 165 Prunus . , 106,314 Pyrus 100,314 Quercus 100, 315 Quince , 104 n. Raspberries, New sorts 136 Paper on 141 Report on new fruits 66 of directors 6 of treasurer 8 on ornamental trees and shrubs 95 of committee on fruits exhibited 188 on fruit in 1883 in Lambton county . . 188 of committee on fruit and forest tree planting at the Agricultural College . 230 of committee on forestry 233 on legislation regarding forest fires 264 on forestry education 262 on tree planting 278 Resolution on retirement of Hon. S. C. Wood . 50 Resolutions of condolence 179 Rhamnus 315 Rhododendron 315 Ribes 106, 315 Roadside tree planting 130 Robinia 101, 315 Roses, Report on 81 " Committee on 112 Rosa 316 Rose of Sharon 105 Rogersia 316 Russet apples . 22 Russian fruits 192 s. Salisburia 101 Salix 101, 316 Sambucus 106, 317 Saunders, Wm., Paper by 290 Shrubs, Hardy 146 " new and noteworthy 299 Silver fir.... 102 " bell 105 Sorghum 132 Sorbus 317 Sparrow, The English 15 Spindle tree. . .! . 105 Spirea 107, 317 Spruce 102, 319 Staphylea _ 107 Standing committees 112 State forestry commissions, report on 259 PAGE. Strawberry tree 105 Strawberries, Best 151 Study of forestry essential to practical educa- tion 276 St. Peter's wort 107 Summer meeting 136 Supply of pine 242 Sweet gum 100 Symphocarpus 107 Syringa 106, 107, 317 Table of comparative temperature 196 Tamarix 107, 318 Taxus 103, 321 Tecoma 109 Thorn 99, 308 Thuja 103 Tilia 101,318 Timber Culture, Act of the United States 243 " famine 242 Treasurer's report 8 Trees for ornament, profit, and roadside 60 ' ' New and noteworthy 296 " of northern Europe and Asia 302 Tree planting on roadside 130 Trumpet flower 109 Turpentine pine 241 XT. Ulmus 101,319 Upright honeysuckle 106 Value of forest culture 238 Vegetables, Committee on 112 Viburnum 108, 319 Virginia creeper 108 Votes of thanks 135 W. Walnut 99, 310 Warder, John A., Resolution on death of. .179, 248 Wellington, W. E., Paper on ornamental trees and shrubs 95 Weigela 105 White beam tree 306 White grub... 163 Wild olive 309 Willow ....101,316 Wine 132 Winter meeting 15 " effects of the last 159 Wistaria .. 109 Woodbine 109 Wood, Hon. S. C, Resolution . 50 Woolverton, L. Paper by 46 Wright, Elizur, Paper by 290 X. Xanthoceras 108 Yei 103, 321 VI. NAMES AND POST OFFICE ADDRESS OF SOME WHO TOOK PART IN DISCUSSIONS, Names. Post Office. Allan, A. McD Goderich. Armstrong St. Catharines. Arnold, Chas Paris. Ball, Robt. N Niagara. Beadle, D. W St. Catharines. Beall, Thos Lindsay . Biggar, C. H Drummondville. Bucke, P. E Ottawa. Camp, Geo St. Catharines. Coot, Geo Dundas. Ci'oil, John Aultsville. Croft, M Dundas. Cross, L., Dr St. Catharines. Dempsey, P. C Trenton. Denton, John M London. Doel, W. H Doncaster. Drury, Chas Crownhill. Fenton, CM St. Catharines. Gilchrist, A. . . Guelph. Gott, B Arkona. Goodwin, Hiram Thorold. Gregory, R St. Catharines. Names. Post Officf. Hagaman, A Oakville. Hill, James Campden. Hilborn, W. H Arkona. Hoag, C. L Lockport. Honsberger, D Jordan. Kitchen, Moses A Bloomsburg. Leslie, Geo Leslie. Morden, E Drummondville. Morris, E .Fonthill. Moyer, A Jordan Station. Read, W. H Port Dalhousie. Reesor, Hon. D Markham. Roy, Wm Owen Sound. Saunders, Wm London. Smith, A. M St. Catharines. Smith, E. Ashley Lockport. Smallfield, W. E Renfrew. Slight, H ,....' Toronto. Weld, Wm London. Wellington, W. E .Toronto. Williams, J. P Bloomfield. Wismer, J. S Jordan. Woolverton, Linus Grimsby. Wright, A. A Renfrew. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO FOR THE YEAR 1883. To the Honourable the Commissioner of Agriculture : My Dear Sir, — It is my privilege herewith to hand you the Fifteenth Annual Report of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario. It will be found to embrace all the discussions, carefully taken down by an able stenographer, and all the valuable papers read at the different meetings of the Association held during the year 1883. The Canadian Horticulturist has been continued during the year. Each monthly number has contained twenty-four pages of reading matter, and a well-executed chromo- lithograph of some fruit, flower or vegetable, together with such other illustrations as would be of assistance to its readers in forming correct impressions of the subject in hand. It is very gratifying to be able to state that the membership has increased during the year from 1,839 to 2,600, so that we now have the largest membership of any Fruit Growers' or Horticultural Society in America. I have the honour to be Your most obedient servant, D. W. BEADLE, Secretary. 2 [F. G.J PROCEEDINGS AT THE ANNUAL MEETING. The Annual Meeting of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario was held at Guelph, on the evening of Tuesday, September 25th, 1883, in the City Hall. The President, William Saunders, Esq., called the meeting to order. The Minutes of the last Annual Meeting were read and confirmed. The Directors' Report was read and received. The Treasurer's Report was read, and referred to the Committee on Printing. The President then read his annual address, which was received with thanks, and ordered to be published in the Annual Report. The meeting proceeded to the election of officers for the ensuing year, with the following result : — President — William Saunders, London. Vice-President — P. E. Bucke, Ottawa. Directors — District No, 1, John Croil, Aultsville ; No. 2, A. A. Wright, Renfrew; No. 3, R. J. Dunlop, Kingston ; No. 4, P. C. Dempsey, Trenton ; No. 5, Thos. Beall, Lindsay ; No. 6, George Leslie, Jr., Leslie ; No. 7, James Goldie, Guelph ; No. 8, A. M. Smith, St. Catharines; No. 9, T. H. Parker, Woodstock; No. 10, A. McD. Allan, Goderich; No. 11, John M. Denton, London; No. 12, Hugh Smith, Sarnia ; No. 13, Charles Hickling, Barrie. Auditors — John Carnegie, Peterborough ; Charles Drury, Crown Hill. THE AGRICULTURAL DIVISIONS. No. 1. Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry, Prescott and Cornwall. 2. Lanark, Renfrew, City of Ottawa, Carleton and Russell. 3. Frontenac, City of Kingston, Leeds, Grenville and Brock ville. 4. Hastings, Prince Edward, Lennox and Addington. 5. Durham, Northumberland, Peterborough and Victoria, including Haliburton. 6. York, Ontario, Peel, Card well and City of Toronto. 7. Wellington, Waterloo, Wentworth, Halton, Dufferin and City of Hamilton. 8. Lincoln, Welland, Haldimand and Monck. 9. Elgin, Brant, Oxford and Norfolk. 10. Huron, Bruce and Grey. 11. Perth, Middlesex and City of London. 12. Essex, Kent and Lambton. 13. Algoma, Simcoe, Muskoka and Parry Sound. DIRECTORS' REPORT. To the Members of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario : Gentlemen. — In accordance with the rules of our Association and the dictates of our own inclinations, we present to you our report of what has been done during the year that now closes. You were pleased to confide the management to our hands at the annual meeting held in the city of Kingston, on the 19th of September, 1882. The gentleman whom you chose to represent the Seventh District, W. H. Mills, Esq., declined to act, and in accordance with the provisions of the Agricultural and Arts Act, the Hon. the Commissioner of Agriculture appointed C. P. Carpenter, Esq., of Winona, to fill the vacancy. On the fifteenth of April last the director for the Ninth District was taken from us by death — the venerable Charles Arnold, Esq., and that district has remained without a representative for the rest of the year. This district has lost a most faithful and pains- taking director, who, at much cost of personal inconvenience, sought to promote and extend the usefulness of our Association, not only within the bounds of his own division, but throughout the Province. May his mantle fall upon the shoulders of him whom you shall choose for his successor. The continued growth of our membership, which, during the year, has increased from eighteen hundred and thirty-nine to two thousand and six hundred, we regard as an indication of an increasing interest in the subjects embraced within the scope of this Association, and an evidence that our efforts to obtain and disseminate information on these subjects have not been without benefit to our people. At the commencement of the year your Directors made arrangements for the publi- cation and illustration of two thousand copies of the Canadian Horticulturist, but the increase of membership compelled us at our meeting on the first of February last to order that the January number be reset and stereotyped, and that the February number and some of the subsequent numbers be also stereotyped, in order to be able to supply new members with all the numbers for the current year. It was also necessary to procure copies of the coloured plates for these additional numbers, which of course had to be pre- pared. These things caused considerable delay, whereby many of our members failed for a time to receive their copy of the Horticulturist. The Secretary endeavoured to have all these deficiencies supplied as soon as the requisite copies were obtained, but if any have failed to receive all the numbers, he is now in a position to supply them, and will be most happy to do so upon learning where they are required. In order to enable the directors to make arrangements for the publication of a sufficient number of copies of the Horticulturist, it is very important that members send in their annual fee of one dollar before the first day of January next. Of the magazine itself we can only say that every pains has been taken to secure suitable illustrations and such reading matter as would be interesting and useful. We think that if the members would communicate their experi- ence and opinions to the Editor more frequently, for publication in our monthly, they would find it a great benefit to themselves, and thereby increase the popularity and useful- ness of the Canadian Horticulturist. The winter meeting was held in Toronto, and the summer meeting in St. Catharines, both of which were well attended, and the discussions at both taken down by an excellent shorthand reporter, for publication in full in the next Annual Report. The Treasurer's Report shows the financial condition of the Society to be in a very satisfactory condition, the receipts being about sufficient to meet the current expenses. We trust that members of the Association will avail themselves of the opportunity, which the holding of our annual meeting in Guelph affords, of examining the work of fruit, forest, and ornamental planting which has been begun at the Agricultural College under your direction. We trust that what has been done will meet with your approba- tion, and we are confident that any suggestions that you may feel inclined to make in regard thereto, will be most gladly received by those who may have this matter under their more immediate charge. In returning into your hands the^jtrust you have been pleased to commit to our keep- ing during the past year, we take the liberty of mentioning to you that some complaints have come to our ears to the effect that the same men are continued in office too long, and that the Association is becoming a close corporation whereby somebody is benefited in a manner not in accordance with the objects for which the Association was created. We wish on this point merely to say that while we are sure that these aspersions are wholly groundless, the remedy, if any be needed, is wholly in your hands, and that now is the time for you to make such changes in the composition of your board of directors as you may deem most likely to promote the usefulness of this Association. All of which is respectfully submitted. William Saunders, President. TREASURER'S REPORT. Receipts. $ . cts. Members' fees 2,600 00 Government grant 1,800 00 Advertising 15 00 4,415 00 Balance from last audit 1,058 45 Total $5,473 45 Disbursements. Audit, 1882 $20 00 Reporting meetings . . 86 00 Printing, stitching, and mailing 1,540 77 Express and freight 56 39 Customs . 10 82 Caretaker of rooms 6 50 Illustrations 495 72 Postage and telegrams 115 94 Commissions, collecting subscriptions 226 15 Directors' and Committees' expenses (including arrears of 1881 and 1882) 1,010 74 Guarantee premium 20 00 Journal of Forestry , 3 00 Engrossing resolutions 12 00 Stationery 13 10 Advertising 14 60 Plant distribution 454 54 Directory of Ontario 4 00 Sundries 20 28 Clerk 125 00 Secretary 200 00 Editor , . . 400 00 4,835 55 Balance $637 90 The foregoing is a correct abstract of the Treasurer's Account for the year ending September 24, 1883. Jno. A. Bruce, \ Auditors. Angus Sutherland, j Liabilities. $ cts. Audit for 1883 20 00 Printing, stitching and mailing 285 00 Illustrations 300 00 Reporter — summer meeting 55 00 Directors' expenses 125 00 Total liabilities $785 00 St. Catharines, Ontario, August 30, 1883. We, the undersigned, appointed a Committee by the Board of Directors of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario for the purpose of examining the vouchers of the Secretary-Treasurer, have carefully examined the same, and find that the disbursements have been made in accordance with the instructions given him by the Board. Wm. Saunders, A. M. Smith. ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION OF ONTARIO. Gentlemen, — In pursuance of a time-honoured custom, it now becomes my duty to present for your consideration a few thoughts relating to Horticulture — that department which treats of fruits first claiming our attention. attractiveness of the subject. With fruit culture so general, and fruit so much appreciated by you all, time would be wasted in the endeavour to prove that the cultivation of fruit is desirable. You all love fruit, and desire plenty of it. We love fruits for their beauty. How gracefully hangs a well-formed cluster of golden grapes ; how elegant the forms, and how brilliant the tints of the apple, pear and peach, and how delicate the bloom on the plum. The fragrance of well-ripened fruit is charming, but the deliciousness of its flavour is perhaps the highest gratification to the senses, and furnishes the climax of all the pleasures which good fruits give us. This gratification needs no previous education to fit us for its enjoy- ment, for whether we revel in the refreshing acidity of the luscious strawberry, the melting flesh and rich flavour of a Bartlett or Seckel pear, or a Crawford peach, or indulge in the luxury of a Gravenstein apple, all are very good in their season, and are enjoyed as much and appreciated as fully by the mechanic or the farmer as by the most cultivated genius of the age. ADVANTAGES OF FRUIT CULTURE. The advantages resulting from an abundant supply of fruit are not far to seek. It is promotive of health, elevating to the taste, and adds greatly to life's enjoyments, while the disposal of the surplus is a source of considerable profit, and has of late years formed an important item in our exports. It also promotes home industries, as seen in the factories for canning and evaporating fruits which have of late been established in most of our fruit growing centres. 10 FRUIT GROWING CAPABILITIES OP ONTARIO. The capabilities of our Province for fruit growing are very great, and perhaps no department of industry has made more rapid and universal growth than this during the the past ten or twenty years. In one of the recent returns of the Ontario Bureau of Industries the present acreage under orchard and garden in Ontario is estimated to be about 201,000 acres, which seems a noble showing, yet it is small when we consider the area of occupied land, which is over 21 millions of acres. The proportion then in orchard and garden combined is about T9oth of one per cent, and if we leave out of consideration the proportion under garden culture, the orchard proper would probably not exceed three- quarters of an acre in every hundred. Years ago many fears were expressed that the fruit market would soon be overstocked. With constantly improving shipping facilities, and new territory opening up, with our fruit drying and canning companies, which secure us the civilized world as a market, even for the fruits which are most tender and perish- able, no further anxiety need be felt on this score. Of all the counties in our Province, Middlesex has the largest quantity of land devoted to horticulture, having 12,000 acres out of a total occupied area of 758,000 acres, or about lT6o per cent. ; but some smaller counties have a much larger proportion. Lincoln has 7,800 acres out of 189,000 acres, or about 4 per cent. ; Wentworth, 3J per cent. ; Welland, 2T% ; Prince Edward, 2T6n ; Norfolk, 1T% ; Durham, 2Taa ; Oxford, lT9n ; Halton, Waterloo and Haldemand, 1T% ; York and Elgin, 1T\ ; Essex, Peel and North- umberland, lTxo ; Kent, 1T% \ Oxford, lT2o ; Perth and Ontario, lT\j ; Huron and Lamb- ton, 1 per cent. The remaining counties have smaller proportions, varying from ^ to Teff of one per cent. APPLES. Most of the standard varieties of apples can be successfully grown over all that portion of Ontario west of a line drawn from the south-east extremity of the Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario, also east of this in the counties bordering on Lake Ontario and the Biver St. Lawrence. North of this area the climate is too severe for many of the ten- derer sorts, but a few of the hardier varieties will succeed in most localities. PEARS. Pears can be grown where the tenderer varieties of apples succeed, but they thrive best in the milder portions of the Province, especially in the neighbourhood of the lakes. In Huron, Lambton, Essex, Kent, Elgin, Norfolk, and in the Niagara peninsula they succeed well ; they also thrive and do fairly well in many other western counties. In Essex, along the margin of the Detroit river, there are some of the largest and oldest pear trees on the continent, trees which will measure from seven to nine feet in circum- ference, range in height from 50 to 75 feet, and bear in good seasons from 15 to 25 bushels per tree. These trees are seedlings which are now upwards of a hundred years old, and as far as we have been able to learn are free from blight. Through the kindness of a friend residing in the neighbourhood, I have obtained during the past season samples of the fruit of several of these seedlings, and find that they vary considerably in size, from that of an ordinary Seckel to about double that size. Most of them are of very fair quality, with a granular flesh, more or less melting, sweet or slightly sub-acid, with a pleasant sprightly flavour, useful for the table and excellent for canning. These are doubtless the product of seed sown by some of the early French settlers, brought with them from their native land. It is hoped that from these seedlings a race of pears may yet be obtained hardier and longer-lived than any of the varieties at present cultivated, which will be almost if not entirely exempt from blight. Although pears are grown over a large area in Ontario, a considerable proportion of those found in the market are from the counties of Welland, Lincoln and Wentworth. PLUMS. Plum culture is usually subject to two very severe draw-backs — the curculio and the black-knot. In the northern part of the County of Grey, adjoining the Georgian Bay 11 we' find a district almost free from curculio, where large quantities of plums are grown and shipped to other parts of the Province, and to the United States ; but the black - knot, which prevails almost everywhere, is interfering with successful plum growing there as elsewhere. Plums may be grown with success in all the districts where the apple and the pear succeed, provided the trees are regularly jarred in the proper season for the curculio, and this pernicious insect destroyed. CHERRIES. The common red or Kentish cherry is grown in abundance throughout the greater part of Ontario ; frequently bears good crops, and is a most useful and valuable fruit. The Early Richmond is also cultivated with much success. In the neighbourhood of the lakes the finer and sweeter varieties are produced, but the crop is less certain than that of most other fruits, and the cherries when ripening are much subject to rot. PEACHES. Peaches cannot be cultivated with profit over a very extended area. They are, however, grown in considerable quantities along the shores of Lakes Erie and Huron, and especially in the Niagara peninsula. A large proportion of those found in our markets are from the Niagara district. GRAPES. Most of the varieties of grapes in general cultivation may begrown in all the milder parts of Ontario, and in favourable localities as far east and north as Ottawa ; but in short seasons in the less favoured localities they are sometimes cut by the frosts before fully ripe. Along the Lake Erie shore, and in the Niagara peninsula, they are produced in large quantities, and are a much more certain crop. As earlier ripening varieties are intro- duced the area of grape culture will become more extended, since the canes may be easily protected in the severest climates by covering them. Among the earlier sorts of promise Moore's Early is among the best, ripening about ten days earlier than the Concord. So many new seedlings are now being raised by experimenters every year that we may hope soon to have good varieties earlier than this. SMALL FRUITS. The smaller fruits such as raspberries, strawberries, currants, and the hardier varieties of gooseberries succeed almost everywhere, the snow being sufficient in most places to form a protective covering for such as need shelter in winter. Where snow is abundant and continues with little or no break throughout the season, as in the Ottawa valley, many of the tenderer raspberries can be grown ; varieties which cannot be successfully cultivated in the warmer parts of the Province where there is less snow. I shall not attempt to pronounce on the relative merits of the many new candidates for favour among the straw- berries ; their name is legion, and so much depends on suitability of soil and the care with which they are cultivated that evidence will necessarily be conflicting. Among the newer raspberries the Cuthbert, or Queen of the Market, stands in the front rank. The fruit is large, of a handsome bright colour, and has an excellent flavour \ the canes bear heavily and have thus far proved very hardy. There is also a new red currant to which I should like to call special attention. I refer to Fay's Prolific. The individual berries are very large, the bunch is long and the bushes are very prolific. As far as it has been tested this new red currant is generally regarded as a great acquisition. EXTENDING THE AREA. The acreage under fruit in this province might be greatly increased without danger of over-production, and efforts should be continued to extend the area of successful fruit culture until the inhabitants of our most northern districts shall be abundantly supplied 12 with this healthful and pleasant addition to their table. We may not be able to materi- ally modify the severity of the winter temperature, but nature's forms are plastic, and trees may be produced which will adapt themselves to the severest climatic tests. It is one of the pleasing duties of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario to labour in this direction. There are two methods by which this desired end may be reached. First, by intro- ducing hardier varieties from the colder regions of Europe ; and second, by raising seedlings from the hardier varieties cultivated here. Most of our better kinds of fruit have come to us from the mild and humid climates of Europe, especially from France, Belgium, and Great Britain, or from districts in the United States south of us. It is an easy matter to extend the area of successful cultivation of a fruit tree a few degrees south, but much more difficult to grow it with success as much further north ; and with the force of such facts long felt it seems strange that until of late so little attention has been paid to the fruits grown in Europe in climates similar to or severer than our own. In northern Russia we find ranges of territory possessing such severe climates, where fruits have been grown on an extended scale for hundreds of years. The first efforts to introduce some of these hardy trees were made by the United States Gov- ernment a few years ago, when, through the agency of the American Consuls at St. Peters- burg and Moscow, scions were secured and propagated by the Department of Agriculture at Washington, and disseminated through some of the colder portions of the Western States. Some of the trees so obtained are now fruiting, and samples of the Russian apples grown in Minnesota are on exhibition here in considerable variety. It could not be expected that fruits obtained in this way through agents residing in large cities, who knew but little about fruit culture, and who had not specially studied the qualities and character- istics of fruit trees and their foliage, would in every instance be satisfactory, and the need was strongly felt that experts in fruit matters, specially fitted for their work should visit these northern countries and see these fruits in their native home, make such selec- tions as they might think desirable, and gather all the information possible. Men well suited for this work were soon found, and last year Prof. Budd, of the State Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa, and Mr. Charles Gibb, of Abbotsford, in the Province of Quebec, visited Europe together for the purpose of entering upon this important investigation. The fruits of Western Europe can seldom be grown with success above latitude 45 in this country but these investigators found apple growing to be a great commercial industry, the industry in fact of the inhabitants of twelve peasant villages in Northern Russia above latitude 55, six hundred miles nearer the North Pole than the city of Quebec, and where the thermometer has registered 58° below zero. In this little group of villages the apple crop in a good season will realize at least fifty thousand dollars. The apple known as the Anis is the leading variety ; the Antonovka is also largely grown. This is the coldest profitable orchard region in the world ; it is situate in the southern part of the Government of Kasan, and apples have been cultivated there for hundreds of years. In the extreme northern limits of their growth all trees become dwarfed. The traveller notes this in ascending a high mountain, and the same rule applies to these northern apple trees ; they are reduced to the size of shrubs five or six feet high, and are planted in little clumps of two or three together, and these clumps ten feet apart each way, yet the apples are above medium size and of fine quality. On proceeding further south in Russia these same varieties of apple trees grow larger. Varieties of the pear were found growing in latitude 54° making fine ornamental trees, and bearing fruit of fair quality for cooking. At this point the travellers found an orchard of about ten thousand trees consisting mainly of two varieties, one a small wild bergamot pear, with a very long stem, the other a small pyriform fruit. Further south, but still in very cold latitudes, pears of better quality were found. The cherries of Northern Europe are of great value there. The Vladimir cherry is the most esteemed and is known all over Russia under this name. In size it is a bush rather than a tree, with small, narrow, thick foliage. In the Vladimir district many cherry growers have each from ten to fifteen thousand of these diminutive trees, and in the cherry season entire trains are laden with this product, bearing their burden to the neighbouring towns and cities. The Ostheim is another variety which is largely grown. 13 Both these cherries are dark red, becoming purplish red when very ripe ; the flesh very dark, tender, jucy, with a pleasant flavour, sweet and sub-acid. The fruit is of fair size and the bushes very productive. Plum trees similarly dwarfed, were also met with in abundance, of different varieties : some bearing red plums, others yellow, and a larger number blue. These differ in flavour, but some were estimated by the visitors as equal to the Lombard. I am glad to be able to state that through the liberality of our Minister of Agriculture, arragements have been made to introduce into this Province all those northern fruits of promise, and we hope before another year has passed, to have most of them growing on the grounds of the Ontario Agricultural College here, and from thence to be enabled to disseminate them to be tested throughout the colder sections of our Province. We owe much to those gentlemen who have devoted their time and means to open up for us this new field in which to labour. We have also learned from Mr. Gibb, who obtained the information in Russia, that the market of Pekin, in China, is supplied in season with large quantities of a variety of apricot different from those in general cultivation, which is of a very hardy type, and is produced in the Province of Mantchuria where the winter is quite severe. We have written to Pekin to procure seeds of this desirable fruit and hope to succeed thus in introducing it here. The area of fruit culture may also be extended by raising seedlings from hardy varieties of fruit grown in our own country as far north as possible. Taken thus at their northern limits the seed will usually produce trees hardier than their parents, which will admit of their gradual extension still further north. Much may be done in this way by systematic and persistent effort, but it is slow work and will consume many years in its accomplishment. Ten years or more will be required to test the value of a seedling of the apple or pear, but from three to six years will suffice for the smaller fruits. This line of work should nevertheless be encouraged in every possible way, for although we may not ourselves live to see the full results of a series of efforts in this direction, we may thus be the means of greatly benefiting those who are to follow us, and of advancing the material progress of our country. MORE FRUIT NEEDED. In the south-western part of our Province we have a district admirably suited to the grape and peach. Along the shore of Lake Erie from Amherst burg to Point Pelee there are many thousands of acres where these fruits could be successfully grown. In the Niagara district also the quantity of land devoted to their cultivation might be greatly increased with profit. Throughout all the apple growing region nothing will pay the farmer better than an orchard, and there should be one of at least five acres on every hundred acre farm. In planting such orchards care should be taken to avoid the mistake which has been made in so many instances, in selecting too many varieties, and especially too large a propor- tion of summer and autumn apples ; since these ripen and must be marketed during a period when many other things necessarily claim the attention of the" farmer. There are, however, a few varieties which will repay this attention, and the surrounding circum- stances vary so greatly that no strict rule can be laid down for the guidance of all. If there is a good local market or good shipping facilities by water to the larger cities, first- class early apples can be disposed of at remunerative prices ; but where such advantages do not exist it would be well to plant no more than needed to supply the home demand, giving the remainder of the space entirely to winter fruit. THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. The biennial meeting of the American Promological Society was recently held in Philadelphia on the 12th, 13th and 14th of September, where our Association was repre- sented by its President, who was glad to have the opportunity, amid so many great lights in the pomological world, to do what he could to give to the pomology of Ontario that 14 prominence which it deserves. The absence, through illness, of the venerable President of the Society, the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, was much regretted, although the chair was ably filled by the Hon. Mr. Berckmans, of Georgia. There was a large collection of fine fruit on exhibition, especially of pears, of which Mr. Satterthwaite, of Jenkinstown, Pa., showed upwards of 200 varieties. Ellwanger and Barry, of Rochester, and the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, each 100 varieties, in addition to which there were a number of smaller exhibitors. There were also large collections of apples, grapes and peaches ; one of these, including 140 varieties of apples from Minnesota, is especially worthy of mention. In these collections there were many admirable specimens, reference to which would be more in place on some other occasion. The collection of palms and other green- house plants and flowers, shown in the large upper hall of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's building, was one of the finest it has ever been the privilege of your representa- tive to look upon. Among many other rare novelties the new double red water lilies from Australia, and the famed Victoria Begia lily in flower, attracted much notice. The floral designs were superb and most elaborate. FORESTRY. In the important department of Forestry, which now comes within the scope of our Association, much useful work has been done. The report of the delegates appointed to attend the meetings of the American Forestry Congress last year, which was published as an appendix to our Beport, was full of useful information ; and has done much towards bringing about a healthy sentiment in favour of tree planting. Early in August last a delegation from this Association, consisting of your Secretary and President, were sent by the Commissioner of Agriculture to represent the Province of Ontario at the meeting of the Forestry Congress held at St. Paul's, Minnesota. The assembly was presided over by the United States Commissioner of Agriculture, Dr. Geo. B. Loring, and some im- portant business transacted. Our sister Province of Quebec was represented by the Hon, Mr. Joly, of Quebec, and Mr. Stewart Thayne, of Ottawa. At the close of the meeting the delegates of your Association accompanied by the Hon. Mr. Joly, visited Manitoba where they were joined by Mr. Gibb, of Abbotsford. At the instance of the Deputy-Minister of Agriculture, a public meeting was called in Winnipeg, at which the Lieut. -Governor presided ; where the visitors were glad to give to a large and deeply interested assembly, all the infor- mation at their command. As one of the results of our visit, a Provincial Association was there and then formed for the promotion of Horticulture and Forestry, and an order for hardy Bussian fruits for Manitoba is now being forwarded along with that for Ontario. Death has visited our ranks during the past year, and removed one of our busiest workers, whose successful record in the fields of Horticulture has given him a world-wide fame. Charles Arnold has gone to his reward. We shall greatly miss his pleasant, venerable face and wise counsel at our meetings. Many of us have lost in him a warm friend, whose memory will ever be fondly cherished. All who have taken an active interest in our Association will be pleased to note its gradual but steady progress ; the past year has added over 700 to our membership, which is now nearly 3,000. Much of this addition may fairly be attributed to the increasing popularity and usefulness of our monthly, the Canadian Horticulturist, so ably conducted by our much esteemed Secretary. It is my sincere hope that every year may add to the interest felt in the proceedings of this organization, until all lovers of fruit, forest and flowers in this Province shall be drawn within its fold, and become partakers in the- benefits which it is ever seeking with liberal hand to distribute. 15 THE WINTER MEETING Was held in the Council Chamber, City Hall, Toronto, on the 31st of January, and 1st of February, 1883. President Saunders took the Chair, and called upon the Secretary to read the minutes of the last meeting, which were read and confirmed. THE ENGLISH SPARROW. The first item on the list of subjects for discussion was then taken up, viz. : " Is the English Sparrow an Advantage to the Fruit Grower or otherwise 1 " Mr. Wellington. — I believe it was I who suggested this subject to the Secretary, and it was in this wise that I came to do it : — In conversation with a gentleman who de- votes some attention to fruit growing in this section, he remarked to me, that he had lost his fruit through the sparrows eating the buds ; and I noticed a plum tree in my own garden in which the sparrows seemed to be taking their meals off its buds. This gentle- man also said that near the trees in which they seemed to congregate to a great extent he had young peas, and that rows of them were completely eaten off to the ground by the sparrows. So that they do not confine their diet altogether to insects, but when hungry, fruit buds, or anything in the vegetable line, is food to them. Mr. Switzer. — Sparrows are favourites of mine, and I endeavoured to get them to my place when I first came to this country. I took good care of them in the winter, and made pets of them, being a bird coming from the country I myself came from ; but so far as fruits are concerned, I must condemn them. I found blossoms lying at the bottoms of pear and plum trees on which they congregated, and at first I tried to make myself be- lieve that they were eating the insects out of the buds ; but I found at last that they had destroyed all the buds of my best pear and plum trees, so that on trees from which I had expected to have a large crop I had a mere nothing — no plums whatever, and but a very few pears. My grapes the sparrows did not seem to meddle with. Currants and gooseberries seemed also to have been left" alone. Mr. Beadle. — I cannot give you from personal observation, any light on this matter ; but I received a communication from Mr. Knowlson, of Lindsay, which I have published in the Horticulturist, in which he says, that they completely destroyed the buds on his gooseberry bushes. They took the buds all off, and what they did not eat they left scattered on the ground, so that they destroyed his entire crop of fruit and very much damaged his bushes as well. Mr. Morris. — Another great objection to the sparrows is that they drive away other birds that really are of benefit to fruit growers, birds that really do live on insects. I think some means ought to be devised of getting rid of the sparrows. I have but very few sparrows in my place, about eight or ten of them is all I have had this winter. I have very little experience in this matter therefore. I may say, however, that I have partridges about my place. I have always encouraged them ; and in the winter of 1880-81, I suppose there might have been fifteen or twenty of them around my house. Sometimes I fed them, and sometimes I did not. However, I find that they eat the buds off my trees, especially of the ironwood trees. Almost every bud was eaten off the iron- wood trees. Mr. Bucke. — Some few years ago we were very much troubled with grasshoppers in Ottawa ; but as soon as the sparrows began to multiply they cleared them out, and we have not seen any grasshoppers since. Mr. Croil. — There are very few sparrows with us. Mr. Wolverton. — There are very few at Grimsby. 16 Mr. Gott. — I am very sorry to hear these charges brought against the English sparrow, because I am an Englishman myself by birth, and also by sentiment to some ex- tent. I have not much experience with the English sparrow, because there are very few of them in our locality ; but I should like some further observations of their habits in regard to this matter to be made, in order to ascertain whether these charges which are made against them, are well-founded or not. Mr. A. McD. Allen. — We have not had very extensive experience yet with the English sparrow ; but we have had them in our section for some years, and I have been observing their habits carefully. There is no doubt they are a very pugnacious bird, driving away almost every other bird. There is no doubt that the English sparrow eats the fruit buds. It preys on the gooseberry buds particularly. I do not think it eats the buds of the black currant, but it picks them off by the score and drops them ; and this winter I have seen sparrows on the Norway spruce digging the buds out and eating them. Towards the spring they prey on the plum. They feed on the cherry too. Mr. Doel, Toronto. — I have found sparrows beneficial rather than otherwise. My place being so near Toronto, they come out there in the summer from the city ; and I have found that where they are the thickest, my fruit is the best and the insects are fewer. This season I had but one Duchess Pear though the blossoms set very heavy \ but I attribute my loss there not to the sparrows, but to three cold days that we had during an easterly storm. Immediately after that storm the buds all dropped off. Not so with my Bartletts however ; I had a good] crop of them. Three years ago I overlooked two caterpillar nests in the apple trees in my orchard, and did not become aware of them until I saw some sparrows flying around those trees very lively ; but when I went and looked at the nests, to my surprise there was nothing in them — the caterpillars were gone,# and I noticed that from that time the sparrows were away from that place. I have not had a plum now for several years. Three years ago I had a very nice crop of them. Since then I have not had an average of one quart of plums a year. I do not attribute that to the sparrows, however. I do not find the sparrows so pugnacious. The smaller birds are about my house now as thick as ever, although I have seen flocks of fifty or sixty sparrows there. They drove the swallows away from underneath the eaves of my barn entirely, however, and took possession of their nests. Mr. Chambers. — I have not a very large crop of fruit — what I have is mostly small currants and gooseberries ; but I must say that as far as the gooseberries are concerned, the sparrows destroyed every bud. As to the currants, I cannot say so much. Last year I found the sparrows congregating in great numbers. I happen to live where there are thousands of them; that is, on the Exhibition Grounds. Last year I seeded down some ground with rye, and left it till it got ripe, and then the sparrows came in thousands, and I am sure they must have eaten one-third of it. So that whether they are of any bene- fit to the fruit grower or not, I am very certain they cannot be of any value to the farmer. Mr. A. M. Brown. — Is there any gentleman here who can tell us with regard to their habit in the winter 1 The President. — With regard to their destructiveness to the fruit buds, I had ample proof last spring. I had two large Flemish Beauty trees which promised to blossom abundantly. The buds opened, and the young flowers were expanding, when the sparrows set on them. I watched them, and saw the sparrows eat the buds out until there was not a single bud or blossom left on either of those trees. To make sure that I was not deceived, I had some sparrows killed, and I found in their crops some of the flowers and organs of the flowers. I did not find any insects. There is no doubt that sparrows con sume a large number of insects; but they do not feed on them themselves — they feed their young with them, and as they are very prolific there is no doubt they destroy a large number of caterpillars. But those pests are easily got rid of otherwise, and there are a great many enemies to injurious insects, which have not the bad habits that sparrows have. I am quite confident, that so far as the fruit growers are concerned, the English sparrow is a decided injury to them. From the conformation of their beak it is quite evident that they are a grain-feeding bird. While, then, there is no doubt that they do destroy a large number of injurious insects, I think on the whole the evidence is against 17 them, so far as the fruit growers are concerned. Like Mr. Gott, I am an Englishman, and have some English sentiment in regard to things that are English, and I took some pains to assist in introducing the English sparrow into London ; but I am now almost sorry I did it. In England, where they have these birds thickest, there is constantly a premium on their heads, and boys are employed to collect their eggs, and to stand in the tields where the grain is ripening, and make a clatter. In Australia they have had the same experience. The Government has lately passed a law ordering the destruction of these birds wherever they can be discovered. They find that their fruit crops there and their grain crops also, are being injured in consequence of the rapid multiplication of these voracious birds. If you get two or three pair into a district one year, you will have two or three hundred the next year, and two or three thousand the next year. I think the Fruit Growers' Association would do wisely in passing some resolution in favour of removing any restriction on the killing of the sparrows. Mr. Arnold. — I was about to move that we try and find out the men who intro- duced the sparrow into this country, and when we have them, prosecute them ; but as I find that you are one of those who have done wrong, and that you have confessed, I will forgive you. I am an Englishman ; and I used, when a boy, to be paid twopence and threepence a dozen for collecting the eggs of the sparrow. I do not think they have caused a great deal of injury to the fruit in our section of the country as yet. They are numerous in the towns ; but they have scarcely got into the country. They certainly drive away other birds. We frequently see them fighting them, and they will attack a bird about three times their size. I have understood, however, that there is one bird — I do not know the name of it — that " goes for " them and kills them rapidly. The President. — It is the Butcher Bird. Mr. Arnold. — If the sparrows would drive away the robins and the cherry birds I would say let them stay ; I think they are greater nuisances than the sparrows. Mr. Beadle. — I think it would be well for us to have a committee on ornithology in this association — a committee of men who are given to observing, and perhaps have a little fondness for observing, the habits of birds, and will give us a report every year, not only upon the sparrow, but upon any other bird that they find is injurious to the farmer or the fruit grower, either in eating the buds, or the fruit, or the flower. I move that the chairman take time to consider who are the men who will take a little pains with this matter, and perhaps shoot some of these birds and see what they feed on, and watch the nests and see what the chickens feed on. I will say a committee of three to begin with. I move that before this meeting closes the President specify three persons to be a committee on ornithology, with a request that they make observations on the habits of birds that are injurious to fruit growers and report at our next meeting. Mr. A. M. Smith. — I think the suggestion is a very good one, and I second the motion. Mr. Doel. — In Toronto there is a society called the Natural History Society. I think it would mutually benefit this society and that to correspond with ' them upon this very subject, as they make it one of special study. They have permission from the Govern- ment to obtain in season different kinds of birds for that purpose. They are now study- ing the very point that this motion covers. The motion was carried. Mr. Croil. — Scotch sparrows are, I think, the same as English sparrows ; but, at any rate, I know that Scotch gardeners are very unfond of them. Because of the sparrows they have to keep their gooseberries and other small fruits continuously covered with nets at a very heavy expense. The President. — I think there ought to be some practical outcome of all these discus- sions. I propose that some gentleman offer a resolution in order to test the feeling of the meeting in regard to this matter. Mr. Wellington. — In order that the matter may be brought before the country in the manner indicated by the President I will move, that in the opinion of this society the sparrow is detrimental to the fruit grower, and that steps should be taken to do away with the sparrow to a great extent. Mr. A. McD. Allan. — I will second that; and instead of saying "to a great extent," I would say " entirely." 18 Mr. Arnold. — Wouldn't it be as well to express our opinion also with regard to the injury it is to grain"? We know it is an injury to grain. Mr. Wellington. — I have no objection to adding that. The resolution was then put to the meeting, and carried in the following form : — " That in the opinion of this Association the sparrow is injurious to the fruit grower and farmer." THE MAY GWUB.—Lachnosternafusca. The next subject was then announced, viz., "The best method of combatting the large white grub which is so often injurious to the roots of plants." Mr. Arnold. — It was I who suggested this subject ; but I did so with a view of ob- taining information as to how to combat it from the meeting. I have no method of my own except to catch the grub and pinch its head off. Some places in our section it de- stroys entire meadows — eats off the roots — and there is nothing left but a thin covering of dead grass. In newly planted strawberry beds I have known them run along the row after the plants have got nicely started perhaps, and cut everything off. It was in hopes of getting something from you, sir, as to the length of time the grub remains in the ground. They seem never to die. My impression is that the eggs are laid where there is grass or some protection of that sort. I find them worse always in a newly planted piece of ground — where we plant potatoes, for instance, on the sod. They seem to like strawberry roots better than any other roots that I know of. They will eat up potatoes and eat big holes in them. The President. — In reply to Mr. Arnold's request as to the habit of the insect, I might say that the parent beetle lays its eggs about the roots of grass generally, just about the surface, and they are most commonly enclosed in little rolls. Although the course of the insect's life has not been carefully watched as yet, it is the common belief amongst those who have the best opportunity of observing, that the insect is three years in reaching maturity. You can generally find in the soil grubs of three distinct sizes ; and on the basis of that this conclusion has been reached. The time when their powers of destruc- tiveness is greatest is when they have reached the last stage of their existence — when they are the largest. The fact that it takes three years to reach the stage of the greatest maturity accounts for there being a greater number of grubs some years than others. As far as strawberry culture is concerned it is almost impossible to carry it on successfully where these insects are very abundant, because they devour all the succulent roots. I do not known that they are particularly partial to the strawberry ; they eat the soft roots of all sorts of plants. Mr. Roy. — Is that the same grub that is found in the hearts of dead trees 1 The President. — No. Mr. Denton. — Last year I examined four or five acres where, as Mr. Saunders says, there was this rolling up, and thousands upon thousands of those insects were there. The owner of the lot came along whilst I was examining it, and asked what had best be done. Said I "Turn in your hogs." He did so, and they rooted, and ate a great many of those insects. However, he had to plough the ground up, and last summer was the first sum- mer he got anything like a crop off it. He thinks that he has destroyed the insects that were there, and my impression is that he has done so. In ploughing up sod for garden purposes you will often find a number of these insects, and it has struck me forcibly that they are the ones who destroyed the plants the first year. It is my opinion that when sod is ploughed it should be thoroughly cultivated in order to get rid of them. Mr. Morris. — In the year 1881 we spent hundreds of dollars in fighting this insect, and in spite of all we could do our loss was still thousands of dollars. We found our ground literally alive with them — ground that had not been in sod for years. We found that they were worst in places that had been manured the year before. I suppose the beetle found that a good place to lay its eggs. On the south-east side of a slope we found them thick, while on the north-east side we would not find any, perhaps. My plan 19 to destroy it would be this. In the spring of the year when the beetle makes its appear- ance— which can be known by their flying against the window at night, attracted by the light — build bonfires through your grounds in the evenings, and I think they would fly into them. I believe the skunk is one of the greatest destroyers of this grub. It has been known to follow them up row after row and make a thorough work of cleaning them out. I have been asked if I have sown salt. I say " yes," and it does not seem to have any effect at all. I have sown ashes also, and it does not seem to affect them. Mr. Page. — I have heard it stated that sowing salt kills these grubs. Mr. Beall. — I recently saw an article, I think in the Country Gentleman, giving the opinion of a gentleman in the Western States, that it was not advisable to experiment too largely with specifics for anything of this sort. He said that he had been troubled a great deal with this white grub, and that he had been told that salt was an effectual remedy. He had tried that himself, putting on two or three times the quantity some- times that he did in other places, and the only result was, that the more sa]t he fed the grubs the better they grew. Five or six years ago I lost an acre of onions by them my- self. I mean the worm that runs along the surface. The President. — That is not the same one. Mr. Beall. — This I refer to, which was mentioned in the paper, was the white grub, whatever one that was. The President. — That is the one under discussion. Mr. Dempsey. — Six years ago we were terribly bothered on a sandy piece of land by those white grubs. Our strawberries and even our raspberries were injured by them, some of them destroyed. Two years after that, we noticed immense swarms of the May bettle in the air every evening. At the same time we had a large quantity of pine stumps that we did not know what to do with. One evening we touched fire to those, and I have not seen one-twentieth the quantity of the grubs since. I fancy that if we could get some combustible matter together and get up a good fire just in the dusk of a warm sum- mer evening, we should destroy millions of these insects. I have noticed that they are quite inclined to deposit their eggs in the droppings of animals if they are left on the surface ; or if manures are left on the surface, spread and not turned in, I notice that a great many thousands will be found. I have also observed a great many of the larvae hatching by the side of a compost heap. Now, I fancy, it is best to turn our manure under the soil quickly after applying it, unless we apply it in the fall or winter. In this way, I think, we can prevent the attacks of these insects to a great extent. I am satisfied salt will destroy them. I am satisfied that wood ashes will also destroy them, but according to my experience, the quantity of salt or ashes that is required to destroy the insects will also destroy all vegetation. Mr. Doel. — I know what this white grub is, and the May beetle too. I have noticed an immense quantity sometimes when the manure is put on. The grub is a very small one, and I have had the idea that it is the May beetle grub when it is first hatched. It is from an eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch long. It apparently would be white if it was not filled with some dark substance. It has a dark head. Is that the May beetle grub when it is first hatched 1 The President. — I think not; I think that Mr. Dempsey is mistaken on that point. There are quite a number of insects belonging to a family called the Coprofagi that feed on dung, animal manures, and they are always present in very large numbers. They lay their eggs in manure, hatch in it, and the young are matured in it. I do not think there is any probability of the larvae of this grub being seen ; their eggs are laid close to the roots of plants, and when very young they burrow into the ground and commence to feed on the roots. I have no doubt that the May bugs deposit their eggs in manure, and find it a very pleasant place to hatch ; but they at once penetrate under ground upon being hatched. Mr. Doel. — I agree with Mr. Beall as to the May beetle grub coming up, and not bur- rowing along under the ground ; that has been my experience with them. When I bought my place eleven years ago there was any quantity ofcthem there ; they are not near so thick now, although we come across a great many still. I attribute that to this : — I keep a number of fowls, and I have a great deal of small fruit, and in the spring when we are 20 working among these things we turn the poultry out and let them run loose, and they do no harm to the small fruit until a certain time ; then we do that again in the fall. Whether that is the reason the grubs are kept down, and to a certain extent des- troyed, I cannot say, but I find that the fowls eat an immense quantity of these grubs and also of the white grub. Mr. Denton. — I would like to ask whether we are not confounding two insects. Does the May beetle ever come up as represented, and attack the roots of berries and onions and other things in this way ? The President. — As far as my experience goes it works altogether under the ground. There is a white grub, which I have no doubt is the grub that Mr. Doel refers to, the larvae of one of the cut worms — one of our most common species. It is almost as large as the white grub that we are speaking of, and it runs along the ground just in the way Mr. Doel describes ; but it is quite a different grub from this other. It seems to me that fires are one of the most practical methods we can adopt for the destruction of the insect. It is well known that they are attracted by light, and if they have opportunities of flying into the fire, they will always avail themselves of them. Another plan which is adopted sometimes with destructive insects of that character which fly to light readily, is to set a lamp in the middle of a tub of water on which is a layer of coal oil ; they fly to the lamp, strike against it, and fall into the water. I am afraid there is nothing we can use in the ground for killing the grub which will not also kill the crop. The skunk is very useful indeed in destroying the grub ; and there is nothing better than to turn a few hogs into the field — they devour immense quantities. But it seems that no means of practical value has ever been discovered for destroying the insect in strawberry beds ; nothing which will not also destroy the plants. Mr. Reesor. — I have found the method which the chairman has mentioned work well ; that is, getting a large tub, filling it with soap suds, and putting a lamp in the tub. I find this a good way too to destroy the little miller which affects the beets. A great many other beetles and insects I find come to grief at the same time. Mr. Dempsey. — I have noticed that where land can be thoroughly cultivated the insect seems to be readily picked up by birds and destroyed by the act of cultivating. We were preparing, a year ago last summer, a piece of land for strawberries, and there were some places that there was an accumulation of quite large stones which we had to cultivate around. Towards the end of the season we removed these, and invariably we found a large quantity of these white grubs under each stone. They destroyed a great many of our plants there. I think they deposit their eggs under stones, in stumps of trees, or under almost anything they can conveniently get to cover them. I think thorough cultivation, thorough cleaning of our land, will serve as a preventive to a certain extent, and that building fires in our grounds in the season of the year when we discover a num- ber of these beetles flying in the air, will also have a good effect. Col. McGill. — I have had no experience with the grub myself, but it has been very destructive in our neighbourhood this year. A gentleman I know, a very good farmer, had ten acres of peas completely destroyed by these large white grubs. About twenty-five or thirty acres in that neighbourhood was cut out, and after they began to cut out they tried salt, but it did not seem to affect the insect very much. Mr. Dempsey. — Mr. Beall appeared to be mistaken as to the sort of worm which was destroying his crops. The cut worm used to bother us considerably in the cultivation of the melon ; and I presume, that anyone who has ever undertaken to cultivate vegetables, has been annoyed more or less by it. A number of years ago a piece of our land became so infested with cut worms that we could produce nothing on it. We mixed a little plaster with Paris green, and just gave the plants a slight dose of that. Six or seven years have passed since the experiment was tried, and I have not seen a cut worm on the land since. Mr. Morris. — I cannot altogether agree with the President, when he says it takes three years for this grub to develop and get to work. In the year 1880 we found nothing of it in our grounds ; in 1881 it seemed 4o develop and get to work about July, and my idea was, that the eggs were laid that spring. The beetles were very numerous that spring ; we could not open our door but any number of them would fly in. About August or Sep- 21 tember they seemed to get nearly fall grown ; and strange to say, the following spring, — that is, this last spring — there were very few to be seen in my grounds, and during the summer they entirely disappeared. The President. — I said it took three years for them to attain the largest size. They are working all the time during the three years ; but being of a small size, their work does not attract the same attention that it does when they are three years old and matured. Mr. Arnold. — Early in the spring I found them full sized, and late in the fall I also found some of them full sized and some not half grown. I have noticed this May beetle of greatest vigour generally, I think in June, when they are most numerous. Immense swarms of them are seen around cherry trees. I was wondering whether they laid their eggs near cherry trees at all ; or were they feeding. The President. — Yes, but not on the leaves. Mr. Arnold. — Then that would be the best time, of course, to catch them with fire. I cannot help thinking they must take more than one year to mature, because of their being of different sizes. Mr. Morris. — I believe myself that they will live in the ground for years ; but I understood you to say that they do not get to work until the first year. Mr. Dempsey. — It appears to me that the May beetle, when it is flying in the spring, and feeding on the blossoms of our fruit trees, might be easily destroyed by applying Paris green, mixed with plaster, to the blossoms. However, that would not be as handy as building a fire. The President. — It has been suggested — and, 1 believe, carried out practically — ►that where they congregate on trees those trees should be visited in the morning, when the insects are sluggish — they are very active at night — and the trees shaken, when the insects drop to the ground. They are then collected and killed. This might be added to the other measures of destroying them that have been suggested. LETTER FROM SECRETARY OF MICHIGAN SOCIETY. The Secretary here read a letter from Mr. Charles W. Garfield, Secretary of the Michigan State Horticultural Society, to the effect that he had expected to be present at our meeting, but that circumstances beyond his control would prevent his attendance, which he very deeply regretted. Mr. Dempsey. — I am very sorry indeed that Mr. Garfield is not able to be present with us. I can assure you that if he was here I should be more than delighted, and I am sure you would be also ; because a more "live" fruit grower I have never heard speak than he. Mr. Garfield is capable of discussing these subjects in a way that interests you. and pre- vents you from ever forgetting them. Just here I should speak a word with reference to the people of the State of Michigan. The President. — I might just here remark that Mr. Dempsey went as a special delegate to attend their winter meeting, and what he is giving us now is, I suppose, the results of his experience there on that occasion. Mr. Dempsey. — When I arrived in Flint I proceeded to the hotel where the meeting was to take place, and the first man I met was Mr. Garfield at the door. I was a stranger to him ; but I almost recognized him from his writings, which I had been permitted to read before. Everything was made as pleasant for me as possible. He introduced me to each one present separately, and they made everything very agreeable for me. The people of Flint offered readily — and I think the majority of those in attendance at the meeting accepted — to take care of all the strangers, and if any visitor to the city spent any money while there it was his own fault. I am too much of a Canadian to accept a billet, how- ever ; I had not a white choker on \ I therefore kept my comfortable quarters at the hotel. I think I am safe in saying there were four hundred people present at the last meeting. I only wish as great an interest could be taken in such matters in this country. 3 [f. a] 22 As far as the people are concerned who are engaged in fruit culture in this country we have nothing to complain of ; but not enough visitors attend our meetings. Where we hold our meetings I fancy the people do not recognize our mission as we think they ought to do. I feel this when I go away to such places as Flint. RUSSET APPLES. The next question on the programme was : " Why were Russet Apples less injured last spring than other sorts ? Mr. Arnold. — I asked that question ; and it was because I could not account for the fact that I did ask it. In our section of the country we had no apples at all last year but Russets. I was in hopes you, sir, had been investigating the matter yourself. I know you have a powerful microscope ; and I was wondering whether the reason that the Russets escaped was owing to the thickness of its skin. I was in hopes that you might have put some of the skins under the microscope. I suppose the reason of the destruction of the apples generally was that the pollen was destroyed by being washed away before any of it was deposited on the pistil. Mr. Woolverton. — I cannot answer the question that is asked here, but would remark that the Russet is not the only apple that escaped injury last year with us. Our Northern Spies escaped fully as well, if not better, than our Russets. I attribute that to the fact that the blossoms of the Northern Spy do not develop as early as those of other kinds. Of course that does not apply to the Russet, however. Mr. Croil. — The Talman Sweet had very few spots with us this year. Mr. Doel. — I never saw the Duchess of Oldenburg better than it was with me last year. It did not appear to be affected as a great many other apples were. Mr. Wellington. — We found on our ground that the Wealthy and the Stump bore the heaviest crops of any. In fact, they were the only trees that we got anything off at all. The Russet with us was not the only one that failed. Mr. Dempsey. — With us the Russets were affected ; but it seemed to be local. I do not think they were affected any less than some other varieties. I did not see any blight upon the Baldwins. There were not a great many Baldwins cultivated in our section of the country. I saw in some sections a very little blight upon the Fameuse ; but I never had so fine a crop of Fameuse apples. Perhaps I was mistaken, but I fancied that trees that had been most exhausted the year previous were the worst affected. We had very few Russets the year before last ; consequently the crop was heavier last year. We had very few Baldwins also the year before, and the crop was heavy the last year. Some varieties of fruit that bore heavily the year previous, bloomed freely again last spring ; but the blossoms of those trees apparently failed or succumbed at once to the fungus that appeared to be affecting the trees, or embryo rather. So that I was led to believe that the disease affected more severely those trees which had produced too heavily and been exhausted the year previously. Then, again, I noticed that when trees stood on sandy soil upon ridges on which there was no snow, and the frost consequently penetrated very deep in severe weather, a great many of the fibrous roots of those trees were very much affected, and some of the trees were really frozen dead. I believe that it is with a tree as it is with ourselves ; if its feet are kept warm it can stand a greater degree of cold than if that is not done. I am convinced that the disease we are now speaking of was a result of there not being enough snow a year ago to protect the roots of the trees. I fancy that the trees failed in consequence of the mildew taking advantage of their feeble state. Mr. Morris. — I think it would be well to consider, in connection with this, whether the Aphis has had anything to do with the failure of the crop this year. It is well known that the Aphis appeared in clouds almost just about the time that the fruit trees were in blossom ; and I think that perhaps the more tender varieties — the feebler in growth — may have succumbed, owing to the leaves being eaten by the Aphis and the trees deprived of t heir sustenance in that way. The trees being in a feeble state, in consequence of these attacks, the fruit could not develop, and therefore dropped off. The Wealthy has borne 23 heavily with us this year. The trees of that variety were free from the attacks of the Aphis. Another variety that I noticed bore a good crop this year was the American Pippin ; but it always bears a good crop, even in years when the apple crop is almost a failure. Mr. Gott. — Not only the fruit, but a good deal of the foliage was destroyed by it with us this year ; and it affected the trees constitutionally so that they scarcely recovered. I know one gentleman who had the .Russet beside one of our public roads. The outside row of trees was American Russets, and the fruit on them was perfect. It was as fine a sample as I ever saw, and this was the case throughout the country generally. The Duchess of Oldenburg was notably excepted. May it not be that there is something constitutionally hardy in those varieties — something that enables them to resist those- atmospheric influences to which they are subjected 1 We know that the American Golden Russet is considered a very hardy tree. It will stand almost any kind of exposure. It will grow very well in most northern climates. Mr. Wright. — Oh, no ; it will not. It is not every variety of apples we can grow. The Duchess of Oldenburg, the Wealthy, and the Tetofsky — the ironclads — were very good with us this year, but the Golden Russet we cannot raise at all at Renfrew. Mr. Hopkins. — I have a little experience in raising apples, and this last year our Golden Russet succeeded the best of any. I have come here to learn from older experienced men than myself why that was the case. I gave it as a reason that about the time our fruit trees were in full bloom we had a very heavy north-east storm — a very cold storm — in which a good many of the gardeners in our locality lost their tomato plants, and other plants that were tender. I thought that perhaps because the Golden Russet was a tough tree it resisted this storm more successfully than other trees that had tenderer foliage, and of which the fruit would be tenderer. Why it was that our Golden Russets were better than other apples I could not say, but they were. We sold them at a far better price, and the apples were more perfect. They do not fall off like the Northern Spy. Mr. Wright. — We import a large number of apples, and this season no apples have kept well with us except the Golden Russet. All the others have been very poor keepers indeed. Col. McGill. — The apple that has failed with us has been the Talman Sweet. It was an immense crop, but when the fruit got to be about the size of chestnuts there came a very heavy wind, and they dropped off on the ground. After that we had a severe north-west storm that took two-thirds of the apples off the trees in that section. There was occasionally an orchard that escaped. From observation while travelling a good deal through the county that I live in, I think the Baldwin, the Northern Spy, and the Greening have succeeded the best. The Russet suffered as much as anything, with the exception of the Talman Sweet. The Talman Sweet was almost a failure in our section this year. Mr. Roy, Owen Sound. — I do not think I ever saw the Golden Russet so smooth, and not only the Golden Russet but the Fameuse also. There were no specs on either of them this year. The Spy has also been very free of any defect of that kind. In fact all the apples in our section of the country have been good this year, and in large quantities. I am told that one house took away seven thousand barrels of apples from within a circuit of Owen Sound, and that every barrel of those went to England. The President. — This evidence seems to be very contradictory, and yet I think it can all be harmonized with the facts. This cold rain storm prevailed all over the Pro- vince at the same time ; and we know that in the districts that Mr. Roy and Mr. Demp- sey come from, apple trees bloom later than they do in the more southern parts of Ontario, This storm had the effect of washing the pollen off the stigmas, and it also deterred the insects that are always abroad in even weather of that kind, and which exert a great influence in fertilizing the flowers. The insects were prevented, by the wet weather, from visiting the flowers, and the rain washed a great deal of the pollen off. These circum- stances are sufficient, I think, to account for the failure of the flowers to set where the trees were at the time in blossom. In the later districts the blossoms were later, and they escaped this storm. Following the storm a species of fungus attacked the leaves and 24 twigs as well as the fruit itself — a very low form of fungus. It penetrated the tissues of the leaves of the trees and caused them to turn brown, and to wither in some places, and in some instances to drop off entirely. It also attacked the stem of the apple, creeped along it to the fruit, and then spotted the apple ; and the fruit being blighted by it, and the leaves (which are the lungs of the trees) being injured by it, the growth of the trees was checked in consequence, so that in some instances they did not make half their usual growth. This fungus appeared to prevail all over the western part of Ontario, and to a certain extent in that northern district also, but not so badly. The exemption of the Northern Spy may be accounted for from the fact that as it blossoms so much later than the other varieties it escaped the effects of the main portion of the unfavourable weather that prevailed at that time. Mr. Denton. — On my return from London I visited a number of orchards from London south to Port Stanley. I went twenty miles north, and then I took as far as Arkona west, and I found just what you have stated with regard to the withered appear- ance of the fruit on many of the trees. The successful bearers were the Duchess of Oldenburg and a few Russets. At Port Stanley I found the trees on the banks very much injured by this fungus which you have referred to. The fruit when it was set, was very small and inferior, and was falling off in August. The crop did not amount to any- thing. On Mr. Gott's place and in the neighbourhood, I found the foliage in a far more healthy state than it was farther south. Farther south it was far more withered than it was in that neighbourhood. There was one orchard where I found all the fruit good. This orchard was planted twenty years ago, and when the gentleman was setting the trees out he put a belt of evergreens west, north, and east, leaving the other side open. These trees were in a comparatively nourishing condition, and had a very good crop of fruit on them. That is not very far from London. I value this result as showing that by break- ing the force of the wind in this way the trees did not suffer as much from it as trees which were more exposed. I think the general impression wherever I went was that the pollen was destroyed by the cold wind, and the constitution of the trees injured by it to a certain extent. Mr. Roy. — Out of sixty-five barrels of apples that I sold I do not think the parties threw out a barrel. Mr. Arnold. — It is pretty evident that this blight was caused by this storm. Still, I am completely puzzled with regard to its affecting one while others escaped. I have the Spitzenburg growing within a very short distance of a sport of the Spitzenburg called the Moyle, and while I did not have an apple of the Spitzenburg I had a good crop on the Moyle. Now, why the storm should destroy the flowers of one and the other should escape is a mystery to me, and I am still inclined to think that there must be something in the skin of the Russet apple that enabled it to escape, while of the Spy, a smooth-skinned apple, we had not one in our neighbourhood, although it is a late flowering apple. The Duchess of Oldenburg is an early flowering tree, and we had not an apple on it either. And yet both of these trees were like a bouquet of flowers. Mr. Croil. — I think I am safe in saying that out of a hundred barrels of Fameuse apples that I had there were not half a bushel that were not spotted ; and it was not because the trees were not sheltered. They were sheltered on the east and on the west. Some said "your trees are too well sheltered." I said " no." I went into a neighbour- ing orchard, and the young trees were standing about thirty feet apart. These young trees had a few apples on them, Fameuse, and they were spotted just as badly as mine. Mr. Allan, Goderich. — There seems to have been a good deal of sectional trouble about apples. With us there was not a great deal of difficulty so far as the crop was concerned. The Fameuse and the Rhode Island Greening we placed no value on on account of the spotting. The Baldwin was good ; I shipped myself three thousand barrels of them to one firm in England. The Canada Red was a large crop, as was also the Wagener. The Rhode Island Greening was notably bad. There were just three varieties that we considered poor, the Fameuse, the Rhode Island Greening and the Newtown Pippin. Mr. Croil. — My soil is light clay. Mr. Denton. — At Port Stanley the soil is sandy, and it strikes me forcibly that the 25 trees growing there cannot be so vigorous as in your neighbourhood, growing on light clay. In that case I claim that the fungi and the storm were the cause of the destruction. Mr. Doel. — I cannot agree with that altogether. I have some Duchesses on what is between clay and a sandy loam, some of it drifting sand ; and there was not a more healthy tree than one on the drifting sand. I think it bore even more fruit than the trees on the heavier soil. My trees appear to be quite as healthy on the light sand as on the clay and sandy loam. I believe my place to be exceptionally situated, however ; I am near the banks of the classic stream, the Don, and whereas three hundred yards, and less than that sometimes, north, south, east and west of me the tomatoes are cut down, mine are uninjured. Mine are not so subject to the effects of cold and frost as others all around me. At this stage, it being half-past twelve o'clock, an intermission until two o'clock was taken. THE BLACK SPOT ON THE APPLE. Upon resuming business the meeting entered upon the discussion of the question, "The Black Spot or Fungus on the Apple. Can it be remedied, and how V1 Mr. Arnold. — 1 feel like answering that question by saying, "Yes" and "No." It can be, I think, prevented to a great extent. At least that is my own experience. It can be prevented to a great extent by keeping the trees well pruned ; but I believe it never can be thoroughly prevented until we have control of the atmosphere. In my opinion it is the thin-skinned apples that suffer the most from it. I have always had a notion that it was caused by the moisture settling upon them, and then the bright sun, perhaps, causing a fungus to grow. I have always found that it is a benefit to have the trees well pruned ; that they are not then so subject to this disease. The Fameuse, for instance, is an apple which, I believe, suffers in all parts of the country ; but if the trees are well pruned they do not suffer so much as if the trees are thick. I am inclined to think, too, that lime in the soil has a good effect. Mr. Roy. — Do you think lime sown on the soil would have the same effect as a limestone formation 1 Mr. Arnold. — I question whether the roots get a great deal from limestone. It is burnt lime that I think is of great benefit. There is, no doubt, a great advantage in having a limestone soil for the roots of many trees. Mr. Croil. — In the March number of the Horticulturist there was a paper on this subject. I had picked up an old number of the Canada Farmer, in which a gentleman stated that he had prevented the black spot on his apples by putting sulphur in the trees. I took a good deal of trouble to find him out ; the article had been written some ten years, and I learned that he was a Mr. Merrill. This gentleman says : — " Prescott, January 10, 1882. " I have no doubt that I wrote the article mentioned in your letter of the 9th, for the Canada Farmer. The fruit of several of my apple trees had been affected with a black taint when they were about half grown ; they then shrank and became worthless. I remembered a remedy I had read of when a boy, for caterpillars and other worms on apple trees, and I thought I would try it on my trees, as I was of opinion that the taint was occasioned by some kind of poison in the sap, and not from the attacks of moths in the fruit. Since that time my apples have been perfectly free from the taint; indeed, the change tookplace the first season after applying the remedy. I inserted the sulphur early in the spring, before the sap began to ascend into the branches. I cannot see that the trees have been injured by the holes having been bored into them ; yet I think grafting wax is preferable to wooden plugs, anything to exclude the water." Then the editor says : — " The above was received from Mr. John Croil, who remarks 26 that Mr. Merrill's plan is this: — 'Early in February, with a three-quarter inch auger, bore half through the trees diagonally about two feet from the ground, fill the hole with sulphur, and cover the orifice with grafting wax or with a wooden plug.' " I feared that the boring of so large a hole in the trees might injure them ; but after I began to think of it I came to the conclusion that it was no worse than boring into maple trees ; and I determined to try it. I think it was a little after this time of year that I did it. I took fifty trees, bored half way into them, filled the holes up with sulphur, got a plug for every tree, aud plugged the holes up. They then looked so very nice that I thought I would try fifty more. I did the fifty more the year before last. This was the year before last. This spring, upon looking at the trees, I found that there was no difference between the trees I had put the sulphur in and the others ; they were all just as bad as bad could be ; so that while this plan looked remarkably well on paper it did not do well with my trees. I spoke to a neighbour of mine about it, and he said " You did wrong." He said, " How deep did your plug go into the tree V I said " I cannot tell you exactly that ; but the holes were bored in two inches or two inches and a-half, and I knocked the plug in as much as I could ; probably it was in from half an inch to three-quarters of an inch." "Ah," he said, "that is where you missed it; the sulphur should go in between where the sap is and the bark of the tree." In that case, perhaps, grafting wax would be better than the plug for keeping the sulphur in ; but I thought the plug would make the trees more weather proof. Mr. Roy. — It seems to me that the reason it did not do good was that you put it too far in. Mr. Croil. — That is what this gentleman said; and I intend, if I am spared this winter, to either bore these plugs out or try some more trees and use grafting wax. Mr. Arnold. — I think Mr. Croil made another mistake ; he did not bore the hole at the right time of the moon. (Laughter.) The President. — I think there is one great difficulty in the way of this sulphur doing any good in either case. In the first place, it is not soluble in the sap ; and if it does not dissolve in the sap I do not see how it can find its way over the trees. Then the sap passes by what is called endosmose from one cell to another ; and in doing this it does not obtain for the tree any benefit from the sulphur, because it does not pass through the sulphur. A Member. — I think it would be a very nice experiment to sow plaster of Paris on the ground in the spring or fall, and see whether that mode of feeding the trees with sulphur would have the desired effect. The President. — I think if there is any possibility of utilizing sulphur for this pur- pose it would be by blowing it on the trees in the morning when the dew is on ; because my opinion is that if there is any benefit to be derived from sulphur at all it must be through the production of sulphurous acid, and in its production sunlight and heat are necessary. Mr. Dempsey. — This theory was advocated when I was quite young. I think it came with the black knot. Sulphur was tried in our section of the country very extensively, and I never saw any good from its use. Some covered the sulphur with grafting wax, and some by plugging the tree ; and I never saw any advantage from either plan. I am satisfied we can easily manage the fungus growth which attacks our plum trees. The President. — ,Excuse me, Mr. Dempsey, you are on the wrong subject. Mr. Dempsey. — It amounts to the same thing. The first time I ever saw the effect of this disease on the apple was the time of the first visitation that we ever had of fire blight. There may be a difference in the form of attack ; but it appears to me that in either instance it is the result of a fungus growth. The first attack of fire blight that we had was in sixty-something. The embryo fruit had just attained the size of a marrowfat pea in its green state. The disease spread from the fruit down the branches ; and I lost some valuable pear trees that year in that way. It seems to me that there is a similarity between the two affections, although they do not develop the same. Mr. A. M. Smith. — I have always noticed that we have never had any of it in our young and thrifty orchards where they have been well cultivated. Where we have had it in our section of the country it has been on old neglected trees, or on trees which were 27 sod-bound, or under some such circumstances as those. I have no doubt good cultivation would have as good an effect as anything. Mr. Wright. — We do not suffer from the black spot in our section of the country. Mr. Beadle. — I am going to invite Mr. Smith over next year, if there is any black spot, to show him some young trees, thrifty healthy, not over-loaded, in as fine a condi- tion for bearing as any trees need be, and yet with this black spot abundant on them. I suppose if we could catch this fungus in its early growth and give it a good dose of sul- phur that might kill it ; but to do that would cost more than the apples were worth, I am afraid. Mr. Croil. — I can endorse what our Secretary says — that it is as much on our young, well-trained trees as on any. ONION CULTURE. The next topic taken up was" Onion Culture ; Is it profitable in view of the ravages of the maggot, and the prevalence of blight or rust at the tops 1 Can these be overcome, and how 1 " Mr. Doel. — When I bought my place I was told it was noted for growing onions, and so I found it to be ; but one year I could not get an onion. The white grub got so bad there that I gave up for two years, I think it was — trying to grow onions. Then three years ago I grew some for the first time again after manuring the land well, thoroughly preparing it, and liberally supplying it with salt well worked in. When I had had the land prepared in this way I put on it a good coating of soot out of the pipes, and I must say that I thought that helped the onions very much. I did not lose that year more than one third of the crop. The next year I did the same thing ; that is, I just scattered it over the surface of the soil and raked it in. The next year I did the same again, and I do not think I lost more than one-sixth, if more than one-tenth. I think this helped to destroy the grubs very much. Last year I did the same again, though only on a small patch, and we lost very few — I do not think there was more than one out of fifteen or twenty that had a grub in it. Now I will give you a proof of the quality of that soil for onions. I have grown onions running eighteen pounds a dozen ; and I have grown single onions weighing three-quarters of a pound. Mr. Roy. — I have been an onion grower for some years, and I find a decoction of to- bacco good for this pest. I put it in a watering pot and go over the onions once, or per- haps twice, in the season, and find it very effectual in preventing the maggot. Our lot is black loam with a sandy bottom — a splendid onion ground. Mr. Beadle. — I have just experience enough to know that there is such a thing as this rust or blight on the tops of onions ; but how it comes or how it is cured I cannot tell you. A great many of my neighbours complained of having lost their entire crop last summer by it. When the onions are attacked by this blight the stalks become almost white — they look as if they were covered by a bloom, and the onions cease to grow. The bulbs remained small, and there was a very small crop in my neighbourhood this last sea- son ; and the gardeners attribute that to this blight that comes on the onion. They do not know anything about how to prevent it ; they are all at sea about it. Mr. Gilchrist. — In 1881 we had a very dry July and August. We grew a few onions ; that blight formed on the tops of them, and then they ceased to grow. That was, I think, some time in August. I was over at the Agricultural College, and examined the patch there and found the same thing. After I came home I examined the stalk under the microscope, and found that covered with red spiders. They had eaten the green off the stem, and the consequence was that the sap had ceased to run. It never attacked our black seed onions ; it was only the tops. This was late in the season. There came rain afterwards, and that stopped it. In a very dry season the whole of our forests is covered with red spiders. We are not troubled much with the maggot ; but on sandy soil it is very prevalent. I do not know any remedy. While conversing with Mr. in Detroit last summer I asked him if they had any remedy, and he said they 28 had not, but when it became very bad they moved their bed of onions from one part of the field to another. The maggot, he told me, went slowly ; it generally commenced at the outside of a patch and worked inward. I think the onion will always be grown pro- fitably in a certain section. It succeeds over a large territory in America. There may be some spots where it will not grow on account of the spider or the maggot ; but I think on limey soil there will not be much trouble in growing a very large crop. We find European seed utterly useless in our country. Mr. Denton. — Would you allow me to ask whether this maggot comes from the coleoptera or the lepidoptera, from a beetle or from a moth % The President. — It is of the anthomyia family. The maggots deposit their eggs on the plant, and the young maggots burrow into the bulb. The fly is very active on the wing, and I do not see how the removal of the patch is beneficial. Mr. Denton. — In what state does it remain in the winter? Mr. Beadle. — It remains in the pupa state. The Secretary here read the following paper on Onions, by Alex. McD. Allan, Goderich. The first requisite is to select a piece of good soil. It should be thoroughly drained, well- worked and entirely free from weeds. Even a poor soil can be cultivated and manured so as to grow a crop of onions, and this may do very well in cases where the grower has no other soil, and only grows a few for his own use. But if it is intended to grow for profit, the soil must be rich and friable, a gravelly soil will not suit. My method of cultivation, and that of many growers who make a success of it, is to plough in the fall, not over six inches deep for a first ploughing. If the land is not even, or is given to clod, it should be cross ploughed and left in that state so that the winter frosts may assist in pulverizing the soil. Early in spring, or indeed while the ground is still frozen, a liberal covering of well-rotted, barnyard manure may be spread over the ground, and when the soil becomes dry in early spring it should be harrowed until perfectly smooth, and the top soil and manure well mixed. If the soil is in good heart, ten loads of manure would be enough to the acre, and more should be added according to the state of the soil. Fifty or sixty bushels of unleached wood ashes to the acre, will also be found very beneficial. After the first ploughing, four inches is a sufficient depth for all after cultivation, as when the soil is worked deeper the roots strike down, and instead of well-shaped bulbs, we have what cultivators call "scallions," that is where they run into thick necks, instead of well rounded bulbs, with thin, neatly formed necks. It is always important to have good seed, and in order to be sure of this, I would advise every grower who cultivates for profit largely, to RAISE HIS OWN SEED every year. Where the seed is fresh and good, four pounds to the acre is sufficient, but where there is a doubt as to its freshness, five pounds should be sowed. If the soil is light and dry, the seed should be sowed an inch deep ; if moist, half that depth is enough. I prefer sowing in rows, about fifteen inches apart, with a drill. After the plants appear the main thing is to keep the soil free from weeds, which can only be done by constant work with the hoe. The only enemy feared in the plot is the maggot, which is found in the young bulbs. As soon as a plant turns yellow or wilts, pull it up and destroy it with the family of maggots in the bulb and neck. There are a number of remedies or preven- tives which I have tried with considerable success. Where the grower has only a small garden bed to cultivate, he will find a sufficient quantity of soot in the house chimneys and stove pipes, to scatter along the rows and prevent the ravages of the maggot. But in field cultivation, powdered charcoal may be used in the same way as soot. Lime water sprinkled along the row, or lime used in small quantities is good. Soap suds is excellent, and at the same time nourishes the plants. But possibly the most effectual remedy, and the cheapest in field cultivation is paraffine oil, a pint to about ten gallons of water, 29 sprinkled from a watering can with a fine rose, twice or three times in the season, I have never found the maggot to be so troublesome where ashes and salt were used in the soil. Where the soil is kept in good heart and frequently stirred during the growing of the crop, I have never seen the least DAMAGE FROM RUST OR BLIGHTING of tops, and when I hear of this trouble, my experience tells me the cultivator himself is to blame, for allowing the soil to run down. The crop is more liable to blighting in a gravelly soil than in any other. There are many good varieties, but for profit I look upon the Yellow Danvers and Large Red Weathersfield as good as any. They will easily give five hundred bushels to the acre, and with care in cultivation, manuring and afterwork, seven hundred bushels can be got. When the tops fall and begin to wither, the crop should be picked and thrown into rows along the field, where they may be left until quite dry and seasoned. For winter keeping they must be stored in a dry place, if in a cellar, in bins or barrels. Moisture will cause them to rot readily. Onions will stand as great a degree of cold as apples without injury, and even if once frozen they can be shipped and used in that state to advantage. But after thawing out they will not keep well for any length of time. MICHIGAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. The following report was then read : — Report of the delegate appointed to represent the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario at the Winter Meeting of the State Pomological Society of Michigan at Flint. Your delegate appointed to meet with the Michigan Pomologists arrived in Flint in the afternoon of the 4th, and proceeded immediately to the High School Hall, where the meeting was appointed to take place. A number of persons had already assembled. The Hon. C. W. Garfield, the energetic Secretary, to whom so much credit belongs for the success of that Society, met me at the door, and gave me a very cordial reception, followed by an introduction to the members present, among whom was President T. T. Lyon. A few hours were then spent in roving about the city, which must be most beautiful in the summer, laid out as it is at right angles, streets broad, and the most of them planted with shade trees, that in summer must present a beautiful picture. Several long avenues of trees and some beautiful lawns seem to be well laid out and planted with shrubs and ornamental trees. The High School grounds are beautifully laid out, and add greatly to the beauty of the city, being located near the centre, and occupying nearly one whole square. No doubt, in course of time, it will present a sight that would do credit to any city. The landscape must be admired. The building is large, and well calculated to show there is a lively interest taken in the education of the rising genera- tion, while the surroundings seem to be calculated to refine the taste and enliven the senses. The hall where our meeting was being held is large, warmed, and ventilated in a desirable manner, and well and comfortably seated. At one end shelves were rising one above the other, where a beautiful display of fruits, flowers and vegetables was arranged in the most tasteful manner. There were shown about 1 25 plates of apples, principally Baldwins, Golden Russets, Red Canadas, Northern Spys, King of Tompkins, Rhode Island Greenings, Hubbardston Nonsuch, and Jonathan. This nearly covered the list of varieties. Nearly every plate would do credit to any country. About twenty plates of pears, consisting of Lawrence, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre Clairgeau, and Winter Nelis. Most of them were very creditable and good specimens. Of grapes there were several exhibits — one plate of Malaga, grown in California, and a basketful of the Prentiss in good condition. This appears a good white grape, and seems to possess good keeping qualities. The Niagara was also on exhibition, and seemed to attract a good deal of attention. Judging from what we saw of it, there is not much doubt but that, if it will succeed in other places as it does at its 30 native home at Lockport, it will become the white grape for the million. There were plates of Rogers' Hybrids and others in a fair state of preservation. A few plates of Florida oranges added materially to this display of fruits ; and a few pots of the most hardy varieties of greenhouse plants were placed among the fruits, which added mate- rially to the beauty of the exhibit, and gave to the hall the appearance of summer. One would almost forget that the snow was blowing outside. A good display of jellies, canned and evaporated fruits, domestic wines, vinegar, etc., and an exhibit of vegetables added to the summer scene in winter. THE SESSION Was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Crozier, after which Mayor Atwood delivered an address of welcome, which was responded to by President Lyon. Professor Cook, of the Agricultural College, read a paper that was made more interesting by being illustrated by several diagrams. Subject : " Evolution." Tuesday morning this and all the other sessions were opened by singing and music, by the pupils of the High School, which was done in the most pleasing and attractive manner, and had the effect of enlivening. A paper was read by A. L. Aldrich, Esq. (editor of the Flint Globe), on the Horticultural Statistics of Genesee County. He stated that there were in bearing about 100,000 apple trees, which had produced 222,000 bushels, or about 2 J bushels per tree, made up as follows : — Shipping 78,500 bushels ; market value $47,100 Dryed 20,000 " " ... 16,000 Jellies 32,500 " " .... 9,750 Vinegar and cider 91,000 " " 27,000 $99,850 Paying about one dollar per tree. This year, while he allowed that the high prices would partly make up for the short crop, he allowed that, by reckoning the interest at seven per cent, per annum, and forty trees to the acre to be the average, which would be $40 per acre, the average value of the apple orchards of that county would be about $660, or the whole county $1,400,000. In this calculation nearly 33 J per cent, of the entire crop was culls or inferior fruit. Peaches, pears, plums and cherries had not been planted to any very great extent. Small fruit they had just commenced to plant. Grapes they had about forty acres bearing, giving this year about seventy-five tons; a market value of about $4,000, or about two and a-half cents per pound. C. T. Rosencrans, Esq., of Flint, read a paper, "Varieties of Winter Apples for East Michigan." He recommended the Baldwin, Golden Russet, Northern Spy, Red Canada and Rhode Island Greening. Strange to say, but nevertheless a fact, a lively discussion followed, with the result of adding only the Jonathan to the list. Professor E. Baur, of Ann Arbor, and J. D. Baldwin, Esq., addressed the meeting upon the sub- ject, "How can we increase the Profits of Fruit Growing'?" These addresses were listened to with considerable interest, and a lively discussion grew out of them. The President's message was then read. The following papers were read : — H. W. Davis, Esq., Lapeer— "The Wager Peach." A. S. Partridge, Esq., Flushing — "Stone Fruits." He recommended the people to plant more largely of peaches, plums and cherries, and a very large collection of varieties, adding that nearly all of them did well in East Michigan, and payed well for market purposes. The President gave a paper upon " The Grape: its History, Pruning and Varieties." Also in his message, on Small Fruits, he spoke in the highest praise of Arnold's Pride Strawberry. 31 Professor Beal, of the Agricultural College, read a paper on " The Structure and Growth of a Tree." This paper was made very interesting by a diagram, and everything was illustrated. It was to be regretted that this paper had to be cut short for want of time. It was very instructive upon the subject of botany. C. M. Weed, Lansing, on "Insects new in Michigan." He referred principally to those insects that are now found infesting our grains and grain crops. A very lively discussion grew out of this, there being several entomologists present who took part in it. Professor Satterlee, Agricultural College, on "The Potato : its History, Culture and Varieties." A discussion followed, a large majority of those present taking part. This is sufficient to show that the potato in Michigan has become a staple, and that a very large majority of the people have become interested in its culture. Many other very interesting papers were read, and some received as having been read, all of which would make a report tedious. Dec. 6th, 7.30 p.m. — The large hall was packed with ladies and gentlemen, mostly from the city, when short addresses were given, alternated with music, vocal and instru- mental. Reports of Committees were read, and the meeting that had been so instructive and pleasant was at an end. Respectfully submitted, P. C. Dempsey, Delegate. THE BLIGHT. The following paper on the Blight, by Mr. A. Eby, was read by the Secretary : — Gentlemen, — With your permission I will say a few words on this subject as observed by me in the Townships of Ellice and Downie, Perth County. It is not my intention to offer any explanations of the cause of the blight, but merely a few facts that may assist in understanding it. Last spring our trees were literally covered with blossoms. I do not remember ever seeing the trees so blooming. It was a lovely sight to see them. The atmosphere was loaded with sweet scent. An abundance of fruit was promised. This was the more welcome as the fruit crop of the previous year had been a comparative failure. It was not long, however, before it was hinted that the fruit crop would be a failure. Investiga- tion showed that in the old orchards the fruit was almost a total failure, while in young orchards and on young trees there was considerable fruit. But though many trees were full of fruit they did not grow as usual. The apples were covered with mould spots, and grew more rapidly on one side than the other, so that the fruit was nearly all warped. It was also less juicy than usual. With two exceptions the fruit was mostly seedlings. The Northern Spys and the Russets were loaded with fruit, but even they, though mostly good and fine, were not all free from mould, and many were warped. Even the Russets, usually so clean, were not all free of mould. Snow apples were exceedingly scarce, and very small, rusty and juiceless. I may here remark that the Snow apples in this district are nearly if not all seedlings. I doubt whether there is any bona fide Fameuse in this district. There was more fruit in the Township of Ellice than in Downie, which lies south of Ellice. The eastern part of Ellice is a large uninhabited swamp. The most and best fruit was found in the orchards near the western edge of the swamp. Small fruits were almost as scarce as apples. Pears did not suffer as much as the apples. Plums and cherries were very scarce. The plum trees were just recovering from being winter killed in the winter of 1880 and 1881. As to the cause of the blight, there are numerous opinions. It is, however, well known that we had a heavy cold rain while the trees were in bloom. We also had a few rather sharp frosts about that time. A. Eby. Mr. Roy. — I was down at the seaside some years ago, and noticed that around Saco Bay and Portland a large portion of the pear trees was blighted. 32 APPLES. The following question was then discussed, viz., "Is it Profitable to plant Apples largely, and what varieties yield the best returns V Mr. Gott. — No doubt it would be very profitable to plant apples largely. As a general thing the crop is sure, and it is very profitable. The apples that are grown in Ontario are generally noted for their valuable qualities. They are perfect shippers and are beautifully coloured. I scarcely know what varieties would be the most profitable, but there are four well known amongst us that are very profitable. The first of these is undoubtedly the Baldwin. It is an apple that comes into bearing very early ; the fruit is always acceptable, and commands good prices. Another apple that will no doubt be very profitable is the Ben Davis. It is of good quality, good flesh, fine colour, and grows in our country to great perfection. Another of these apples is the American Golden Russet. It is always acceptable everywhere, always a profitable apple to grow, and in foreign markets commands a good price. The fourth variety is the Northern Spy. It has more good qualities, we think, than any other apple that we have amongst us. It has a beautiful colour, is of fine size, and grows well under our conditions of climate. It is an apple that would command a big price, the only objection I have ever heard used against the growing of this fruit, is that the tree is long in coming into bearing ; but we maintain that the fruit more than makes up for all the time that we are waiting for it, in its excellent qualities when we do get it. The President. — I think we might save a little time by grouping this seventh subject along with the twenty-eighth : " The Best five Varieties of Winter Apples for market." If you please, we will group these two subjects, and at the close of the discussion we might take a vote of the members present, if it is thought desirable, as to the best five varieties for market. If any gentleman thinks we ought to have six good varieties there is no objec- tion to his mentioning them. Mr. Gott. — Allow me to introduce another one as the fifth. That shall be the Wagener. The tree of this variety is hardy, and a good bearer. The fruit is of very high internal qualities ; it is of good shape, good flesh, and will command a high price. Mr. Dempsey. — To the first question I think I can say " Yes." You will notice in Mr. Aldrich's paper respecting the fruits of Genesee County, Michigan, that he calculates that an apple orchard which is capable of producing two bushels and a peck to the tree is worth when it is bearing, $560 a tree, and that an investment of that kind would pay at the rate of seven per cent. I cannot see why it is that in our country men should not look upon planting largely for apples as a good investment, when I take into account the fact that throughout such a large area the soil is well adapted for the cultivation of this fruit. Many of the eastern counties of Ontario are, I think, fully better adapted for apple culture than some of the western ones, from the fact that we have a great deal of sandy soil in the east. I find that a sandy soil, though it may be a drifting sand, if it is properly managed, and it is very easily managed too, produces immense crops of apples. [ would recommend everyone who has suitable soil to plant apples. With respect to varie- ties, those varieties that would succeed here, Toronto, would, perhaps, be worthless with us and with persons living farther north ; and we should be very careful in reading the reports of these discussions, to look where any person resides who is recommending certain varieties of apples. In our section of the country there is no apple more profitable than the Baldwin, if we can get a spot where it can live throughout the winter ; but if the Baldwin is planted on a clay soil, or a soil that is liable to encourage a late autumn growth, it is of very short duration with us. On the other hand, if we have a sandy soil that possesses an open subsoil as well, that is naturally well drained — a drifting sand like what would be on a gravel pit — you may depend upon it the Baldwin will pay well to cultivate. I would for such a soil recommend the Baldwin to be planted in preference to any other variety. I find that the Ben Davis succeeds on almost every soil. It is a good grower ; it produces immense crops of fruit, and it pays well to thin the apples on the tree. If this is done it will produce invariably a good crop every year ; but it is liable to produce much fruit that is next to worthless, if the whole of the apples are allowed to 33 remain on. I have been in sections of the country where they have condemned the Ben Davis ; and I have observed almost invariably that this was the difficulty, that they had neglected to thin their fruit, and that there was so much of it that it was unreasonable to expect the tree to carry it all. We find next the Red Canada a very profitable fruit. It is a very pretty fruit, and though it is said by some to be a second quality of fruit I can assure you that it is a long way superior to a Baldwin or a Ben Davis when it is on the table. It is not so productive as some of the other varieties, never wants thinning; but it will produce fair crops, and commands a good price in the European markets. The Golden Russet produces a good crop, and commands a good price ; but we are liable to get dis- couraged with it, because the tree produces light crops until it attains a considerable age. The Northern Spy with us is a very hardy tree until it begins to fruit, when it fails apparently to mature its wood sufficiently, and very often yields to the severity of our climate. We find that when it begins to bear that it is as tender a variety as any we cultivate. I am inclined to think that some of our newer varieties of apples are yet going to take a leading position. Allow me here to depart a little from my five varieties and to speak a little of those that are on the table. Arnold's Ontario did very well this year with me. Arnold's Pride, too, is a very pretty and a good apple. Both of those apples are with us superior to anything I have ever seen Mr. Arnold exhibit, so that T fancy they improve out of Mr. Arnold's hands, and that is saying a good deal for a fruit. There are a few of the Canadian Baldwins, referring to some of the apples on exhibition. When we get hold of a tree that will stand the climate of the Province of Quebec — those originated in the Province of Quebec — and produces as fine fruit as is lying on this end of the table, we may be sure that the variety is a fine one. Those specimens were grown on grafts that I got three years ago only. I got them from Mr. Gibb. He has been travelling through Russia examining the different fruits, and he writes that far north different varieties are succeeding. This is a specimen of the second crop from the grafts he sent me. The fruit hung abundantly on those trees this year, and none of them were blown off, so that I am looking upon that apple as one of the most promising we have, though it may fail yet. Speaking of apples that are suitable for cultivation in northern sections of our country, Judge Fralick sent me in the fall some specimens of apples that he had picked himself from trees that were growing one hundred miles north of Belleville, seedlings, I presume. Mr. Beadle. — I thought it would be interesting here to give a paragraph from a paper placed in my hands by Mr. Allan. It is on " Apple Orchards, Planting, and After- care," but it also touches on the subject of varieties. I may preface this by saying that Mr. Allan has given considerable attention for a few years past to the shipping of apples to the English market, and this remark is based upon that experience. He says : We have an article that is in keen demand in the British market, and the price is generally a secondary consideration. So long as the sample is choice no price is grudged that cash can cover. If I were planting an orchard in my own county (Huron), based upon my experience in shipping apples for the past few years, I would plant a thousand trees of the following kinds, viz. : Baldwin 500, Am. Golden Russet 200, Spy 100, King of Tompkins County 50, Wagener 50, Red Canada 50, Ribston Pippin 30, Mann 20. This would form my orchard for profit in shipping to Britain. To complete this I would add for home consumption, and possibly a few for local market, R. I. Greening 2, Wealthy 2, St. Lawrence 2, Duchess of Oldenburg 2, and Early Harvest 2. Orchardists make a very common mistake by planting too close. I consider forty feet close enough for an orchard of standard apples. Mr. Wellington. — Regarding that last point that Mr. Beadle has read about plant- ing, I think that we should take into consideration the section in which the planting is done. We are too apt, both in recommending varieties and in giving advice regarding the planting, to ignore the fact that a great deal of the country here in which apples can be grown successfully is cold, and that a great many varieties cannot be raised in them that we can raise successfully in the Niagara district. Now, this will apply to planting in such sections as the Niagara district, and perhaps in other sections of Canada where the climate is mild. In those sections forty feet is probably a better distance than one which is nearer ; but in more northerly sections I would decidedly recommend that the trees be 34 planted nearer than forty feet. They do not grow to the same size in the northerly por- tions of the country that they do in more southerly sections ; and then in the northerly sections they ought to form a protection to one another. Now, with regard to the ques- tion under discussion, " Is it Profitable to Plant Apples Largely VI think there is no doubt about that. The success of our large fruit growers is a sufficient guarantee in that respect ; but I do not think farmers or other people who generally plant, make apple- growing the success they might. They plant too many varieties. I have found in sell- ing apple trees, that the great trouble is that people want one or two trees of every kind on the list, and the consequence is they have no one variety in sufficient quantity to induce buyers to come and give them good prices ; and a great many of the varieties that they plant are unfit for the section in which they are planted. As to the best varieties to be grown in Canada for profit, that depends a good deal, as I have just shown, on the section of country. Where the Baldwin can be grown successfully there is no doubt it is one of the best on the list. The Ben Davis is, without doubt, one of the coming apples for the market. The demand for it is increasing every year, and in the British market it has been found to be a success. On account of its cropping qualities also, it pays. Another apple that has not been mentioned here is the American Pippin. I find that the demand for it is great in England. The price that it brings is generally in advance of what is given for most other varieties. In our section of the country — that is, near Fonthill — the fruit growers plant it before any other varieties. In the Annapolis valley, in Nova Scotia also, the demand for it is great ; and large orchardists there claim that it is the best apple they can plant for profit. It is wonderfully productive, bearing even crops every year, and it is a great keeper. The President. — Will you be kind enough to describe the apple? Mr. Wellington. — It is medium to large ; it is larger than Grimes' Golden. You can keep it successfully till June. The Golden Busset, of course, we are all acquainted with ; I should put that on the list. Another apple that I would put on is the Mann. I believe that is one of the best apples we can grow in almost any section of Canada. It is a good bearer, and the fruit is large, the appearance fine, and it is a wonderful keeper. I have had specimens of Mann in June that were almost perfect, and had kept their flavour ; in fact they are better at that time than they would be earlier — they seem to mellow up and attain their best flavour at that season. The Northern Spy is late in com- ing into bearing, but it certainly makes up for that when it does start. Another apple that I would put on the list for cold sections is the Hastings, a seedling of the Fameuse. It is a tree that can be classed amongst our ironclads, and that is something that must be taken into account in making a selection for the colder sections, where you cannot grow Baldwin and some others of the more tender varieties. As to profit, I think that fruit growing is just in its infancy in Canada. We have the great North- West to take into account as a market, and then the market that we already have in England is increasing. Not only are we able to send our fruit there in its raw state, but since the introduction of evaporators, we have taken to disposing of our more inferior apples in that way. Such apples evaporated and sent to countries where they cannot grow apples, such as the North-West, will bring us profits almost equal to our finest specimens sent raw. There is no question that evaporated apples are as nearly equal to apples in their original condi- tion as it is possible to get anything. They are easily transported, and the more they are used the greater will be the demand for them. Mr. Beadle. — There is a paragraph in Mr. Allan's paper touching on that point. He says : " Fruit growing will certainly take a leading position, nay, / believe the first place, in many sections, among the crops of farmers a few years hence. It is well known that Ontai-io-grown apples are second to none in the world in point of flavour (which is the highest point of merit). In the markets of Britain where our shippers compete with the surplus crop of other countries, our apples invariably stand at the top of the list, where proper care has been taken in selecting and packing. Now is the time to prepare for a crop that can be depended on to hold its own against all competitors. Now is the time to plant orchards — not a few trees, but large fields — of such varieties of the various fruits as each particular soil and exposure is best suited to produce, for the home and foreign markets' demand." 35 Mr. Reesor. — I have an orchard of young trees growing in Victoria county which I planted twenty feet apart, so that I have to cut away the branches. I agree that what are our five best varieties depends much upon the districts in which they are planted. I attended, during the past year, the meetings of every Agricultural Society in Muskoka and Parry Sound, and the only apple that came to maturity in that locality was the Duchess of Oldenburg. Mr. Wolverton. — Of the winter varieties I have only four to recommend, and those four have been mentioned. Amongst others I would name the Baldwin, the Northern Spy, the Rox Russet, and the King of Tompkin's County. We find the King, in ship- ping to the Old Country, to command a higher price than any other apple, but it is not as good a bearer as the others. The Golden Russet has been recommended, but we have this objection to it in our district, that it ripens very early and drops to the ground almost before we can get time to gather it. The Wagener does not do well with us. It is very uneven in size, and the crop is very scanty. The Mann apple we grow to some extent, but I do not think very much of it. Its colour is not much in its favour. Where it is difficult to get to market, the summer and fall varieties are not profitable, but where the market is easy of access I think the Red Astrachan and the Duchess of Oldenburg are particularly desirable. The Greening we shall have to lay aside, I suppose, on account of spotting. It has been very troublesome this last season in that respect. Among the late fall apples the Ribston Pippin is very fine — some years excellent. Last year it was a very abundant bearer, but, as a rule of late years, it ripens too early, and on that account is not desirable. Mr. Bucke. — I wish to call attention again to Cox's Orange Pippin as an apple for shipment to England. I believe there is more money in it for that purpose than in any other apple grown in Canada. Mr. A. M. Smith. — I would like to ask Mr. Bucke it he knows of anyone who is shipping it there. Mr. Bucke. — I do not. They know it well there though. I wish to know if there is anybody shipping it. Mr. Wellington. — You want to make contracts ahead with nurserymen to get them to grow it. It is such an indifferent grower that you will never find it in a nursery- man's list, unless he is very sure he is going to get a good price for it. Mr. Page. — I have grown the American Pippin for some years. I presume almost the first bearing trees of it were in my father's orchard in the County of Welland, near Fonthill. We find it to be a good bearer. Its selling qualities are good also. It brings the highest price of any apples we raise, on account of its good keeping qualities and good shipping qualities. The trees are thrifty ; they grow in a nice shape, and grow quickly. The apples are produced in a sort of cluster, and are very easily gathered. As to the quali- ties of the apple, I cannot say so much in its favour. Its greatest recommendations are its keeping and shipping qualities. Mr. Beall. — A few words took place between Mr. Wellington and another gentle- man just now, which recalled an incident that occurred at the winter meeting a few years ago. I made the statement there that the Baldwin would not succeed more than a few miles north of Lake Ontario. Mr. Roy made the statement then that it would grow at Owen Sound. He was right and I right to a certain extent. The distance north does not amount to anything ; but it is the distance above the lake. Owen Sound is, of course, near the lake, and its climate is tempered nicely by the lake breezes ; and not only that, but the country all round the lake shore is more favourable to the growth of fruit than other places inland. I think the elevation above the lake should always be taken into consideration. The country spoken of by Mr. Reesor is generally about five hundred feet higher than the city of Toronto \ and that makes a very great difference in the temperature of the climate. With reference to the different varieties, I have no doubt those named are excellent ; but there is one which has not been mentioned that I must call your attention to. It is Grimes' Golden Pippin. I think it is one of the best flavoured apples that is grown. The tree in our country is perfectly hardy. There never was a decayed limb or leaf on any tree of it that I have. The trees bear abun- dantly, and the apples are of a fair, uniform size. I can say nothing against the tree. 36 The flavour of the fruit is second to almost no apple growing. As to whether it is profit- able to grow apples — of course, one man may grow them profitably for the English market ; another man may grow them profitably for the local market ; and another man may grow them and never use them in the state in which we see them here, and still make great profit of them. I know of one particular locality where, for many years past, a very large number of apples has been grown — that is, a large number collectively. They grow in small orchards, and they are nearly all small apples. The consequence has been that for years back they have been a drug ; they could not be sold. Thousands of bushels lay on the ground and rotted. Within the last year a cider mill has been established ; and the owner buys anything in the shape of apples — apples that are half rotten, apples that the pigs have half eaten — he will take anything in the shape of apples and pay fifteen cents a bushel for all that he can get. This year he has used up a great number of thousands of bushels. He has had as many as eighty thousand bushels in stock at a time ; and he makes a very good profit out of it. I am told that in the city of Hamilton a certain firm sends him the barrels free of expense, and he fills them, and gets fifteen cents a gallon for every gallon of cider he produces, and is making a fortune out of it. The consequence of this is that people who a few years ago were sick and tired of growing apples are now growing them largely and profitably. Mr. A. M. Smith. — Mr. Page partly answered a question I was going to ask in regard to the apple he referred to — the American Pippin. I was going to ask him if he ever sold it twice to the same parties. In other words, I was going to ask something about the quality of it. We used to have a tree of it at Grimsby, and we never attempted to sell the apples from it. It was not fit to eat ; but we knew it to be a very long keeper. I once offered a barrel of it to a party ; and he said it was a very good shipper — it would ship to Texas and back again, but then it was no good. Mr. Wellington. — The Montreal buyers ask for them in their circulars and in their letters year after year. We are too apt in judging of the quality of fruits to judge of it as experts. It is not so much the flavour of the fruit that makes them sell in the market as the appearance and keeping qualities. We must look to what the people want, and if they want a sour apple, give it to them if it pays, no matter whether it does suit my palate or yours, or whether it does not. Mr. Dempsey. — We have canning establishments and jelly-making establishments. We have a gentleman present who has been engaged in gathering apples this season for those purposes. I would like to hear from him — Mr. Peck. Mr. Peck. — I have been buying a good deal for canning purposes, and I found the one that paid the best was the Colvert. Mr. Hopkins. — My experience of the Colvert is that we cannot sell it at all. We find that the apple that pays us best is a good solid winter apple. We can sell any quantity of that class of fruit. The best selling fruit that we have, however, is the Baldwin. The tree is a good grower, a good hardy tree — stands the cold well. Our extreme winters do not seem to have much effect on it ; and it is a good bearer. The next to have would be the American Golden Russet. It is always in demand. This year it was the best producing fruit we had. The next to that would be the North- ern Spy. One of the delegates present here has given you my experience in regard to that when he told you it was a late tree in coming to maturity, but that when it did come, it paid up for all the care and attention it had received. It produces fruit almost invariably every year. We hardly know what to say about the Rhode Island Green- ing. They are fine, thrifty trees, and until the last year or two they have turned out well. The last one on our list would be the Newtown Pippin. That is, with regard to the fruits which we grow in our locality, which is in the county of Halton. The question as to whether apple trees ought to be set out largely is one which no person can satisfactorily answer. The great North- West is being opened up, and they will perhaps be as successful in a few years in raising fruit as we are. Some say " No," and some say " Yes." I have been talking with some gentlemen from the North-West, and they seem to think that there is a probability of fruit being raised there. I have over two thousand trees, some of them bearing, and some just coming into bearing. Mr. Denton. — As I said once before, ship your best fruit to England; it will 37 always, as Mr. McD. Allan has said, fetch its price. Further than that, you get a char- acter ; and you know what that is worth. Keep your character for honesty in shipping when you have it. Do not send wormy apples. In London, when I was there last, I had a conversation with one of the leading merchants in relation to Canadian fruit. I referred to this at the summer meeting. Since that time I have again had a communica- tion from Mr. Hawley. And in relation to cheese just allow me to say here, a friend of mine in Ingersoll had an order for cheese for London. He came to our locality and pur _ chased two thousand for the London market. They had some of our cheese before, and had highly appreciated it. So with the apples, just get our good apples into the London market once, and then you can continue to ship them there afterwards. The Ribston Pippin stands to-day a great favourite amongst the people in England ; and I believe it will fetch a good price as well as the red apples, the Baldwin, and others. I am satisfied there is wealth in this branch of commerce. Mr. Dempsey. — I ought to add a word with regard to certain localities in order that we may not be deceived as to the profits of apple culture. Within sight of my own door there is an apple orchard that is composed of Colverts, one hundred trees occupying less than two acres of land ; and the crop of apples a year ago this fall was very near two hundred barrels that were suitable for shipping purposes. The proceeds from that quan- tity of land were but a few dollars short of five hundred. I thought that very remunera tive indeed. There is another orchard situated below Picton, on the opposite side of the bay from Picton, owned by Dr. Youngs, that is largely of Duchess of Oldenburg. The Doctor this last year had two hundred bushels of Duchess of Oldenburg, and for those he got the nice little figure of four dollars a barrel, or eight hundred dollars for his Duchess apples. I do not know how many acres he has. The Doctor's orchard is situated upon a southern slope, a beautiful, warm gravelly soil ; and his Duchesses came in ahead of our Red Astrachans. They came in about with the early harvest of the country. They were shipped to Montreal and readily picked up at about anything that was asked for them. The orchard of Colverts is situated on a nice rolling knoll. The soil is a very nice clay loam, and seems to be just suited to that variety of fruit ; and consequently the man gets a very nice crop every year of very fine Colvert apples ; and when he ships them early they really fetch more money in England than your Spys and your Baldwins, because they get there ahead of them. He told me himself that his Colverts, notwith- standing they suffered from the effects of the spring as other varieties did, brought him more money per barrel this last year than they did the year before, and they were used for canning this year to supply the people of Manitoba ; and yet the man who canned them made three or four hundred per cent, on the apples. Mr. A. McD. Allan. — There is no doubt a great deal of truth in what Mr. Demp- sey says with regard to the Colvert apple. It is an apple that, if you pick it early be- fore it is thoroughly ripe, and ship it to the English market early, will bring a high price. For a few years I have shipped a few barrels of each variety we grow in the Huron district in order to test the different varieties. I made a loss on a good many varieties ; but on the whole I came out right. If I were compelled to select one apple to grow in my district for profit I would choose the Baldwin first undoubtedly, though the King of Tompkins County will often bring a higher price in some of the British mar- kets. For instance, in London I get a higher price for the King of Tompkins County than fcr one variety of Baldwin. But the highest price I have got was for the Bald- wins. I have taken the small Baldwins from the top of the tree, labelled them as " special dessert," and got higher prices for them than for any apples I have shipped. The American Golden Russet is an excellent apple for the shipper and for the grower. The Canada Red I find a very nice shipping apple, and an apple that takes very well in the old country market. I have had a high price for that for the last three years. But I have had more satisfaction in the general markets in England with the Baldwin and the American Golden Russet than with any other. The Wagener, too, I have had very good prices for in Glasgow. Of the Rhode Island Greening I have shipped as few this year as possible. A great deal depends, as to the price you are going to realize when you get across the ocean, on whether the apple has been properly sweated before you packed it. The Mann apple I have had a very good price for. It is a very nice apple to have, 4 [F. G.] 3S and it ships splendidly, and keeps well ; but if a person could pick it late in the season and ship it for spring use in the old country it would bring a better price. It is an ex- cellent keeper. I shipped the Ontario this year and got a good price for it. It shipped well. The Northern Spy is an apple that 1 think very highly of, too. It is a good shipper, and when you get it of a medium size it takes well in the market. And that is a point a shipper has got to be very careful about — never to ship large apples. Last year we sent all our large apples to Chicago. We found that the retail merchants there wanted the largest possible apples. In the old country, medium sized apples are what are wanted ; and if you ship in family lots you should have a nice-looking apple — a nice- shaped apple, and an apple of delicate colour. The old country market is somewhat different now from what it was three or four years ago. At that time you might ship almost any kind of apple that looked well ; but now they know a great deal more about apples, and they look to quality a great deal more than they did. I have shipped a few barrels of seedling apples to the old country. For instance, there is the Gilliflower. I have shipped that. It is an apple that we think little or nothing of here, and yet I have got a very high price for it in the old country, simply because it had a nice colour. It was a light gilliflower. A person growing apples now for profit will have to consider the future of the British market. Then there is the North- West. I believe that there they never will be able to grow apples, except possibly a few Crabs or some apples of that kind. The market is, of course, very limited there as yet ; but the time is coming when I believe that will be a very good market for fall apples. I do not speak of it as a mar- ket for fall apples at present. The Spitzenburg is a very excellent apple to ship to the old country, but I should be very sorry for the grower. Mr. Beall. — Have you shipped Grimes' Golden1? Mr. Allan. — I have shipped Grimes' Golden also. Mr. Beall. — How did it turn out? Mr. Allan — It was about fourteenth or fifteenth in the list. The colour was against it. The quality is only medium. I do not consider it of a high quality. Mr. Arnold. — How does it compare with Baldwin 1 Mr. Allan. — It is finer in quality than Baldwin — a little better. Baldwin is not what we call a really good quality of apple. A Member. — How does the Ribston Pippin sell there 1 Mr. Allan. — The Ribston Pippin sells very well there. It is an apple that is grown very largely in England, but our Ribston Pippin will sell for three or four shillings more a barrel than their own will there. Mr. Beadle. — I have been told that the Ribston Pippin would not ship well. Mr. Allan. — It ships very well. You need to pick it a little on the early side. Mr. Roy — Isn't it subject to the borer almost more than any other apple 1 Mr. Allan. — Yes, it is subject to the borer, and with us it is not a large bearer. Mr. Morris. — There is one point that has been overlooked in this discussion as to growing apples for profit, and that is the subject of worms. One thing in favour of the Mann apple is that it is very free from them. Nearly all the specimens are fit for mar- ket. In the case of the Baldwin apple we often see the entire tree almost worthless from worms. The Golden Russet is not so bad. In growing Spys I have noticed the quality very variable. Sometimes you will find one lot to be very fine and another lot a few miles away very poor, which shows us that the Spy is very choice as to its soil and its position. An objection to the Golden Russet is its tendency to grow full of limbs, in con- sequence of which the fruit becomes impaired if these are neglected. In speaking of large results from different varieties I am not inclined to go back on even the American Pippin. A gentleman living in our locality named Kennedy has an orchard of three or four acres, and the yield from that orchard averages about a thousand dollars a year ; and he is going to plant out more trees, and they will still be American Pippins. I know of several orchards of three or four hnndred trees of American Pippins planted in that locality. I contend that some varieties of apples can be grown to advantage for stock — can be grown cheaper than roots — turnips, carrots, or anything else of that kind. Such a variety is the American Pippin, which is almost sweet — not quite — which is rich, and 39 has a great deal of substance in it. I believe there is more value in a bushel of apples of that variety for stock, than in the same quantity of almost any root. Mr. Weld, London. — My time has been so much occupied away from the farm of late years that I know but little about varieties. Some years ago I planted an orchard, the stock for which I procured from an American agent who came through the country, and among the varieties was the Gilliflower. That apple I have never yet seen at any exhibition in Canada that I remember of, and I have never seen any apple to equal it in quality. It has a very fine appearance too. The tree is a very slow grower, however, and it throws its limbs out in a most ungainly way. A nurseryman said its slowness of growth was the reason why it was not cultivated more. Once when purchasing some trees for an orchard of mine I left the selection of them very much to as good a nursery- man as I could get, Mr. George Leslie. The soil of the orchard was of a very porous nature. One part of it was rather inclined to clay — rather a hard clay ; but the land was good. It was in good tilth ; water never stood on it ; the trees always throve admirably ; but I have never been able to see where the profits have come in. It has never been a bearing orchard, though at first it did very well. I have planted trees so close together that their limbs intertwined ; but if I were planting again I would plant further apart ; though down in New Brunswick they have been able to raise good fruit when their tre e stood as close together as seven feet apart, and thus afforded a protection to each other. Mr. Hoy. — This Colvert apple which has been so much spoken of here to-night and recommended, they make ornamental in France. That is, they make hedges of it. They plant it six, or eight, or ten feet apart, and plant posts between the trees, and then run wires through these posts, in this way they make a very ornamental hedge. There is one apple that has not been spoken of here at all, that is the Pomme Grise. The Fameuse and the Pomme Grise were the only apples that were grown around Montreal for a great number of years. Why the Pomme Grise is not more thought of in Ontario I do not know. The President. — I think we may look forward to good results from the visit of Mr. Gibb, of Montreal, last year to Northern Europe, where he found them growing very hardy varieties of apples successfully, by planting the trees in groups. I have a promise from him, that we shall have a supply of the fruits he obtained in that part of the world ; and I am in hopes that we shall be able to grow them in the North-West. Mr. Wright. — I have laboured most industriously, and have taken a great deal of trouble in trying to find out varieties that would grow in our section, and I am firmly persuaded that we shall yet be able to grow a large quantity of apples in the North-West. I would therefore advise you not to depend too much on that country as a market for fruit. We have been able to get a large collection of apples that would grow in our section of the country, but the difficulty is that nearly all of them have been bad keepers. In recommending five apples, I would name the Wealthy first of all. I have never lost but three of them yet. The Duchess of Oldenburg does very well, but it is not so profit- able an apple for this reason, that in our section of the country we sell apples by the pound — at five cents. Now, the Wealthy is a heavier apple than the Duchess of Oldenburg, and the consequence is that it sells for more. We used to grow the Tetofsky, but now we have a better apple than it, because the Tetofsky drops so much from the tree. Now we have a better Russian apple, the Yellow Transparent, that has not the defect that the Tetofsky has. Then there is the Peach. It is a good apple, sub-acid, of good flavour, looks well, and sells well in the market. But there is one that I think is going to produce better than any of these, that is the Mackintosh Red. I can grow a Mackintosh Red where I cannot grow a maple tree from the woods. It is more hardy than many of the other varieties. I have lost a few of them in the winter, but not so many as of any of the other varities. Then there is this Hastings apple, of which Mr. Dempsey kindly sent a graft. I have raised it for two years. It has never winter-killed, and I have great hopes that it will yet thrive in our section of the country. We can grow a sufficient number of apples for the fall, but the difficulty is to market them all — they rot and spoil before we can get them all sold. If, however, they can be canned and turned into jelly, we may yet grow them largely in our section. We have great hopes from the Canada Baldwin also. It possesses one great merit, and that is that it grows better on clay soil 40 than any other variety. To have an apple which does this is a great advantage to us who live in northern latitudes. If I were giving any advice with reference to the distance apart to set apple trees in a cold country, I would say, plant them fifteen feet apart. I would get the trees when they were two years old, and I would not cut a single branch off them. When they were grown up I would thin them out till they were thirty feet apart, and would then have a very good orchard. By the adopting of this plan the trees would protect one another while they were growing up. On motion of Mr. Beadle, seconded by Mr. Beall, the President appointed the fol- lowing gentlemen a committee to examine the fruit on exhibition and report thereon, viz : Messrs. Dempsey, Allan, Wellington, Leslie, and Wright. POTATOES. The next subject, " The Varieties of Potatoes most profitable for General Cultiva- tion," was then taken up. Mr. Arnold. — Of late years I have paid but little attention to potatoes. I grew many varieties in past years, and individuals sent me new varieties ; but for this last two years I have confined myself to two kinds principally, and I give it as my opinion that the St. Patrick is the most productive potato that has ever been grown in this country. It is a very pretty potato, white and smooth. Its eating qualities varied considerably when I first got it. I planted it merely out of compliment to the man who sent it to me. I had no faith in it whatever. I planted it with the Beauty of Hebron, the Dempsey, and a number of others j and I have now no hesitation in saying it is the most productive potato I ever grew. Several other parties have grown it, and they all say the same thing. I think the soil on which potatoes are grown should be taken into consideration. Almost any potato will be bad if it is grown under the shade of trees or in a stiff clay soil, especially if it is planted late. A Member. — Is the St. Patrick an early potato ? Mr. Arnold. — Yes • but I have not grown it by the side of the Early Pose. Mr. Kitchen. — I have had some experience in growing potatoes, but it has been rather limited as far as experimenting goes. I planted quite a numher of kinds this last season. My soil is, we consider, favourable to potatoes. It is a sandy loam, and we can plant almost any kind of potatoes we please in it, and the quality is generally very good ; whereas in the section east of me it is a clay soil, and they often fail. From what experience I have had I would recommend the White Elephant as being a very profitable potato. We have had the Early Pose for a good many years, and it has succeeded very well ; but we find it rather inclined to fail in size and in yield. On account of these defects the Late Pose seems to be preferable. The quality is perhaps as good ; it is much more productive ; the potatoes are better sized, and they are equally saleable. Some kinds that we planted last season we found very much earlier than others, but they were smaller — not so productive — and therefore we considered them not so profitable. We have had some experience this last season with the Climax, Late Kose, White Elephant, Washington New, Burbank .Seedling, Beauty of Hebron, Norfolk, Scotch Kidney, Peach Blow, Early Vermont, White Pose, White Pinkeye, Michigan Pusset, Early Rose, and Early Ohio. A few of these we felt rather inclined to discard. From our experi- menting for one season I should say that the Early Ohio is a very early potato. From what we have seen of it we like it very well. The White Pose we think a very good potatoe. The Michigan Pusset stands very well in our own county. The Late Pose and the White Elephant we consider the best ; that is, as far as our experience went the past season. I might add that we have a good potato country — the long point country, as we call it — and of late years, since we have had shipping facilities, we find potatoes one of the best crops we can cultivate. It is a pretty sure crop — a safe crop to cultivate, and we find there is about as much money in it as in about anything else we can go into. 41 Mr. Beall. — Last year I gave a man who works for me, a little more than a pail- ful, but not half a bushel, of the Dempsey potato to plant in his ground, because he has ground very suitable for the growth of potatoes. From that he produced eighteen bushels of as fine potatoes as I ever saw. There has never been any manure in the land. It is principally black muck. In flavour, as far as I can judge, the Dempsey potato is the best. It suits my palate better than any other one that I know. Mr. Johnson. — I have tried several varieties of potatoes, and for early potatoes I have settled on two varieties, Clarke's No. 1, and Beauty of Hebron; and I like Mammoth Pearl and White Elephant. The President. — How are they with regard to productiveness 1 Mr. Johnson. — They are all first-class, and first-class in quality also. Mr. Wright. — For the last three or four years, while the Canadian Pacific Rail- way has been building, I have grown considerable potatoes, and the one that I could make the most money out of has invariably been the Early Rose. It came in earlier than any other, and I got a larger price for it, because I sold it to the contractors when no other potato was in. I grew the Beauty of Hebron side by side with the Early Rose for two or three years, and I have invariably found that the Early Rose was an earlier potato than the Beauty of Hebron. I also found that it was as productive, if not more so. When the Americans come there to buy, the first question they ask is, "have you any Roses V I have grown the White Elephant. I took the first prize for it last year, in our town, over the Garnet Chili ; but in that instance I thought the judges were wrong, and I told them so. I think the Garnet Chili is a better potato than the White Elephant. With me it does not rot so much as the White Elephant, and it keeps well away into the summer. The White Elephant also keeps well ; still I would give the Garnet Chili and the Early Rose the preference over it, the Early Rose first and the Garnet Chili next. At this stage of the proceedings, Mr. Clark, of Lockport, N. Y., was introduced to the meeting, by the President, as a representative of the Western New York Fruit Growers. The President. — Our friends in Western New York always treat us in the most cordial manner when we go there ; and I like to have an opportunity of introducing any- one coming from them to our members. I am sure they will all be glad to hear anything Mr. Clark may have to say. Mr. Clark was warmly welcomed, and invited to take part in the proceedings. Mr. A. M. Smith. — I have had very little experience in growing potatoes. I would merely say that I have grown the Dempsey potato and think very highly of it. Mr. Dempsey. — I do not cultivate many varieties of potatoes. For an early potato I cultivate the Beauty of Hebron. We find that on our soil it will produce more than the Early Rose, and we think it a little better potato. I find that the soil has a good deal to do with the success of any variety of potato. With respect to my ow seedling, it is a good potato grown on clay ; but the first year that I produced it, it was as red as a beet all through the potato, and it was grown that season on sand. The second year I cultivated it, I, for curiosity, tried it on clay soil, and then found it a very superior potato, with only a slight trace of this red flesh just under the skin. That was gradually bred out, and now it generally cooks white, though sometimes, when grown on the sand, the red colour is liable to return. This potato is much finer grown on a clay soil than grown on a sandy soil. We grow it almost to the exclusion of every- thing else, for a late potato, and have for a number of years back. I have tested very :few of the new varieties. Mr. Fleming, Toronto. — I am not a grower of potatoes, but I think the Late Rose is one of the finest potatoes I have ever seen. Mr. Dempsey. — We grow the Late Rose, but invariably we try to put it on sand. It succeeds well on sandy soil, but when we get off that it does not seem to be at home with us. Sometimes we will find a soft end to it. Sometimes the end of the potato will appear not to have matured, so that it cooks a little spongy ; but on sand it seems to mature and become a very fine potato indeed. For market purposes we find 42 it very profitable. Scarcely anyone knows it from the Early Rose, and in the market it is taken for an Early Rose. Mr. Hopkins. — The principal variety that we raise is the Early Rose. It is a good potato for home use; and in our market, Hamilton, we find that it brings as good, or perhaps a little better, price than any other. We are now introducing the Beauty of Hebron, and so far it has proved very successful. For a late potato, the White Ele- phant is coming in. We have not tested it very fully, but so far it has given very good satisfaction. Mr. W. M. Robson, Lindsay. — The Early Rose is the potato that is mostly grown and mostly sold with us. I grew the Beauty of Hebron and Burbank Seedling, and the first year I thought it a very poor potato. By chance it got into my garden again, and I liked it very well. Mr. Beadle. — I have been east, to Rochester, and when there I found some very large-sized potatoes. A gentleman had them on exhibition, of various sizes. Grown on sand, they were of medium size and looked very nice ; grown on clay loam, they were very large and coarse looking; and grown on muck, they were of an intermediate size. That man's name was Corliss, and he called his potato the Corliss Wonder, or something like that. It was not an Elephant ; it was bigger than an elephant, of course ; it was bigger than the Corliss engine. I expect Mr. Clark will be able to tell us all about this potato, because he lives near Lockport. This gentleman told me that he had a barrel of these potatoes frozen ; that he boiled them for the pigs, and that then they were so dry and mealy that he was almost sorry that he was not a pig himself. Mr. Clark. — I am sorry that I am not able to give you any experience or instruc- tion in regard to this mammoth potato that Mr. Beadle refers to. The first that I ever saw of it was at the time that it was introduced, last week in Rochester, and it was there that I first met the gentleman who introduced it, Mr. Corliss. We do not pretend to sell potatoes about Lockport for profit — just simply for family use, and to supply our home market. The varieties that we grow there are the old Early Rose — some are work- ing into the Late Rose — and the Burbank Seedling. The Burbank Seedling is a favour- ite with us. I got it, for the first time, two years ago, and last year I grew it, and it did very well. One valuable quality of this potato is, that it keeps well until late in the summer without wilting. At the time that the Early Rose is past its time for cooking, and is withering and budding, the Burbank lies in the cellar, hard and plump, with the same exposure. Some of the farmers about are experimenting with the other new va- rieties, but I am not well enough acquainted with the results to know how they are suc- ceeding. Mr. A. M. Smith. — I know that Mr. Corliss very well ; he is a gentleman who would not make any larger representation than any of us would, if we thought we had a pretty good thing to sell, I suppose. The President. — I find I have overlooked something here, and that subject number twelve should have been discussed with number eleven, " Which Yields the Best Returns in our climate, Cultivation of Potatoes by hilling or ridging, or level cultivation 1 " It is not too late to take this up yet. Mr. Croil. — We do not grow many kinds ; but we find that the people want the Early Rose. However, I think the Beauty of Hebron is a better potato. The Beauty of Hebron has done very well with us ; but a better potato than any of these is Mr. Dempsey's. Where our common potatoes were selling last fall at thirty cents a bushel, we could easily get forty and sometimes forty -five for it ; and grown on any kind of soil it has turned out quite well with us. We have also tried the Late Rose and found it good. The Peerless I find a very good potato for using late into the spring ; it grows very large but very soft, you hardly ever find one that is not hollow in the heart ; it does not yield a very large crop, but it is a fine eating potato. The White Elephant I tried, but it did not produce well with me. I found it to be of a very good quality though ; it boiled dry and nice. But the potato that beat [them all for yield was the White Star. It did very well ; I got thirty-eight pounds and a half from one potato that I got from Mr. Arnold. T planted it without any special care — no manure on the ground that year. I found the quality first rate. 43 Mr. Dempsey. — Some years ago I gave considerable attention to the cultivation of the potato, at all events, until I found out that I did not possess the proper disposition to make money by producing new potatoes. We use invariably to hill our potatoes, and we tested them in that way for several years in succession. We then use to hill one row, and flat cultivate another row at the side of it, and always we got more potatoes from the rows that we flat cultivated. When we examined the soil, we invariably found that where we planted our potatoes only about three feet apart, the roots of the potatoes extended from one row to the other. Now, the feeding root of the potato is generally near the centre of the row, and when we take the soil from the centre of the rows and throw it round the stalk, we are in my opinion, taking it from where it ought to be left. When the tops are very ripe, thejpotatoes are sometimes sunburned, but this is very rarely the case ; then if we leave them in the ground until the frost comes, we sometimes find them touched by it. These are the only objections we find to flat culture. I am satisfied, that on our soil there is not less than twenty per cent, difference in favour of flat culture. Mr. Beadle. — I notice that Mr. Sturtevant, who is in charge of the New York Ex- perimental Station, has been studying up this subject, and he thinks we need to cultivate our potatoes a little according to the nature of the soil we nave, and perhaps a little accord- ing to the variety. He has come to the conclusion, that the best yield of potatoes is obtained when the feeding roots are down in cool moist soil j and he urges, that the firmer tubers should be in a dryer and warmer position. I therefore judge that in a soil such as mine, which is a sandy loam, the level culture is the best ; and I have been trying to get my gard- ener to cultivate at least one patch of potatoes level ; but he has all the obstinacy of an Irishman ; and if the potatoes, cultivating them the way he does, do not do as well here, in this somewhat torrid country, as they do in the cool, moist climate of the country he comes from, so much the worse for this country. Mr. Doel. — The first time I ever saw potatoes cultivated on the flat was up near Windsor. As I was going through the garden of one of the largest suppliers of potatoes to the Detroit market, near Sandwich, he told me had been cultivating his potatoes on the level, and he said he got a much earlier, and a larger yield, and better potatoes in that way, and that they were more even in size than the potatoes he got when he hilled up. He said if he hilled them up now, the way he did was, that he ran the plough through them first, and then the cultivator when they got to have a little size. The next time he went through, he cultivated away from them so as to keep the ground level. Since that time we have raised our potatoes on the level, and I find that they are now better, and not so subject to get on the surface and green in the light as they were when we cultivated them in the hill. I think also that there are more of them. Can the potato digger be used where there is flat culture as well as it can be where potatoes are hilled ? doesn't that go along the hills and turn them right over 1 In flat culture at my place we plough the usual depth, that would be, I think, about five or six inches, level the ground off, and plant the potatoes about three inches from the surface. Mr. Slight, Toronto. — I was listening to hear whether there was anything spoken as to the best means of getting over the potato bug. Will late planting be successful in guarding against it 1 I have just one instance in my mind of a man who a year ago had a large crop of potatoes which he planted later than usual, and was not troubled with the potato bug at all. The President. — I have no experience in that matter ; but I have heard that the bugs will wait any length of time for the potatoes to come up. It is very seldom that the potato bug is absent in our section of the country. Mr. Slight. — In this case the potatoes suffered nothing whatever from the potato bug, while those around, which were planted earlier, did. Mr. Kitchen. — I find that the potato bugs come about whenever the potatoes do, whether they are' planted early in the season or late. In regard to the working of potato diggers, we find there is very little difference whether the potatoes are hilled up or left level, the machine will follow the row. Our experience varies in regard to the hilling or level culture just according to the soil we are cultivating. On our dry soil (sandy loam) we prefer to leave the cultivation level ; merely to work the potatoes with the ordinary corn cultivator and leave them without much hilling. I find that my neighbours on clay 44 soil find it a very uncertain speculation to raise potatoes without hilling them up well, from the facb that we sometimes have a wet season, and if the potatoes are cultivated on the level, they are likely to be lost. Last season there came a wet time in the spring after some of my neighbours had planted their potatoes, and when it had passed they could hardly find a potato growing, they seemed to have rotted just as soon as they were planted. The same thing sometimes happens after they do grow if there come a wet season in the early part of the summer, unless they are well hilled up ; and even then, they sometimes rot in the row ; but if they are well hilled up the wet is more likely to run away in the furrows. FARMERS' GARDENS AND LAWNS. Mr. A. M. Smith read the following paper : — I have heard it hinted, that it was the practice of nurserymen while discussing or reading papers at Fruit Growers' meetings, to puff up something they had to sell, or in other words, to do a little advertising on the sly. I once attended a meeting of this kind (it was not in Canada, however), where three members of one firm read papers, one on new fruits, another on ornamental trees, the other on roses, all speak- ing in glowing terms of varieties they had for sale. Now I want it distinctly under- stood, that I have no Farmers' Lawns or Fruit Gardens for sale, and my motive in describing them will be similar to a lady's I once knew, who having tasted a peculiar kind of cake at a neighbour's, enquired very particularly how it was made. A friend who was present, and had also tasted it, expressed some surprise that she should want to know how to make it and asked her if she liked it. She answered " No," and gave as the reason why she wanted to know how it was made, was that she could tell her friends, and thus prevent them making one like it. No class of men have better facilities for making lawns and fruit gardens, and beauti- fying their homes than farmers have, and no class make poorer use of them. Take the ma- jority of farmers throughout the country, and compare their surroundings with the same number of mechanics, tradesmen or professional men of the same means in our villages, towns, and cities, and what a contrast in the taste displayed in ornamenting their houses and making them beautiful and attractive, as well as comfortable. There are very few mechanics of means, who have a lot but whose first thought is how to lay it out into a lawn and fruit garden, and make it attractive as well as useful. On the other hand, the majority of our farmers having numerous sites to select from, seldom, in building their homes, select one with the view of making a lawn, or setting aside a plot for a fruit or vegetable garden, or in any way do they study to get the best view, or make their homes attractive much less beautiful. Their main thought seems to be to get as near their work as they can, and to take up or waste — as they sometimes ex- press it — as little land as possible ; anyone familiar with the*country, knows this to be a fact. If T had the descriptive powers adequate to the task, I would picture the average farmer's lawn, or "front yard," as it is generally termed, for the benefit of our city friends who are not familiar with country life — the farmers here know all about them — and if I make any mistakes they will please correct me. As before stated, it generally occupies but little space — on an average from fifty to one hundred yards square — some- times a little more, but oftener a little less, in front of the house. It is usually sur- rounded with a picket fence, with a small gate in front, and a straight path leading up to the front door, generally a lane or carriage way fenced off on one side leading into the carriage house, which is a little to one side and back of the house, with a pig pen ad- joining. The plan of laying out and ornamenting the lawn varies with the taste of owners. Some of them are crowded with trees and shrubs enough for a lawn of several acres. Others have an assortment of fruit and ornamental trees, with an occasional bush of lilacs, snowballs, roses, etc., interspersed, perhaps, with a bed of pinks or poppies, and a few 45 hollyhocks, and not a small number of them are occupied with a few scraggly plum, pear or cherry trees, and ornamented with burdocks, Canada thistles and other choice native plants. Sometimes the uniform picket fence is dispensed with, the lawn is enlarged and surrounded with an antique rail fence, supported by a hedge row of plum or cherry sprouts, blackberry, raspberry, elder bushes, etc. These lawns generally have a display of rustic work, in the form of hen-coops, wood piles, and corn cribs, and if the farmer be a man of means, you may see several works of art strewn around in the shape of broken down reapers or mowers, threshing machines, or something of the kind. The fountains and statuary are generally combined in the form of a well and pump in front of the door. There is also, frequently, an assortment of lawn mowers scattered around the lawn ; and by the way, a farmer's lawn mower is quite an improvement on your city lawn mowers. It takes up the grass as fast as cut, besides fertilizing the ground as it goes. It is gen- erally run by horse power, though sometimes by cows and sheep, and I have even seen it run by geese ; and sometimes when they want to stir up the soil they put on what is called a rooter, and run it by hog power. This tends to do away with the monotonous smoothness so common in city lawns, and gives the lawn a more rural aspect. Bub I have been lingering on the lawn, and forgot the fruit and kitchen gardens. They too are generally surrounded with a picket fence, a little higher than that of the " front yard," to keep the hens out. They are sometimes on the opposite side of the lane from the lawn, and sometimes back near the drive house and pig pen, and are generally about the same size as the lawn. They have a row of currants and gooseberry bushes, and perhaps a few raspberries and blackberries around next the fence, and sometimes a few cherry or plum trees, with perhaps a quince bush or two. The interior is laid out into beds for lettuce, beets, onions, etc. , with a patch left for cabbage, string beans and tomatoes. In rare cases you may find in some corner a trellis, with a few grape vines, and perhaps a bed of strawberries of some of the ancient varieties. This depart- ment of the farm is generally run by the women and boys, with a little help from the " hired man " before breakfast, and on rainy days. With the products of the garden, and potatoes from the field, apples from the orchard, and perhaps a few wild berries from the bush, I admit the farmer gets along very well and lives quite comfortable and makes money. But he knows very little about Bidwell, Manchester, Sharpless, or Arnold's Pride, strawberries ; or Cuthbert, Clark, or Gregg, raspberries ; or Brighton, Jessica, Pocklington, or Prentiss Grapes, or the fine varieties of cherries, pears, plums, peaches, etc., common in town and city gardens. Neither does he enjoy the fragrance of hyacinths, roses, tuberoses, etc. ; or feast his eyes on the beauties of lovely beds of geraniums, ver- benas, phloxes, pansies, foliage plants, and other beautiful flowers and shrubs of a well kept lawn and garden. But I would not have it understood that I am ridiculing or poking fun at the farmers, or speaking disparagingly of them. Far from it. I was a farmer once myself \ and they are among my best friends and customers. What would become of the nursery- man were it not for the farmers % Where would he find a demand for his apple trees if the farmers' sheep and cattle did not eat half of them up, and if he did not let the grass grow around the remainder to make a harbour of refuge for the mice, so that they could assist in their consumption and give him a chance to replace them about every other year % Where would the tree peddlers find customers for all their new varieties of ever or never bearing, and tree strawberries, and new ironclad Russian apples, and mulberries, wild- goose plums, blight-proof pears, etc. 1 Seriously, 1 would ask our farmers, if you took a little more pains in selecting your building sites, in laying out your grounds, planting shade and ornamental trees — even though they were common forest trees — and some beautiful native shrubs, with perhaps here and there a few new and rare ones, and spend as much money in procuring a few choice peach, plum, pear and other good fruit trees as you do in plug tobacco, and planted some extra grapes, gooseberries, currants, raspberries and strawberries in your gardens ; and if you have the means, put up a small conservatory, and stocked it with plants to make home cheerful and bright in the winter, don't you think your sons and daughters would be more contented at home and have less desire for city life and its attractions % I do. 46 A POEM. Mr. Arnold submitted the following verses, which he said he had written in pursu- ance of a request contained in a letter he had received from a high officer of the Associa- tion. He disclaimed any idea of calling them a poem : — A SEAT ON THE HILL-TOP, BENEATH THE OLD TREE. What man hath not found on this changeable earth, Some shelter'd retreat to emotion give birth ; Where memory, pointing to things that once were, Imprints on our faces a smile and a tear. To pride give his follies, to pomp his display, Give to beauty her charms, give wealth what you may ; Give to each of them all, but spare, spare for me, The seat on the hill-top, beneath the old tree. How can I but love thee, thou sacred spot ! And think of the loved ones who were but are not ; When I view thine old trunk, draped o'er with the vine, The woodbine and pipe vine thy branches entwine : And could but those dear ones who planted them there, Sit again by my side, these blessings to share, There's naught in this wide world I'd barter for thee, My seat on the hill-top, beneath the old tree. Since thou wert a sapling, thou noble old tree, Thy youthful companions have long ceased to be ; And oft have I wished thou would'st whisper and tell, What shrubs and sweet flowers did then with thee dwell. Did Hepatica's buds invite thee to Spring ? And little blue harebell, the old year's knell ring ? Or child of the forest, all brimful of glee, Flee away to hill-top, beneath the old tree ? Did brave Indian warrior find rest in thy shade ? Or thy branches e'er shelter forlorn Indian maid ? Or some betrayed mother, with babe at her breast, For surely t'was here the weary might rest. For the woes of mankind do we watch and weep, And then, in our weariness, slumber and sleep ? The spot on this green earth best suited must be The seat on the hill-top, beneath the old tree. BLACKBERRIES. Mr. Linus Woolverton read the following paper : — The Rosaceae is a very extensive family of plants, and embraces under its head nearly all our favourite fruits, as for example, the plum, the cherry, the peach, the pear, the strawberry, and the blackberry. Its fruits are almost without exception safe and nutritious food for man, the only poisonous elements being the prussic acid of the bark, leaves, and kernel of the peach, the poisonous laurel- water and oil of laurel, obtained from the cherry laurel ; the foliage of the Prunus Caroliniana, which poisons cattle ; and one or two other instances. This family, therefore, is a very important one to the fruit-grower; and if his botanical studies must be limited, it should at least reach as far as a scientific acquaint- 47 ance with fchose plants by which he is so constantly surrounded. I propose, therefore, in this paper, to deal with the blackberry, which, with the raspberry, is included under the genus rubus, or bramble. There are several trailing varieties which are highly ornamental, among which may be mentioned the " Double Pink Blossomed," and the " Double White Blossomed " bram- bles, which are said to be very beautiful climbers, with pretty rose-like flowers appearing in June ; but these are too Render to be grown in Canada. The Double Pink has not proved tender in my garden, but the White has. The common high bush blackberry grows wild on sandy soils in Canada as far north as latitude 44°, especially in places favoured by the vicinity of a large body of water. Of the cultivated varieties there are about twenty-five or thirty, which are esteemed valuable for cultivation by fruit-growers. A full list of the names and a complete de- scription of which would be tedious here ; therefore, for such full details I shall refer you to some of the many yellow and green coloured pamphlets, so diligently and so liberally scattered abroad by our enterprising nurserymen. There are three important varieties, which, at the present time, hold the first rank for planting in the jfruit garden, viz.: in order of ripening, the Dorchester, the Kittatinny, and the New Rochelle or Lawton. The Dorchester, as above indicated, is the earliest of the three, and has the merit of being ready for eating as soon as it turns black. It begins ripening about the first of August, and produces large crops of fine fruit. The berries are sweeter than those of the New Rochelle, and a little longer, sometimes measuring an inch and a-quarter. The Kittatinny was found by a Mr. Wool ver ton growing wild on the Kittatinny Moun- tains of New Jersey. It has been very rapidly disseminated until it is now the leading variety for market. The fruit ripens earlier than the New Rochelle, and the canes are hardier. It continues in bearing for four or five weeks, and the berry is large, sweet and excellent. It may be grown anywhere in the peach region, the only hindrance to its cul- tivation being the yellow rust. The New Rochelle was found by Mr. Lewis Seacor a wild seedling by the roadside in the town of New Rochelle in New York State. It is quite commonly called the Law- ton. The discovery of these two prominent kinds growing wild, shows us how sportive nature often mocks the most eager and industrious experiments of the zealous cultivator j and produces without his aid varieties of fruit surpassing the results of years of faithful labour. The New Rochelle is a popular sort where the climate is not too severe, and it has been widely distributed. It is an excellent bearer, but the fruit is slow in ripening and has a very hard and sour core, which renders it unfit for table use, unless it is either cooked or left to become very ripe. Its chief merit is as a late variety, prolonging the sea- son a week or so after the Kittatinny is over ; its fine size also wins it much favour. Besides the three varieties just named, there are several others which deserve a pass- ing notice here.] The Early Wilson was introduced into Canada with great eclat a few years ago, as an early variety. It certainly yields beautiful berries of fine size, very melting and de- licious. It is about as early as the Dorchester, and the whole crop ripens within a period of about two weeks, but it is rather tender for most parts of Ontario. The Bruntoris Early blackberry is a new sort, that is very highly commended by its disseminators. It is said to ripen in the latitude of Hamilton, as early as the 7th of July with the Doolittle raspberry. The fruit is of medium size, of a delicious flavour, and the yield is said to be abundant. It is about as tender as the New Rochelle, and consequent- ly suited to only a few parts of Ontario. But even this marvel of earliness is said to be surpassed by a still newer variety, Stayman's Early, a cut of which may be seen in the first number of the Horticulturist for the current year. The originator, Dr. Stayman, of Kansas, states that it is earlier than Brunton's Early, that it is an hermaphrodite, and excellent in quality of fruit. It appears to be a species somewhat allied to the black raspberry, as the berry is roundish, and the plants may be propagated by layering the tips. If this variety proves to be hardy it will indeed be a great acquisition. 48 Having spoken of several varieties worthy of commendation for their earliness, we will proceed to mention several whose chief merit consists in their hardiness. The Snyder is a wonderfully productive variety, and so hardy that it succeeds well about Owen Sound, where the Kittatinny fails. The berry is sweet and melting, but its small size renders it unprofitable for market. Taylor's Prolific is said to be quite as hardy as the Snyder, and being much larger, will surely be the more popular in market. The McCracken is a new variety, claiming passing notice on account of its hardiness. Mr. Wm. McCracken, of Kansas, the owner of it, says it is both more hardy and more productive than the Snyder, that it is of the best flavour, without core, and earlier than the Kittatinny. It has not yet been fairly tested, however, and not at all in Canada.] Stone's Hardy is another new variety, which is being tested by D. W. Beadle, of St. Catharines. A notice of it appeared in the December number of the Horticulturist for 1882, from which we learn that it has been grown at Rockford, 111., side by side with the Snyder, and the result of the comparison was much in favour of the former not onlyj for hardiness, but also for productiveness, and quality of fruit. The Western Triumph and the Knox are also recommended as very hardy and very productive varieties ; the latter is quite late in season, and the former has the merit of being quite fit for eating as soon as it turns black. The Agawam, a variety lately originated in New England, may yet be the favourite, where hardiness is a requisite. It is not quite so large as the Kittatinny, and not equal to it in flavour, but it is melting and sweet to the centre, which cannot be said of the New Rochelle, and scarcely of the Kittatinny, unless dead ripe. Twenty years ago, in 1863, the New York State Fruit Growers' Association recom- mended for general cultivation the Dorchester, the New Rochelle, and the Cut-leaved ; we, of to-day, are only prepared to recommend one change in this list for the same lati- tude, by substituting the Kittatinny for the Cut-leaved. The last named, also called the Parsley-leaved, is not at all desirable to the market gardener. It is a low trailing bush with branches some twenty feet long unless kept cut back. It is an old European variety, that is only useful in small gardens, where ornament is one of the appropriate accessories. There its curious parsley-like foliage will prove an object of interest to some, whose taste may be at the same time offended by its sweetness and peculiar musky flavour. Epigrammatic as it may seem, there are white blackberries, red blackberries, purple blackberries, and black blackberries. Nature, however, as if jealous of such intrusions upon the consistency of her dominions, has given the pre-eminence to the black black- berry. An exception, however, seems likely to arise in the Texas Red Hybrid, noticed in the Horticulturist, January, 1883, which is reported to be earlier than the Wilson; a fine bearer, and possessed of very fine qualities as a dessert fruit. PROPAGATION. The blackberry may be so easily propagated that anyone having a few plants may soon have an abundance. A few rows may be set aside with this object in view, and the growth of suckers may be encouraged by ploughing or digging early in the season ; or if this plan does not produce a sufficient number of plants, roots may be cut up into lengths of an inch or more, and planted in rows ; each cutting will form a new plant, and thus any quantity may be obtained, which after one year's growth may be set out in the plan- tation. As a rule the blackberry cannot be propagated from layers of the tips, but one or two varieties lately introduced are reported to increase in that way, among them Stay- man's Early. PLANTATION. Blackberries require a considerable amount of room, especially when laden down with fruit ; and therefore it is not wise to plant them closely. A distance of eight feet is not too much between the rows, and the plants should be set at least three feet apart 49 in the rows, on which scale about eighteen hundred will be required for an acre. The duration of a plantation is about ten or fifteen years with proper cultivation. SOIL. Very rich soil should be avoided, else there is a tendency to a rank growth of bushes and consequent unfruitfulness. A wet undrained soil must also be avoided, or the canes will be the more liable to be winter killed. The soil best adapted to the blackberry is a light, sandy loam, but any soil upon which Indian corn succeeds, if not too wet, will be suitable. In its preparation strong manure must be avoided. Probably the wisest plan would be to apply well-rolled compost during the bearing season. PRUNING. The canes grow up one season, and fruit the next, after which, their object in life being accomplished, they die, and must be cut out. This may be done with a sickle and gloved hands, or with a long-handled brush hook. The rubbish may then be loaded with a fork upon a waggon or brush drag, and drawn away to be burned. In July and August the growing canes must be shortened in. The old mode of supporting the long branches by long rows of posts and wire was very cumbersome, and withal a useless ex- penditure. The shortening in may be done very expeditiously with a sickle or a pair of hedge shears. Each cane may be clipped back at a height of about three feet, in conse- quence side shoots will grow vigorously, and these in turn should be nipped off about a distance of a foot or eighteen inches from the main stalk. The bushes will then stand up without support, not only during the current season, but also during the succeeding season when loaded with fruit. By this method also a good pathway is left between the rows, which is very convenient for the pickers in gathering the fruit ; indeed without it the horse could hardly be persuaded that it was his duty to drag a cultivator among the sharp thorns of interlacing branches. In pruning it is also necessary to thin out all the supernumerary suckers, four or five to each plant being quite as many as will grow well in company. CULTIVATION. After the second year the plough and spade should not be used in the blackberry plantation ; for to disturb the roots, is to lessen the thrift of the vines, and also to cause an undue tendency to produce suckers, which absorb the strength of the parent bush. The cultivator and the hoe are the only tools needed, unless in some peculiar soils that harden so much that the plough must be sometimes used or cultivation abandoned. YIELD. For quantity of fruit probably none surpass the Snyder or Taylor's Prolific ; but for size and productiveness both, the Kittatinny is the leading berry for Canada, where sufficiently hardy. The New Rochelle is quite equal to it in this respect, but is too ten- der for Canada, besides which, the fruit in hot seasons dries up and becomes very small. Taken as a whole blackberries may be expected to yield nearly the same number of quarts per acre as the strawberry. Under this head I do not think any story can be given by a Canadian fruit grower equal to the following, which was sent to the American Agricul- turist for 1863, by a correspondent in Illinois. "The third season from planting a dozen bushes of the New Rochelle," he says, " I gathered the first ripe berries on the eighth of July, and the last on the twelfth of September. One stalk had on it fourteen hundred berries at one time, and commenced to ripen its first berries about the twenty-first of July, and finished on the twelfth of September, at which time I gathered one hundred and eighty-two ripe berries. Some of the berries from this bush measured four inches in circumference, and ten berries were laid in a line so as to measure eleven and a-half inches. The stalk was eleven feet in length, and had fifteen lateral branches. From the twelve bushes I gathered about three bushels of berries." We have read Western yarns 50 before and feel inclined to class this with them ; but the writer speaks so positively that one can only wonder and express a wish that Canadian soil was equal to that of Illinois, while we hold in reserve our firm belief that it is quite as fertile. INSECT ENEMIES. The insect enemies of the blackberry are very few, and will offer little or no hind- rance to its successful cultivation. Mr. Saunders in his essay on the raspberry, black- berry, and strawberry in 1870, speaks of a green worm covered with short spines, the larvae of the raspberry saw-fly, which eats the soft parts of the leaves. The remedy for this is hellebore. The insect is not very common in Canada, at least not in the Niagara district. The tree cricket is of much more frequent occurrence, a grasshopper-like insect of a pale green colour, which deposits its long yellow eggs in rows in the heart of the branches ; which in consequence break off easily or wither away. No other remedy for this has been suggested than the simple one of gathering and burning the affected limbs. MARKETING. The blackberry comes into market with the peach, and consequently the price to some extent is governed by the peach market, and sells best in seasons when the peach fails. Should the dreaded yellows cut off the peach orchards, the blackberry culturist may rejoice at the misfortunes of others, conscience permitting, and repeat the old pro- verb, "T'is an ill wind that blaws nae boddy guid." Blackberries should be picked directly into the baskets in which they are to be sold, and that very carefully, because it is very important to preserve the bright plump appearance of the berry to attract the buyer ; pickers must also be cautioned against gathering immature half -red berries, for a few of these may lessen the value of a whole basket. The blackberry has been marketed in various ways : the Indian squaw brings them to your door in a tin pail, or in a basket of her own manufacture ; the small market gardener in various kinds of baskets in his waggon ; and the larger grower ships them by rail to the city in great wooden crates holding fifty or sixty quarts. But the best pack- age for the blackberry, that has yet been invented, is a basket crate, with a handle and cover, holding twenty-four strawberry baskets in three layers. This crate is so cheap that it need not be returned ; indeed, the express charges on the lumber of the old fashioned crate nearly pays its cost. This neat clean package can be reshipped to any part of Canada, or sent to a private family with the fruit in a most presentable shape. Nearly every town in Ontario will afford a market for the blackberry at a remunera- tive price. Hitherto the leading market for all choice fruits has been the city of Montreal, and to it the blackberry can be shipped in excellent condition from Western Ontario. But for all fruits, save those for exportation, Toronto is rapidly advancing to the front rank as a wholesale fruit market, and important distributing centre. During the last few years the wholesale fruit trade of that city has been rapidly increasing, until of late almost any quantity of fruit may be placed upon its markets without fear of over- stocking it ; not only because its citizens are learning to appreciate fruit in a way that would astonish the previous generation, but also, because small towns throughout Ontario are yearly learning more and more to depend, upon Toronto for their supplies of fruit. Thus the prosperous city in which we are now, for the first time, holding our Winter meeting, and which already holds the proud eminence of being the first city of Ontario as an educational, political, and religious centre, is now also gaining in the esteem of an humble but not unimportant class of men, the Fruit Growers of Ontario. COMPLIMENTARY RESOLUTION. Mr. Beadle. — Now, sir, with your permission, I propose to introduce a resolution to this meeting with regard to a gentleman with whom we have been brought into contact, because of his occupying the position of Commissioner of Agriculture for the Province of 51 Ontario. I learn that he has decided to retire from public life — that he intends within a few days to leave the Department of Agriculture to some one else. Who that some one else will be has not yet been announced ; but I feel, from having had so much intercourse with Mr. Wood in his capacity of Commissioner of Agriculture, and from having noticed (as many others of our Society have also probably noticed,) the interest which he has taken in the work of this Association, the ready ear which he has always given to any representations which have been given by it, the readiness which he has manifested to carry out any suggestions coming from this Association which might point towards some- thing that would be likely to promote the fruit-growing interests of this Province and develop its resources in that direction — I feel that all these call for some expression from us at this time, when he is about to retire into private life. I have no hesitation in bringing forward a resolution of this kind. It is not one which can be supposed to have any political bearing, but if anyone suspects anything of the sort on my part, I have only to announce to those who do not know my political leanings, that I am a Conservative, and that when it comes to voting I generally work on that side of the line. But, sir, I am not so strong a Conservative that I cannot appreciate zeal and interest for the welfare of this Province coming from either side of politics. I believe in giving credit to any man holding a public position, whatever may be his political opinions, and however they may differ from our own, who honestly and to the best of his ability endeavours to advance the interests of the country ; and I believe that Mr. Wood has done all that lay in his power, through the instrumentality of this Association, to develop the fruit- growing interests of this country, and also to lay the foundation of a forestry policy which shall eventuate in saving to this country the forests which are so fast disappearing, and in making them, what they should be, a continuous source of revenue to the Province. I therefore desire at this time to introduce this resolution : " That this Association desires to express its high appreciation of the hearty support which has uniformly been given by the Hon. S. C. Wood, Commissioner of Agriculture, to every offort made by the Association to collect and disseminate information upon the subject of fruit-growing, forestry, etc. While regretting that he has concluded to resign the position in which he has so long and faithfully laboured, we sincerely hope that he will find that the change he proposes will conduce to his increased happiness and pros- perity ; and that as an expression of the esteem in which his labours are held, we hereby tender him a life membership in this Association." Mr. Drury. — Little need be added to what I consider the very proper remarks of the Secretary. It is, I think, a matter of regret to nearly every one, no matter (as the Secretary has said) what part in politics he may have taken in this country, that this Province is about to lose the services of the Hon. Mr. Wood. I think that this act on the part of the Association is an exceedingly appropriate and proper one. I think it will be the universal testimony of all classes of the people, that the Province of Ontario is about to be deprived, in the retirement of Mr. Wood, of the services of a gentleman who has been able to comprehend the interests with which he has had to deal, and who has always been ready to act in promoting them. It has been said that public men have to die before they can get their meed of praise, but I believe that we are all ready to give the present Commissioner of Agriculture his meed of praise now, and that upon his retire- ment into private life he will be followed by the good wishes of the people of this country generally, in recognition of the active interest which he has taken not only in promoting the objects this Association has in view, but also in everything having a tendency to advance the welfare of the Province agriculturally, ever since he has been in that position. I think that the Agricultural Commission and various other matters originated by Mr. Wood, which have contributed largely to the advancement of the interests of agriculture, will be kept in remembrance by the people of Ontario. I believe that we are all ready to say that this resolution expresses the sentiments of the Fruit Growers' Association, and re-echoes the feelings of the people of this country generally. 52 Professor Buckland. — Will you permit me to say a few words in reference to the pleasure that I individually feel in meeting with you upon this occassion, and especially the pleasure I feel in having an opportunity of endorsing — which I do with the greatest sincerity from a personal knowledge of its literal truth — everything that is stated in that resolution, and everything that has been said in submitting it, both by the mover and the seconder. We shall all regret the retirement of Mr. Wood from public life. I am sure that the observations which have been made as respresenting the sentiments of this society would be expressed with the same degree of cordiality, not only by all the various other organizations existing in this country in connection with horticulture, arboriculture, forestry, etc., but also by those which represent agriculture. I am sure that the Honour- able Commissioner of Agriculture will retire from his duties with a well-earned claim to- the confidence and the gratitude of his country. The President. — Before putting the resolution I desire to add a word or two. It is perhaps not known to all of you that it is to Mr. Wood, and to Mr. Wood only, that the country is indebted for the grand display of fruit which we made at the Centennial Exhi- bition— a display which, I think, did more to bring Canada into notice than anything that the fruit growers, individually or collectively, ever attempted before. At the time when Mr. Wood took his position, our Association had been endeavouring to make arrange- ments for something of the sort, but we had failed, and it was only when he came into office, and met us in the liberal spirit in which he has always met us, that we were enabled to go on and make such a grand success as we did on that occasion. As most of you are aware, Canada carried off more medals in connection with the fruit exhi- bition at the Centennial than any State excepting, I think, Pennsylvania. I most heartily endorse everything that has been said in reference to the interest Mr. Wood has invariably manifested in horticulture, in forestry, and in all the departments of agriculture as well. As one of the Agricultural Commission I had the pleasure of working with him under his chairmanship for a year, and I must say I never met a gentleman who took a deeper interest in the work I had in hand than did Mr. Wood. As one of the directors of the Fruit Growers' Association I can say that every suggestion we have ever made to him has always been received in the most friendly spirit. We had only to show Mr. Wood that any measure we proposed was for the good of the country to obtain for it his heartiest support. I would propose that the motion be carried by a standing vote. The motion was then put, and carried unanimously, the members standing. The following paper by Mr. A. McD. Allan was then read : — FARM EMBELLISHMENT. By A. McD. Allan. Embellishment, as well as a proper and convenient division into fields, is becoming a desirable point in the eye of the modern agriculturist when selecting a farm. A good deal too depends upon the location of the buildings and their surroundings in the way of orchard and garden, or ornamental trees. Passing along the public road the eye of taste is at once attracted by any neatness about farm-buildings and their surroundings, the fencing and planting and general front ornamentation. There was a time when it mattered little, so far at all events as the value of the farm in the market was concerned, how the buildings were located, how the fields were divided, or whether or not a properly laid out fruit orchard and garden was there. But many modern farmers do not think lightly of these points ; they look carefully into all the advantages of soil, location, fencing and general embellishment. When erecting buildings the old time farmer looked alone at present convenience, nearness to the public road, and having dwelling and all other buildings as near each other as possible. Doubt- less it may be convenient to erect the pigsty opposite the kitchen door so that all refuse can be conveniently cast in there ! If the stables and byres are close to the dwelling many steps are saved and much convenience experienced in feeding and otherwise attend- ing to the stock ! It is labour-saving to have all the stock as near together as possible. 53 Many of our forefathers would call it pride in us to pay attention to decoration, sym- metry, and order upon the farm ! Children's whims ! And yet we see on every hand how such whims pay ; how eagerly a farm is sought after that has been laid out with taste — the dwelling surrounded by orchard and garden planted with choice fruits. What a pleasant sight when the traveller's eye rests upon a farm laid out in a square field, enclosed by wire fences, possibly the wire stapled into ornamental trees along the road front which take the place of posts. The dwelling nestled down comfortably among trees, the lawn and flower garden with the various shrubs and ornamental trees in front, and upon the other side early vegetable ground and orchard ; an avenue leading from the public road to the dwelling. The barns, stables, and other necessary buildings located well to the rear, and protected for stock shelter by a spruce belt, which also forms a division between these buildings and the dwelling. But as yet it is the exception rather than the rule to find advanced ideas on these points among farmers ; they are almost all, however, open to conviction ; and it is here that our Association has an important work to perform, especially in educating the rising generation to see these matters in their true colours, not alone for the sake of ornamenta- tion, but also with a view to enhance the actual cash value of the estate, as well as to make the farm life more attractive and enjoyable. As a rule the old-time farmer cared not to adopt anything that did not give regular crops of dollars and cents, and possibly this was one of the chief reasons why in times past so few cared to do anything towards decorating the farm and dwelling surroundings with trees, shrubs, and flowers. They saw no object in planting a tree or shrub that would not produce something marketable. And we cannot blame them in their con- clusions, because they were brought up to think and believe just as they acted, In educating the rising generation in these matters it is not by any means necessary that everyone should be a landscape gardener. It is enough that the importance of the subject is impressed fairly, and the great advantages to be gained both in personal com- fort, satisfaction and financial gain brought clearly out. The general inclination is to advance no less among farmers than any other class in the community, and if our argu- ment be sound and clear we will find the modern agriculturist ready to consider it and act with fairness. The cost of farm embellishment so far as tree-planting is concerned is merely the time and labour expended, and where there is a family of boys this item can- not be put at a high figure. Look at the results compared with the cost. What are they ? The cash value of the farm is enhanced to at least ten times the actual cost of the improvements : the farmers' sons arer better satisfied with a farmer's life when they experience the comforts of such a home, and the pleasures and new interests awakened. It is when these interests are awakened that we will find the agriculturist awarded his proper place among men. He will be no longer looked upon as a mere machine to plough and sow, and reap and mow, but a man of taste as well as scientific knowledge. We will not then see so many farmers' sons seeking other employment for the purpose of escaping a life of drudgery and dreariness, for they will find upon the farm subject for deep scientific study and research, elevating to the mind, deeply interesting, and profitable mentally and morally as well as financially. BRANCH SOCIETIES. A discussion on the question : " Is it Desirable to Encourage the Establishment of Branch or County Societies in Connection with our Association," was introduced by the following paper read by Mr. Gott : THE DESIRABILITY OF ESTABLISHING THEM AS AUXILIARIES TO OUR ASSOCIATION THROUGH THE COUNTIES OF THIS PROVINCE OF ONTARIO. It is felt that the time has come when new and almost aggressive work must be done for the best interests of our Association. We feel that we have already long enough trod in exactly the old steps, and walked in well-beaten paths. There may be untasted 5 [F. G.] 54 delights unexplored just beyond. As an esteemed friend of our Association writing me a few days ago said, among other good things : "It is time we made some effort to get out of our present methodical ways." This sentiment is shared in by your humble essayist. We know by our simple observation that all things around us are on the onward move- ment. Stillness and quiet does not belong, as an essential integral, to the business of earth. To promote their greatest possible usefulness, every organized being and institu- tion of our times' are stretching their utmost efforts to results. If, by travelling a few miles from home, we find we can accomplish more good and greater substantial results than by staying at home, we hesitate not to travel. If by increasing our effective force we find we can do more work and more profitably to ourselves, we at once increase our force. If, by giving better tillage and more thorough cultivation to our crops and our ground, we find we can make it pay in better returns, and better satisfaction all round, we cheerfully give the required labour. If, by working out of ourselves and apparently beyond our- selves, we find we can advance most surely our own personal enjoyments and prospects, we joyfully consent to so work. To keep up a healthy circulation in the body corporate, and to avoid the dread results of stagnation and rust, it is found necessary, for the proper expenditure of the great internal forces that engender within, that new territory must be acquired, and outside work must be undertaken. The Church, in her accumulation of benevolent power within her seeks new fields of activity outside, not merely because she could not expand herself at home, and perhaps profitably too, but also because she finds that in seeking to bless others she is also herself most blessed. Missionary fields are sought and missionaries are equiped and sent into them to make new conquests, and to manifest to all the depth and earnestness of her internal forces prompting her outward. Let this beautiful example of benevolence, as it is the highest and best of all examples, be a pattern for us to copy after, in our laudable efforts to spread the beautiful influence of horticulture in our land. If our work is worth anything it is worth a wide and general embrace. If it is so immensely beneficial to us it may also be immensely beneficial to many others. In a country such as ours, that is comparatively new and uncultivated in respect to the fine arts and fine living, the needs of a salutary horticultural influence are everywhere felt. The people look to us with longing eyes, and earnestly request that we teach them in the refining arts of horticulture. Shall we not lend a helping hand and thereby be the means of benefiting the many thousands who will rejoice in the opportunity 1 In approaching this subject still more closely [ need scarcely inform you that our present agricultural laws already provide for the formation of HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES in towns and cities wherever fifty residents can be induced to join themselves together for this purpose. Their duties and their privileges are very similar to those of township agricultural societies, only relating to the interests of horticulture. This provision, however seems to us to be very inefficient to the accomplishment of the work that we have under contemplation. We would therefore propose that branch societies be formed, as in the preamble, as auxiliaries of this Association in every county all over this entire country, with constitution and by-laws of their own, and for their own internal improve- ment and order. I have just received a copy of the constitution and by-laws used by the Michigan State Horticultural Society, for the management of their branches, of which they have several, and working very satisfactorily. As to the best way of organizing them, and the exact relationship they shall hold to us, are questions requiring consider- able well-directed discussion. It would doubtless be well that they be requested to make their annual report to us of all proceedings and discussions in the year's work, and in time for publication in our Annual Report. There is no doubt at all in our minds that this plan could be so matured as to work very pleasantly both for us and also for them. The few preliminary questions that most require enlightened information as most effecting the main question are, " Is the country at present ready for such a measure, and would it be supported 1 What would be the effect upon our Association either in adding to or diminishing from its resources 1 " These, we think, could easily be settled by a little careful and friendly enquiry. And now, allow me to state as briefly as possible some few arguments in support of the main question, 55 ITS ADVANTAGES TO US. 1st. Our work would be better popularized through them. That is, by this means we could influence a greater number of people by having our representatives widely scattered among them. This is a very important and vital consideration, for little matter how good and gracious may be the nature of our work, if we cannot influence the masses it is comparatively a failure, as far as practical results are concerned. 2nd. By this means we would be enabled to introduce our work in places where we are at present little known. This, we think, is also a good point, and would count heavily in our favour. It frequently happens that the more needy a locality is of beneficial influ- ence, the more slow and backward they are to secure them. How many of our remote counties would be glad of the opportunities we offer did they but know them. 3rd. They would become local representatives of the Association and its work. Through them, as through an agency, we would distribute our reports and circulate our literature, and make our wants and wishes known. Through them, also, we should receive our information of the wants and needs of the country and our memberships. Their very location and organization is a standing advertisement of our existence to the people of the section — a fact of immense benefit to us. Our present system of agency employments would thereby be rendered needless and void. 4th. By their local meetings and discussions they would be the means of preparing practical and interesting questions for our solution. They would also most effectively be the means of educating fine local talent to join us in our meetings for discussion. You can all see at a glance that this is a very important consideration, and would ultimately redound to our greatly enhanced usefulness. Who can properly estimate the capabilities of our well-trained local talent in this country 1 5th. Through their means we should at all times have houses provided for the stated meetings of our Association. We should meet in this little town, or in that greater town, on the invitation of such and such a local branch society who had beforehand extended a candid invitation to us, being aware of the great advantages our meeting amongst them would be to them. This is as it should be, and this is the way it is done in other places, with fine mutual advantages. 6th. By means of these societies we might have the great advantages of the presence at our meetings of trained delegates, which they would gladly send for the occasion. We should thus at all times be sure of a good representative meeting, and thereby our dis- cussions would be made more lively and interesting. This is a fine point and in our esti- mation the best of the lot, because with such fine ability and such excellent, stirring and practical questions, etc., added to our meetings, would make them just what they should be : " Educators of the people." But perhaps you will say : enough of this side of the question, what about THE ADVANTAGES TO THEM1? 1st. The society would become the home for the discussions of all local questions connected with horticulture in its widest extent, embracing questions in entomology and home decoration. To this bar all these questions]could be brought at their regular meeting to be thoroughly ventilated and discussed. Do not we each of us know very forcibly the immense value of an opportunity like this 1 How many times in our daily practice do puzzling questions come up in connection with our work that we would be glad to have a chance to ventilate at the next horticultural meeting 1 How finely, too, would the practice teach them to become observers of nature, or, as Shakespere has beautifully put it: " To find tongues in trees ; books in the running brooks; sermons in stones, and good in everything." 2nd. They would have advantages and pleasures of their own local training and the development of their own local talent. They could have the frequent enjoyment of their own local meetings and discussions, and in their own time and way. By this means a friendly familiarity and sociability among themselves would be best cultivated. This is of great advantage to any people. Where they become tired of their own talents they 56 could immediately secure others better than themselves to come and teach them new lessons to think of, and so the work would be pleasantly made to go on to notable and praiseworthy results. 3rd. They could have their own home exhibition of local products in fruits and in flowers, and by this means a friendly rivalry among themselves would greatly quicken their efforts at production, and the higest points of excellence would be attained. This would bring them more money in their pockets, beautify their homes, and greatly increase the pleasures of their natural lives. What gives to a man so much solid pleasure as to see his products always thriving and good; or to see his home decorated by industrious art; or to see his condition and surroundings bettering every year; or to see his wife always wearing the pleasant smile of contentment ; and his family growing in intelligence and beauty around him 1 4th. The honour of holding so close a relationship to a society so large and important and honourable as that of the " Provincial Horticultural Society for the Province of Ontario" would be such an incentive to work that much more would be done for their own advancement than by isolation. We all know how this principle acts in other mat- ters, and it would be equally as operative here. The fraternal spirit in all our earthly relationships is found of great assistance to us in our work. I have thus sought to lay before you as briefly as possible this very important question of our Association. I am deeply sensible of my utter inability to do it anything like a be- coming or respectable justice. My deep anxiety for the best interests of the Association, there- fore, can be my only apology for touching it at all. I am, further, fully aware that before it can be made practical some little friendly discussion upon it must be had. But I am satisfied that if it can be made a practical fact in this country "it is a consummation most devoutly to be wished," as Hamlet would say with respect to a very deeply interesting ques- tion. 1 think the subject will well repay for whatever enquiry may be brought to bear upon it for its friendly solution and advancement. We would much like to see our Asso- ciation in our day like the sturdy and giant oak that has stood the fury of the storms for a century and still throws out its massive branches to the breezes, loaded with fruitfulness and foliage, and furnishing to the denizens of its own native forest not only the grateful shelter but also the strength-supplying food they require. Hoping that something may be done while the question is yet warm, I am, Gentlemen, very sincerely yours, B. Gott, Arkona, Ont. Mr. Kitchen. — It occurs to me that this is a question of great importance with this Association. It is a question of great importance to the whole country. This Association has been in existence now for a good many years, and it has certainly been managed well. It has been in good hands, and it seems to have been well planted. It has attained a good, substantial growth, and has become well rooted in the Province. For my part, I see no reason why we should not have in every county a society in connection with this Provincial organization. It occurs to me that we might, in probably any county in the Province, get as good a meeting as we have here to-day. I see no difficulty in the way. I should be very glad to see " glorious old Norfolk " become a branch, and one of the principal branches, of this tree — this trunk, as you might call it — this Ontario Association. We have the trunk, and now let us have the branches. Mr. Beadle. — This subject is new, very new. Mr. Gott has been out west instead of east, and he has come back chucked full of ideas, and he is flooding us with them. He has given us so much that it is going to take a good deal of time to digest it. I see from the silence of the members generally that they do not know exactly how to take hold of this. And I can sympathize with them ; I do not know how to take hold of it. I want to take time to think over it. The movement is a new one. I do not exactly see what is to come from it. I suggest that this paper be left in the hands of the directors, and that we be allowed time to digest it and see if we can bring forward anything that is 57 likely to promote the interests of the Province in this direction — perhaps at the winter's meeting. Mr. Wright. — I have not thought of this question much, hut I might mention that in the Province of Quebec the Fruit Growers' Association at Abbotsford is a much more nourishing one than the Provincial Association. More plates of apples and more plates of grapes were shown at the exhibition of that local society at Abbotsford last fall than at the meeting of the parent society in Montreal. Mr. Dempsey. — Several States of the union have adopted this principle, and I believe it is working satisfactorily in all of them. In those States where the principle has not been adopted the State associations have very few members — the majority of them are under one hundred. And yet I have to learn of any State association, even among those who have adopted this principle, with all their branches, that has as many members to-day as the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario. I would be very much opposed to adopting this system without considering it thoroughly. In the first place, it would not be possible, it seems to me to form branch associations and expect to receive from the members of this association more than fifty cents each ; and if we were to have only a hundred members, say, from a branch association in Toronto for instance, we certainly could not afford to give each member the Horticulturist, our report, and the plant. Then there is another difficulty which, it occurs to me, would arise. Taken Owen Sound for example. We have over two hundred members, I believe, in that town. Now, they have a horticultural society existing there too. If, then, we adopted this principle, should we not, instead of receiving one dollar per member for that two hundred members, be likely to find that they were members of the horticultural society and that we were only to receive fifty cents apiece from them. It seems to me that this plan would have the effect of reducing our funds, though it might increase our membership a little, and I am afraid it would not work satisfactorily. I think the proposition of our Secretary is a very wise one, that we should think and talk the matter over for a year, at the least, before deciding upon whether it is judicious to adopt such a change in our constitution or not. Mr. Roy. — I have always looked upon the Horticultural Society of Owen Sound as a kind of auxiliary to the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario, and I think the Horti- cultural Society of Owen Sound has done more good to this Association, and this Associ- ation has done more good to them, than if they had been part of this Association. This is a subject I have not thought much about, and, like the Secretary, I cannot see my way through it yet ; but it seems to me that if we had horticultural societies throughout the country they would serve a good purpose for us. Mr. Weld. — I think it would take some time to deliberate over this subject suffi- ciently to enable us to come to a conclusion as to what ought to be done. I would like to have it more fully ventilated. I would like to see the utility of this institution extended ; bub I am somewhat in doubt whether what is now proposed would result in that. A short time ago I was down in Montreal, and it appeared to me that their Horti- cultural Society has a more extended field than ours has. They give a large list of prizes, and have an exhibition of large collections of fruits and flowers both. I think this Society might extend its care to horticulture as well as fruit growing. Your perambulat- ing system I think an admirable one. I think you require more strength, however, and I am afraid that the carrying out of the proposal which has been made here, would tend rather to weaken the Association than to strengthen it at the present time The President. — It seems to me that there is a good deal in wtiuz Mr. Weld has said ; and I think we might strengthen our Association by carrying out this idea to a certain extent. Suppose we sent a delegation from the Association to visit some of these societies at the time of their exhibitions, and called a meeting and had a discussion on the fruits or vegetables exhibited, and then brought our Association prominently before them. I think we might do a great deal of good for our Association in that way, by introducing it to the notice of societies in places where it is scarcely known at all. In the large fruit- growing districts along the lake shore from Port Stanley to Amherstburg we are now hardly known. Now, if a delegation could be sent occasionally to such sections it would awaken an interest in our society that would result in good to us and to the people visited. In this way there might be brought about something of co-operation between 58 the Fruit Growers' Association and the county associations without their interfering with each other's workings. Mr. Doel. — Some places would perhaps be affected differently from others by the carrying out of this proposal. Before I saw that this paper was to be read some of us were talking about starting a fruit growers' association around Toronto ; but the more I think of it the more difficult it seems for us to start such a society. Mr. Weld's speaking of acting with other associations, and of the annual exhibition of fruits and flowers in Montreal put me on a better track than any I could think of before, and that is this : We have in Toronto what we call the Toronto Electoral Division Society, which has an annual exhibition of fruits and flowers. Now, what is the difference between it and a branch of this Society 1 It appears to me that they are exactly the same, and that where there is such a society a union between them and this Society might be brought about. I think that where we could see our way to establishing these branch societies in the town- ships and smaller towns it would be a very good thing for us to do so. But we certainly could not give the magazine and these other things for fifty cents. A great many mem- bers of the Toronto Electoral Division Society are members of this Society as well. Mr. Gott. — I feel sorry that the Secretary of the Michigan Society is not present with us, because I expected from him a full elucidation of this subject. It is a hobby with him. I also feel a little downcast because there are difficulties in connection with the question. I think we could accomplish more by adopting it than we possibly could without it. I know there are two or three questions to be settled. The first is as to whether the country is ready for what I propose. The second is, how far will it affect us financially ! I wrote to the Secretary of one of the societies in the States lately asking him how this system was working, and he said it was doing very well on the whole, though not as well as they would like. At this stage Mr. — . Laidlaw was introduced to the meeting, and invited the atten- tion of the Association to the combined Dominion and Provincial Exhibition to be held this year in Halifax. The Convention then adjourned until the next morning. Upon the meeting being called to order the next day, Mr. Beesor said: I wanted last evening to make a few remarks with reference to our branch societies. I am very strongly in favour of branch societies, and I was rather disappointed at the course the debate took yesterday. All the speakers seemed to throw cold water upon the proposition to establish such societies. One gentleman was afraid that the scheme would interfere with the dollars and cents of the Provincial Association. Another gentleman was afraid that it would interfere with the journal published by it. Now, it strikes me that the raising of these few hundred dollars and the publication of this journal are not the objects of this Association at all. Its object ought to be the encouragement of the growth of fruits throughout the Province ; and it strikes me that that kind of argument is not to the point. Another gentleman, Mr. Weld, who I thought would support the proposition, also threw cold water upon it. I think the fears which have been expressed are all groundless. It strikes me that such local associ- ations are just what would give strength to this central association. I am strongly of opinion that the branch associations would diffuse such knowledge throughout the country that they would prove to be a benefit to this Society rather than an injury to it. I think also that they would be a means of bringing reliable information to this Association. It seems to me that there is an impression abroad — there is in my county, at any rate, a very strong one — that this Society is a sort of family compact arrangement, or that it smacks a little of such an arrangement ; that we come here from, time to time to elect one another directors ; that we are not representative men at all ; that instead of this being a fruit- growers' association it is a nurserymen's association, and that it is conducted somewhat on the tickle-me-toby principle — you puff my wares and I will puff yours. I do not mean to say that there is any ground for such a suspicion; but its existence tends to destroy the confidence which the people of this country ought to have in this Association. One man is afraid that the associations already established would clash with our branch associations. Why, where there is an association established already, we do not need 59 to establish another ; all we need to do is to get it to affiliate with this Association. My idea is that these branch associations should be established in all the ridings, and that then this association should be composed of representatives from the branch associations. We should see at our meetings delegates from all parts of the Province, who would have come prepared to give us reliable information with regard to fruit-growing in all their different localities. It strikes me that the majority of those present at this meeting come from localities in which the climate is influenced by the lakes, and they are not prepared to give information with regard to the more outlying districts. I think that if these local associations were established it would be better that the directors should not be elected here — that we should elect one another, but that the directors should be elected by the local associations, one delegate from each. The President. — I must entirely dissent from some of the remarks that Mr. Reesor has made. In the first place, the Directors do not elect one another. The elec- tion of directors is carried on at a public meeting advertised over the whole Province. At that meeting a nominating committee of members is appointed, usually outside altogether of the Board of Directors, and these members bring in a report to the annual meeting of the names that they desire to submit for election. The law provides that we are to select a representative from among the residents in each of the agricultural districts, and this work the nominating committee does outside of the Board of Directors. This com- mittee then brings in its report, and that report is acted on by the meeting. As to its being a family compact affair, it is as free from that as any society I have ever known. Then, as to its being composed of nurserymen, I am not a nurseryman, and I suppose I hold as prominent a position on the Board as anyone ; and I know several others on the Board of Directors who are not nurserymen. There a great many difficulties about this question of branch associations, but it is to be referred to a committee to endeavour to carry out the proposition, and it will not be dollars and cents that will stand in the way of its being carried out, if it is found to be practicable in other respects. Mr. Reesor. — I merely mentioned that these ideas existed in the minds of the people. I did not offer them as facts, or offer them as my own opinion, because I have no opinion in the matter. Mr. Boy. — I may say that I have often been taken for a nurseryman, I suppose for the reason that I have taken a great deal of interest in fruit growers', horticultural and agricultural societies ; but I have no pecuniary interest in fruit growing in any way. Mr. Weld. — Last night I met a gentleman here who is a representative farmer (Mr. Pierce), who came to get information in regard to fruit growing ; and I think it would be well, now that we have one farmer amongst us, to hear what he has to say. It is the farmers you want to enlighten as to how to raise fruit. Mr. Pierce. — I have read your publications for two or three years, and am anxious that something may be done in our neighbourhood. We have a good fruit growing sec- tion, and all we want is to have the people wakened up to their own interest. I do not understand the working of these societies at all ; but I thought that if we could get some gentleman of talent from this Board to come up and give us a lecture or two in those counties along the lake shore, we might be able to get an interest stirred up among the farmers there. I suggested to Mr. Weld that I thought we might hold meetings of our own like this, in our own county. I meant to say that we could all be members of this society, and also have a society of our own, so that we should be benefited ourselves, and at the same time strengthen your hands. Mr. Arthur Reeves. — This Association is not enough known among the people. Yesterday before I came here I was talking with some gentlemen, and I asked them if they did not belong to this Association. They said "No ; we did not know anything about it." One of them was Mr. Scadding, manager of the Bank in Orillia, who takes a great deal of interest in fruit growing. I think there might be a great deal more done if people outside would take a little more interest in it, and go round and solicit subscriptions to the paper and to membership. Go through nearly any of these cold counties, and nearly everywhere you will hear complaints that the trees have rotted. The reason for this is that the people have not bought the trees which were suitable for the climate. The President. — To show that the Association is held in good repute and that GO efforts are being made in this direction, I will just mention that our membership was increased about eight hundred last year by the efforts of members in various districts in canvassing in this way, and that it promises to be increased very much more in the year we have just entered upon. Mr. Hopkins. — The remarks that have just come from the chair have struck me as being something practical. I come from the county of Halton. I do not know how the electoral divisions are arranged, or how the directors are appointed ; but so far as Halton is concerned I am not aware that we have a representative there at all. I have lived in the county of Halton twenty-five years, and I have never had a member of this Associa- tion call upon me yet. This is the first time that I have met with you. The way that I came to be a member was that I just enclosed my subscription and name to the Secretary at St. Catharines. It strikes me that the county of Halton should have a representative. Perhaps it has one ; but if it has I am not aware of it. The President. — That is district number seven. To represent that district, W. H. Mills, of Hamilton, was elected at the annual meeting. .When notified of his election, he declined to serve, and the Association has no power to fill the vacancy. The Association is at present in communication with the Commissioner of Agriculture on the subject, however, and expect to have it filled. FORESTRY. The meeting then took up three items on the programme, and discussed them together, viz. : — " The best method of awakening a general interest in Practical Forestry," " The best varieties of Forest Trees to Plant for ornament and for profit," and " How can we induce farmers to Plant Trees along the Roadside 1 " Mr. Gott. — This is a subject that is growing in interest from year to year. I will confine myself to the question, what varieties of forest trees are best for general planting ; and the first variety I might mention is Maple. I believe the trees of that variety command the respect of not only Canadians, but of all people among whom they are known. Our Sugar Maple is one of the most beautiful trees that can be produced in any country. It is a tree that has so many uses and so much ornament about it that where- ever we see it we have infused into our minds a genuine love for our country. The Soft Maple is also a very beautiful tree. It grows very symmetrical, is very ornamental where it is cultivated for ornamental purposes, and in every way fulfils the expectations of the planter. The American Elm is, I think, one of the most graceful trees that we can have planted on our streets, simply on account of its pendulous habit of branching. The Basswood is also a very beautiful tree for ornamental planting ; and I often think that if we would take our Basswood tree and our Tulip tree, and bestow upon them the same attention that we sometimes do on exotics, they would repay us better for it. The Basswood tree is said to be one of the best honey-producing trees in the country. The Tulip tree is also a very handsome tree. It is a tree that will reward any amount of care and attention. It grows very symmetrical ; the leaf is very large and showy, and in every way the tree is ornamental and beautiful, but more especially so when it shows its beautiful blossoms. The man who sees it once and learns that it is a native tree will certainly be inspired with a deeper love for the country. The nut trees are very valuable, the Chestnut, the White Walnut and the Black Walnut. Amongst our evergreens the Canada Balsam is one of the finest and most beautiful. It would be almost impossible to import a tree that would surpass it in beauty. Our pines are also very interesting. We have several of them in our country. If they are taken early and planted in our lanes, thev soon assume fine proportions, and become very ornamental trees. The Black Spruce, taken and cared for, I think fully equal, if not superior to the Norway Spruce of Europe. I saw a specimen of this tree on the ground of Mr. Arnold last winter, which struck me at once in a manner which I shall never forget. These are the principal forest trees that I think are interesting to us. Mr. Reesor. — I have a large number of Bass woods in my grounds, and I prize them 61 higher than any deciduous trees I have growing, although I have several varieties. The Chestnut and the two kinds of Walnut the gentleman recommends, will not grow at all in the locality in which I reside (in the centre of Victoria County), although that is one of the best agricultural districts in the province. I believe a few Black Walnuts, in sheltered positions, have been brought to maturity ; but no Chestnuts will grow. I entirely dissent from what Mr. Gott says with regard to the Canada Balsam. I think it is the most worthless of all the evergreens, the most unsatisfactory, the shortest lived. That has been my experience of it, and I live in a county in which it nourishes naturally. When we come to plant it as an ornamental tree it takes sick and dies just as it has got to such a height that it is beginning to be interesting. Mr. Gott. — There must be something wrong in the environment. Mr. Reesor. — I am sorry Mr. Gott did not make mention of two trees I admire very much, the White Pine and especially the Norway Pine. I think the Norway Pine is one the most beautiful that can be planted. Mr. Leslie. — That Norway Pine is what is known as the Bed Pine. Mr. Slight. — The remark that the previous speaker has made about the Canada Balsam fully expressed my experience. I have no doubt that in some parts of Canada it succeeds very well, but in the northern country it does not. I have noticed that just as soon as the trees around it have been thinned out by persons desiring to preserve it, and just when it has attained a fine symmetrical growth and a good size, it begins to decay. From what I have gathered as to the easiness of transplanting and the success which attends it in growing, I have come to the conclusion, that the best native evergreen we have, is the White Spruce. It is a perfectly healthy tree. I have never yet known a White Spruce to show any signs of decay from age, where it has had anything like fair play. Its wood is one of our most valuable timbers for certain classes of work ; in boat- building especially it is invaluable. From what I know of it I would recommend it as 1;he best tree to plant by roadsides. A timber which I see the architects are seeking after very much is the Butternut ; and in the northren part of the country the tree succeeds very well. The President. — Mr. Gott mentioned the Butternut under the name of White Walnut. Mr. Arnold. — I have to endorse the sentiment of this gentleman with regard to our Canadian Balsam. It is a beautiful tree in its native swamp, and if we could trans- plant it into a swamp again, or to some place where it would have a spring about it to keep it moist, it would stand ; but if we attempt to transplant it to high ground, just as soon as it gets to be about ten or fifteen feet high, just when it begins to become beauti- ful, it begins to die. I hope we shall not get the Black Spruce and the White Spruce mixed. I find that there is a great deal of confusion in regard to those two spruces. I have them both, but really I do not know which is the black and which is the white. The spruce that Mr. Gott alluded to as growing upon my place, I believe to be the Black Spruce, but I am not positive. The Black Spruce, if that is it that I have, spreads out more at the bottom than the White, and I would consider that it has a blue shade to it. It is one of the prettiest trees we have, either native or foreign. I have challenged the whole county, and I might almost go further and challenge the whole Province, to produce as fine a tree as my Black Spruce, that I got out of a swamp. The Magnolia is perfectly hardy, and the old Austrian Pine is one of the finest trees in the country. I feel like planting Walnuts all over my place, and I think if I had a hundred acre farm I would plant them in every fence corner — not for their beauty, but because they would pay. The Bass wood succeeds well in our section. The Walnut does well throughout the greater part of the country. Mr. Roy. — I can confirm what Mr. Arnold says about the White Spruce, and the Austrian, and the Norway Spruce. I have both Norway and Black Spruce upon my place, and when they have room to grow and begin to grow from the ground, I find that the Black Spruce is the more ornamental of the two. One fault that the Norway Spruce has, is, that it goes away up too high and then gets bare at the top; but the Black Spruce always remains a beautiful tree, and, as Mr. Arnold says, it has a blue tinge. The Aus- trian Pine is one of the most beautiful of trees until it a:ets old. As to the Balsam, I find what Mr. Arnold speaks of ; after you have had it removed three or four years you will find a branch here and there through the tree dead ; but when it is young it a very beautiful tree. I think every farmer ought to plant the Black Walnut and the White Walnut. The Black Walnut is not only a very beautiful tree, but it is going to be a very valuable tree also. I do not know but what you will get from $80.00 to $100.00 a thou- sand feet for Black Walnut now. Our country is being denuded of it. The Ash is also a valuable tree ; it is now brought greatly into use in making railway cars and various other things. Mr. Arnold. — Americans have come over from Michigan and paid as high as $6.00 to $8.00 a stump for old Walnut stumps along the Grand River ; and they have taken them over to Michigan and made them into furniture, which they have brought back to us and sent to Europe. Mr. Roy. — J planted about fifteen or eighteen Walnut trees some nine or ten years ago — the nuts ; and before I came away I went out to get the size of them, and they measured eight or ten inches in diameter. A Member. — What is the difference in the growth of the Black Spruce and the Norway Spruce, the same time planted 1 Mr. Roy. — I suppose they will remain at about the same altitude until they get to be about twelve or fifteen years old, and then the Norway Spruce will begin to grow up past the other. Mr. A. M. Smith. — There is one tree of considerable importance in our section that has not been mentioned yet, that is, the Common Poplar. Our Pulp Mills in the vicinity of St. Catharines are paying from $7.00 to $8.00 a cord for this wood, for the purpose of manufacturing pulp for paper out of it, and it is a tree that I think will grow in any part of the province, and very rapidly too. I think our common White Cedar has not been mentioned either. For a shelter belt or ornamental hedge even, it is not surpassed by any of our native trees. My experience in regard to the Balsam, is very similar to that of the others who have spoken of it. It is a good deal like some of the human species ; it is very promising when young, but as it grows up it sometimes goes to the bad for want of water. Mr. .Bucke. — I think the best way we can interest the farmers in practical forestry, is by showing them that there is money in it. There appears to be a general opinion abroad that the Black Walnut will not grow except in certain favoured regions • but any- body who has read Mr. Joly's very able paper on forestry, will see that he is very successful in growing it below Quebec ; and if it will grow below Quebec, it will certainly grow in any part of Ontario. Mr. Wright. — Mr. Joly's residence is between Montreal and Quebec, at Lotbiniere. Mr. Bucke. — Well, below Montreal at any rate ; and if they grow below Montreal they ought to grow in any place in Ontario. Owing to the scarcity of the Black Walnut, the Butternut is now being used for it, stained and varnished, and it looks so much like Black Walnut when it is made up that you can hardly tell the difference. Mr. Roy. — Have you seen the Black Walnut growing in Ottawa1? Mr. Bucke. — I have specimens growing at my place that are three years old. The Tulip is a very handsome tree. The Georgetown Mills on the Grand Trunk use half Basswood and half rftgs for pulp for paper. I am told the Basswood is running short ; it is a very free-growing tree and can be easily cultivated, and where paper works are estab- lished I am sure it would pay the farmers to go in and cultivate it, especially on any broken ground they may happen to have ; it is worth about $4.00 or $5.00 a cord at paper works. The main difficulty in the way of planting trees along the roadside, is the unfortunate fashion they have here of allowing cattle to run at large. I do not see how you can very well protect trees along the roadside as long as cattle run at large. There ought to be some Act of the Legislature, if there is not one at present, to restrain cattle. Mr. Roy. — There is an Act. Mr. Bucke. — Cattle should be fenced in, so that farmers would not be put to the expense of protecting trees. Mr. Roy. — The townships have the power to make by-laws to restrain cattle from running at large. Mr. Bucke. — They have the power, but unfortunately the widow's cow has such an influence with the representatives of the people in the councils, that tney do not like to enforce the law. I have not heard anything said about the Hickory. I think it is one of the most useful trees we have for making spokes, and handles for spades, forks and axes. Unfortunately it is a hard tree to grow, it does not transplant very well ; but I think if the nuts were secured and planted where it was intended the trees should grow, the Hickory could be made a success as well as any other tree. Hickory sells at a very high price. It grows very largely along the St. Clair River. The Cut-leaf Birch is a beauti- ful tree to grow for lawns and places of that sort, but it is not a native tree. A Member. — I should like to ask if any member present has any knowledge of the Catalpa. Mr. Bucke. — It has been grown at Sarnia. It is not hardy. Col. McCill. — I would like to ask the gentleman who spoke of our American cousins coming over and paying such high prices for Black Walnut stumps if he knew what they turned them into. Mr. Arnold. — They make them into veneer. Mr. Bucke. — They also make gun stocks out of them. Col. McGill. — Not of the stumps ; they are not long enough. Mr. A. M. Smith. — A question was asked with regard to the Catalpa. At Grimsby it stands the winter very well. A tree I planted there some live years ago is growing very well. Mr. Gilchrist. — I saw a Catalpa planted in Huron this year growing very well. Mr. Wright. — Along the sides of roads in our part of the country they principally plant Hard Maples, and some of them plant the Soft Maple. The Soft Maple does not, of course, stand the winter nearly so well as the Hard Maple. The Bass wood is grown very largely, because, when it is planted along the roadside and has a chance to spread its limbs, you would hardly recognize it from having seen it only in the forest. Some of them are to be seen in Quebec about the old English cathedral. Apart from their appearance they make excellent bee pasture, and in northern counties where we have not the same abundance of flowers that you have here, that becomes a matter of con- siderable importance to us. Another tree that we are planting considerably in our locality is the Bed Biver Maple. It grows very well with us. A man who was out in Manitoba four years ago brought four little trees home from there, and now you would be surprised to see the size they have grown to. Last fall he showed me some specimens already six feet high that he had grown from the seed from those Bed Biver Maples. With reference to evergreens, the tree which we have found do the best with us is the Norway Spruce. The Canada Balsam does very well, but when it grows up to a certain height the top is easily broken off by the wind. Cedars, of course, do very well with us. They make a fine wind-break, and look very well, too. With reference to the way to induce people to plant trees along the highways, in their gardens, and so forth, I have found that the best plan of all is to set a really good example for them to follow. After having set out trees myself I have noticed that a great many have come to me and asked me how much it cost; and when they found how little it cost they have gone to work and planted trees themselves. I am a school trustee, and as such I have induced the Board to plant trees all around our public school, and that has served as a good example, which has been followed by a good many people. Mr. Gilchrist. — There was some seed of the Red River Maple sent to me two years ago. It is a beautiful tree and grows very fast. The leaves have a purplish tinge, The President. — The trouble with that tree is that it does not grow to any size. It is not more than a large bush, or a small tree at any rate. For forestry purposes it would scarcely be desirable where other more valuable trees would grow. Rev. Dr. Wild is in the room, and we know that he takes a great interest in tree planting. We would like to have a word from him. Rev. Dr. Wild said that as a minster he was somewhat interested in trees. He believed they were a regulator of climate, and that they were a great advantage to us in many things. He had perhaps five thousand trees. Three thousand of them were good bearing apple trees, a few hundreds of them were pears, and a few hundreds of them 64 plums and peaches. Besides these he had a good grapery. This was work enough for a minister, and a minister always lost money in farming — one could not do more than one thing at a time he supposed. He had on his farm nearly every kind of nut tree that would grow in Canada, so that he could grow all his own nuts. He was very much interested in what this Society was doing. If he ever retired from the ministry it was his great desire to turn his attention more fully to planting trees. He believed that was a thing we had to come to in Canada. The great destruction of our forests was making a very great change in our climate. We had almost destroyed our spring and our autumn. In fact, he thought that, if we continued as we are doing now, we should at length have but two seasons — that is, winter and summer. The streams were drying up too. If we could have a law which would induce farmers to plant trees along the sides of the road and other places it would make a great difference in our grains and fruits. On his place he had a half circle of pine trees, which just left his orchard open to the sun, and there he was able to grow peaches — what none of his neighbours could do. The President. — Will Dr. Wild tell us where his place is 1 Dr. Wild. — It is at Bronte. I suppose my orchard is just about forty acres in extent, and yet towards the lower end of it I will suffer from the wind. The small peaches that I planted out there were killed last spring, but those up nearer this grove are living. The trees are small, thin ones; yet the shelter is some advantage to them. I read as carefully on anything of this kind as I do on the current ideas of theology. I thank you for your invitation. I am glad to see you, and wish you great success. Mr. Page. — I fully agree with the remarks of the gentlemen who have preceded me, not only with regard to the way in which tree planting may be made to beautify the country and with regard to the value of trees in respect of their timber, but also with reference to the influence which trees have, as Dr. Wild has pointed out, on the climate and rainfall of the country. I have been pleased to hear the remarks which have been made to-day on the subject, and hope that what has been said may go out through the country and stir up among the people an interest in the planting of trees. Every man who owns the ground to put a tree upon should make it a point to plant at least one tree of some kind. We have very many native trees of importance in this country. We have no lack of trees for planting. The speakers before me either have forgotten or are not at present acquainted with the fact that our Legislatures have taken measures in this last Session to encourage the planting of trees. Mr. Dempsey. — In a certain section of the country I know a very nice grove or belt of trees that is growing along the roadside, composed of pines, oaks, grey walnuts and some other vatieties that have attained a size sufficient for saw-logs ; and these trees, it occurs to me, have a worse enemy than the animals that run on the highway, for the Municipal Council has offered those trees for sale. Now, the attention of our legislators should, I think, be drawn to cases of this kind. Those trees happen to stand just within the bounds of the highway, and really they are beautiful. I pass them as often as twelve times a week — sometimes more than that — and I am very sorry that they should be offered for sale. I do not feel able to buy them to leave them standing — I do not know that I should be expected to do so ; but I should like to see this thing prohibited if possible. Only a year ago there was a nice little belt of pines that had not got sufficiently large to make timber of, but which would make cordwood, was sold, and those trees were chopped up into cordwood and taken away. I think if our Legislature would impose a penalty of not less than ten dollars and not more than one hundred dollars, or something like that, upon any person found injuring or cutting a tree along the roadside, it might put a stop to this kind of thing. With respect to varieties to plant for profit, I do not know of any variety that occurs to me that would be so profitable as the Black Walnut. Some say they are tender in a great part of the country ; bnt in our county of Prince Edward, which is certainly a severe climate, I know of one Walnut tree that would make two standard saw-logs, and it has only been one generation growing. I know of another that has attained the size of one of those pillars there. I fancy that any variety of tree that could be planted would eventually prove remunerative. The Butternut, or Grey Walnut, grows very rapidly. We find it growing very far north, and it runs up and makes very pretty lumber. I believe it is anxiously sought for, and that it takes 65 the place largely of the Black Walnut. I would prefer Black Walnut where it will grow, and I believe it will grow over nearly the whole of our Province. Mr. Wright. — The Butternut grows well in our locality ; but I have never been able to transplant it and have it live. Mr. Bucke. — I have transplanted it when small after growing it from seed. A Member. — I have found no difficulty in transplanting it. Mr. Bucke. — I am told there are trees of the Acer Negundo of a large size growing on the banks of the Don. Mr. Saunders said it was only a large shrub. The President. — Perhaps I should qualify that. They will grow probably thirty feet high. Mr. Bucke. — They are very rapidly-growing trees. A Member. — Is there any other name for it? Mr. Bucke. — The Red River Maple or the Ash-leaved Maple. I think we are blaming the want of forests a good deal for the drying up of our streams, when the fact is that it is owing greatly to the swamps being cleared up. Mr. Drury. — I am sorry I did not have this meeting furnished with a copy of Mr. Wood's Act with reference to the planting of trees. If the late President of this Asso- ciation had seen it he would have observed that the difficulty he speaks of has been overcome by a clause in the Act. Any man injuring a tree — even the Municipal Council —can now be proceeded against and fined. We have talked a good deal about tree planting in the past ; but it is with this as it is with other things — unless you have a little money to make it go it will not go. The Act provides that the trees be set thirty feet apart. An expenditure of $500 by a Municipal Council will plant 5,000 trees, and those planted thirty feet apart will extend for a distance of thirty miles, so that by an expenditure of $500 you can have a beautiful avenue of fifteen miles of trees. I have seen it once in my life — I forget just where — miles and miles of highway planted systematically just as this Act contemplates that trees should be planted. I have no doubt that there are here to-day gentlemen of influence in the various municipalities ; there may be, and doubtless are, some who are representative men, and I do hope and sincerely believe that before another year has passed around, action will be taken in many municipalities to secure the carrying out of the aims and purposes of the Act which has lately been passed by the Legislature. I am quite satisfied that if it is found to be a success in one municipality, the people all over the Province will speedily demand that their municipalities go into tree planting also ; and that if they do, the value of their property will thereby be enhanced many millions of dollars in the estimation of those who are able to judge as to what gives value to a country. Mr. Leslie. — There has been an Ontario Act for several years protecting trees planted upon public highways. It gives the people the right of property in those trees, and those who plant them cannot remove them, and no council can remove them, with- out giving something like two months notice. In the present Act there is just one thing I would like to see altered, and that is with regard to trees planted along the boundary lines between farms. The distance now from the boundary line is six feet, and a man planting six feet six inches from the boundary line would get nothing. And if a man planted two rows of trees, he would get nothing for the second row. Mr. Drury. — That was to prevent the road being kept too wet. Mr. Slight. — I have often been pained to see the way in which the telegraph com- panies deal with trees, and I never was more so than one time that I was driving near Barrie. There was once a beautiful belt of pines there, which I much admired ; but the telegraph companies have come along there and utterly destroyed it by cutting it in a disgraceful way. They might have taken out branches which would interfere with their wires ; but instead of that they have gone and completely destroyed trees without any necessity. I would make this motion : — Mr. Slight moved, seconded by Mr. Page, " That the Fruit Growers' Association protest strongly against the reckless way in which the telegraph companies unnecessarily destroy trees on streets in towns and on the country roads ; and that we would ask them to exercise all possible care in cutting off branches of trees, and that a copy of this reso- 66 lution be sent by the Secretary to the telegraph companies, and that the Dominion Gov- ernment be memorialized on behalf of the resolution." This was carried. Mr. Hopkins. — I wish Mr. Slight would insert in that resolution a request to the Municipal Councils, that they pass by-laws preventing cattle running on the road side. If this is not done there is little use in our planting trees. Mr. Roy. — I hope the time is not far distant when fences will be done away with universally. I was down in the Eastern States this summer, and I saw miles and miles without a fence at all. There were strawberry beds and beds of various vegetables along the side of the roads, without any fence to protect them, and no harm came to them. The President. — I believe the telegraph companies operate under their charters, which are obtained from the Dominion Government, and it might be well for this Asso- ciation to memorialize the Dominion Government on the subject. I suppose that a Dominion Act will over-ride any Provincial Act, and I do not suppose that we have power to interfere with the telegraph companies legally. Mr. Beall. — I would like to remove the impression, which it seems to me is an erroneous one, respecting the effects of the roadside planting of trees upon the road itself. The idea generally prevails that if trees are planted along the roadside, they will keep the road muddy longer than they would otherwise remain so, especially when the trees get up so that they will shade the road. Now, I believe it is proved beyond any doubt, by the highest scientific authority we have, that trees so planted actually dry the road by absorbing the moisture from below them. There are many instances on record of swamps having been dried up by the action of trees. There is one instance of a lake three feet deep having been entirely drained by means of trees which immediately surrounded it. Mr. Reesor. — I think that trees dry the road in dry weather, but not in wet weather. How does Mr. Beall account for this fact, that when you are driving through the woods you will come on a foot of snow in it, while outside the dust will be flying % Mr. Beall. — I am not speaking of the inside of a bush. Mr. Reesor knows very well that the wind is the principal cause of evaporation, and that where the wind can have full sweep upon a roadway, the result will be just what I have stated. In the woods it is different. There the wind has no chance whatever to dry up the moisture. NEW FRUITS. The following Report was submitted by the Committee on New Fruits : — Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario: The year 1882 has been unproductive of many new fruits of value, therefore the Re- port will necessarily be short, and taken up principally with a review of fruits already mentioned. We shall try to avoid lengthening the Report with those varieties which are not already before the public, and have no especial merits to recommed them. strawberries. Early Canada. — Having done so well in the year 1881, giving large crops of fruit, of fair quality, realizing large profits to the growers, has this year very much disappointed us ; quality being poor, and we shall test it another season before recommending either for the garden or market. In the'meantime we shall give the first place to the Duncan for earliness. Warren. — Flavour, good to very good ; very firm and an excellent shipper. The Bidwell. — Introduced in 1880, is destined to have a short life. Like most varieties giving enormous yields, has imperfect blossoms, and is something like Triomphe de Gand, 67 very disappointing, giving only one or two fair pickings. We think, however, that with the hill system and high cultivation, it may prove more successful. Arnold's Bright Ida. — Strong grower. One grower considers it the strongest of any of the new varieties. Manchester. — Also pistilate or imperfect blossom, and is perhaps the most valuable of all the sorts to the fruit grower for market, as a medium berry both in season and quality, otherwise combining more good points than any berry thoroughly tested. The most vigorous in growth ; foliage large of dark green colour, and apparently will with- stand the effects of the sun and drought equal to any ; fruit stalks very strong, holding the fruit well up from the ground. Fruit larger, of better quality and more productive than the Wilson ; also fully equal in shipping qualities to that well-known berry. Arnold's Maggie. — One grower claims this the earliest of any of the new berries ; that it is productive, with quality fair. Jas. Vick. — The latest introduction, so far only tested on the grounds of the intro- ducers, Chas. A. Green, and a few others. The merits claimed for this by Mr. Green are as follows, and which are endorsed by the following gentlemen, who visited the grounds while the Jas. Yick was ripening, W. B. Barry, P. C. Reynolds, Vick Bros., John Charl- ton, Peter B. Mead, Geo. A. Stone and Geo. S. Wales : (1) Fine quality, unusual vigour, and hermaphrodite (or perfect) blossoms. (2) Colour, form and firmness of berry, which approach the ideal. No white tips, no coxcombs. (3) Ability to stand on the vines a week after ripening, without becoming soft, or rotting, or losing quality or much lustre. Instead of softening it shrinks a trifle, and becomes firmer than when first ripe. (4) Uniformly large size, and productiveness unequalled by any other variety. Two hundred and eighty berries were counted on one average plant, and from one row about 100 feet long nearly two bushels of berries were gathered. Arnold's Alpha. — Small, strong grower, but quality good ; so says one good grower. Jersey Queen. — Not productive as a cropper, otherwise combines many good points as a late berry. Arnold's Pride. — The largest berry of any of Arnold's, and most promising. RASPBERRIES. Shaffer's Colossal. — Supposed to be a cross between the red and the black-cap va- rieties ; colour, red, when first ripe, turning to purple, and, as its name implies, is colossal in berry as well as plant ; hardy, and one of the most productive for the medium-to-late season. Although a little too soft for distant markets, we think it worthy of a trial by all. Hansell. — First introduced in the fall of 1882, and so far, only tested on the grounds of the originator, the late James S. Hansell, Burlington County, New Jersey, where it has been highly recommended by a meeting of fruit growers of that State, for earliness, good colour, and shipping qualities. This variety not being tested so far north as Canada, we are unable to determine how it will behave with us. Lost Rubies. — In this variety we have one to replace the old Franconia, the fruit being similar, of the same season, and, if anything, more productive; great vigour of growth, and second only to the Turner in hardiness. The only objection being that it is partially pistilate, or imperfect blossom, which objection may be overcome by planting every third or fourth row with Cuthbert. The Souhegan. — Whenever tried has become the most popular for earliness, hardi- ness, and productiveness of all the black -cap varieties. 68 BLACKBERRIES. Gainor. — A Canada seedling, originating on the farm of Jacob Gainor, in Thorold township. The seed of this is supposed to have been dropped by a bird in a straw- berry patch, where it grew in the year 1878. The following season, although but a small plant of about eighteen inches in height, it was covered with large, fine fruit, and has been loaded every year since, and the plants have now become fully established. It has shown itself a strong grower and very hardy, not being injured in the least by the severe winter of 1880-81. The soil being a moist loam, together with the hard seasons it has passed through without injury, establishes beyond a doubt its hardiness in the section where it originated. In size, the berry has averaged one inch in length, by seven-eighths of an inch in breadth; quality of the best. CURRANTS. Black Champion. — First sent out in England in the autumn of 1882. The follow- ing report of it appears in the Garden (English) : "A first-class certificate was awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society for Currants to Black Champion, the finest of the varieties hitherto known, it being extremely prolific, the berries being large and ripening simultaneously in the same cluster. It is a fine acquisition among new fruits, and one that will be especially valuable for market-growers on account of its extreme fruit fulness." This variety will shortly be introduced in this Province, and we will be able to report in a year or two if it is likely to be of value here. Fay's Prolific. — Has been sold the past season for the first time, and likely to be quite an acquisition, being nearly as large as the cherry, and enormously productive. Moore's Ruby. — Another new red currant of great promise, being a cross between the Cherry and White Grape, retaining the mild flavour and productiveness of the White Grape. Lacking the acidity of the other red currants, and needing less sugar for cook- ing purposes, will make it the leading variety for family use. It is agreeble to eat out of hand. GOOSEBERRIES. Large Golden Prolific. — This fine new seedling may be a decided acquisitiou to the small list of hardy, mildew-proof gooseberries. The variety is a remarkably strong, vigorous, and upright grower, with dark green glaucous foliage, which resists mildew perfectly, and persistently hangs on until the end of the season in New York State. The fruit is of the largest size, oblong — good samples measuring one and three-fourth inches in length. Colour, golden yellow, flavour decidedly good ; very productive. GRAPES. The greatest interest among fruit-growers is now centered on the grape, and perhaps the greatest results are being attained in this fruit with new and improved varieties. The new white varieties are mostly proving hardy, productive and healthy, and should the same rate of improvement in out-door grapes continue for a few years, we shall be spared the expense of growing grapes under glass. Lady Washington. — Has developed a tendency to overbear, and lateness of ripening -, will require another season's trial, to determine the value of this variety for Canada. Prentiss. — Is being extensively planted, and its high flavour, productiveness, and keeping qualities will insure it a leading place as a vineyard grape. Empire State. — Very early; the best of Mr. Rickett's seedlings. A cross between the Hartford and Clinton ; growth this season in Canada appears perfectly healthy and free from mildew. George W. Campbell, of Delaware, Ohio, originator of the Delaware and other grapes, says of it : "A very handsome and promising grape, and excellent quality." H. E. Hooker, ex-President of New York State Horticultural Society, pro- 69 nounces it: "The best of all white grapes." Bush, Son and Meissner : "It shows characteristics of both parents in foliage. The best white grape yet brought before the public." Piority. — White ; has many desirable qualities for the amateur ; not sufficiently tested to pronounce on it as a grape for the vineyard. It is a strong grower, hardy, not inclined to mildew. In quality or flavour, scarcely leaves anything to be desired. Clus- ters small, averaging smaller than Delaware; berries a little larger than that variety; very early, ripening the latter part of August. It is quite difficult to propagate, and the vines likely on this account to remain scarce. Jessica. — A small white grape, of Canadian origin; highest quality, sweet, sprightly, and pure flavour; very early. Highly recommended for planting in the garden, and may prove profitable as a vineyard grape. D. W. Beadle, the disseminator of the Jessica, says: "The vine is perfectly hardy in our climate, free from disease, and enor- mously productive. A vineyard of about 200 vines, in bearing for some time, has never failed to yield a heavy crop. The fruit sells at the highest price, and brought this past season, at wholesale, $400 per ton. Dempsey's No. 25. — Proving a strong grower, and hardy, slightly subject to mildew, but not as much so as many of the Rogers' Hybrids. Too late in ripening for planting north of the line of Grand Trunk, but valuable as a late white grape, particularly so in the Niagara District. Golden Pocklington. — The reports on this grape are generally most favourable. Al- though last season was unfavourable to early ripening, it ripened well at Brampton, Montreal, and different points in the Niagara district. Mr. A. McD. Allan, of Goderich, how- ever, says it did not ripen at all in his section — this being the only unfavourable report given. In size and appearance the Pocklington leads all the white grapes, and the gen- eral opinion seems to be that it has taken its place as a standard variety. Niagara. — Mr. Allan, of Goderich, reports the vine has made a strong growth on his grounds. It was the last vine to shed its foliage with him. Amber Queen. — Amber colour; hybrid, between black Hamburg and Marion. Com- mences to ripen the latter part of August. From a single season's fruiting, which is not always a fair test, we discover a slight tendency to looseness of bunch, which may be against it as a grape for the vineyard. It is, however, worthy of further test. Vergennes. — Has done well everywhere where grown the past season, proving healthy, productive, and one of the most reliable. Early Victor. — The latest candidate for public favour amongst the early blacks. Not yet fruited in Canada, but from growth of vine would pronounce it a very hardy and mildew-resisting variety. The well-known grape grower, Geo. W. Campbell, of Delaware, Ohio, speaks of it as follows : " The best and most promising black grape that I have ever seen. Quality rich, pleasant and sprightly. Earlier than Hartford or Moore's Early or any other black variety I have grown." Moore's Early. — Has grown well. The only fault to the fruit is that it only retains a good flavour when first picked. Senasqua. — Is also making a very fine growth. Owasco. — A light red grape hardly coming under the head of new fruits, still being so little known and having so many good qualities we notice it in this report. Supposed a seedling of the Catawba,. Is said to combine the following desirable merits : Earliness, large size, good quality, beauty, productiveness, and being perfectly hardy. One grower who has a large sample vineyard in the Niagara district says he would give it the prefer- ence, as a grape for the vineyard, of all other red varieties. Brighton. — Has done well everywhere the past season, and is rapidly pushing itself to the front as a grape for the vineyard. Burnet. — Seems to have proved a total failure in many districts the past season. It 6 [F. G.] 70 made a strong growth of wood and set some fruit very loosely, but what scattered bunches there were mildewed so completely that scarcely a berry was left uninjured. Williams' Seedling Grape, No. 1. — Continues a strong grower and immense bearer. Bunches large and well-shouldered. Quality fully as good as Concord and so closely resembling that grape that it might be sold in the market for it. Ripens with Concord. Wood short jointed, foliage resembling the Isabella. The bunches average larger than Concord ; berry adheres well to the stem ; skin, thin and tough. Williams' Seedling Grape, No. 3. — Fruited this season. Berry as large as Rogers' No. 36. Very compact bunch, not shouldered ; skin, very thick ; flesh, pleasant, but not so desirable for market as Seedling No. 1. Keeps well and would ship well. A white grape supposed to be a chance seedling, the property of Mr. J. H. Williams, of Goderich, fruited the past season. The wood and foliage of the vine strongly resemble the Delaware. The bunch averages larger than the Delaware, and the berries about the size of, or rather larger than the Clinton, not so compact as the Delaware, but quality is decidedly good to very good, and berry clings well to stem. Another season will develop general quality of fruit better. It seems a good keeper, some bunches having been kept loose in paper bags up to Christmas with quality fully preserved. PEACHES. Stevens' Rareripe. — Origin, Hudson River. Large yellow, ripening a little after Crawford's Late. Quality so fine as to sell readily the past season at $7.00 per bushel. Highly recommended by Chas. Downing. The trees will be offered for the first time in the fall of 1883, as a number of the leading nurserymen in New York State have budded it quite extensively the past season. One firm, after thoroughly investigating it, have put in fifteen thousand buds of this variety alone. Gov. Garland. — A western variety which is said to be earlier than Amsden's. We would like to draw attention to the wood being harder of this than any other variety, which, we think, would make it sufficiently hardy to stand even a colder section of coun- try than that generally devoted to peach growing. We would like to see it tested in some sections well north, in order to fully test its hardiness. Schumaker. — Claimed to be earlier than Alexander. Originated at Fairview, Pa. Medium to large j bright yellow splashed with crimson ; juicy, melting and rich ; parts freely from the stone when fully ripe. Recommended by Thos. Meehan, of the Garden- ers' Monthly. John Haas. — A new peach of bright colour and white flesh, succeeding Hale's Early and the earliest of the large freestones. The particular merit claimed for it is its extreme hardiness, it having endured eight degrees of frost while in bloom, without injury to the crop of fruit, in the State of Illinois. Clarissa. — Very large, yellow flesh, fine flavour and appearance. Said to be the largest peach known. Sener. — Large to very large, of best quality, yellow. Bears full and regular crops. Lord Palmerston. — Very large ; skin creamy white, with a pink cheek ; flesh firm yet melting ; very juicy and rich. May's Choice. — A large and beautiful peach of the highest quality, ripening imme- diately after the Early Crawford ; in size and form closely resembling that variety, but superior to it in richness of colour and high vinuous flavour ; tree a good bearer. PLUMS. Large Golden Prolific. — A seedling originating in a cold section of Ontario, where the original tree continues in a healthy, vigorous state, and bearing large crops every year. Fruit, about the size of and resembling the Yellow Egg, but finer quality and more productive ; tree one of the strongest growers. 71 APPLES. The failure of this crop the first season opens a field for investigation as to whether any special varieties are proof against unfavourable weather or insects that may have caused its destruction. Among the newer sorts we find the Stump and Wealthy bearing full crops, the latter variety withstanding the attacks of the aphis when the growth of other sorts close by has been almost entirely stopped by this insect. Ivanhoe. — An apple which has just been introduced in New Jersey as a late keeper ; price, $1 per bud. Small size — colour, dull greenish yellow, worthless for anything but a cider apple. Salome. — A seedling originating in Ottawa, Illinois, which is being grown by several leading nurserymen. Fruit, medium in size ; colour, pale yellow, shaded with light red and splashed with dark red ; flesh, tender, juicy, mild, sub-acid. Fruit adheres so firmly to the tree that it is not blown off by high winds. Tree in hardiness can be classed with the ironclads. Red Bietigheimer is said to be a valuable addition to the new list that is likely to be introduced soon. It is German in origin ; fruit large to very large, roundish inclining to conical ; skin pale cream-coloured ground, mostly covered with purplish crimson, firm, sub-acid, brisk, pleasant flavour. Abundant bearer worthy of extensive cultivation, ripens September. So speaks Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester. Scott's Winter. — An ironclad apple grown extensively by Dr. T. H. Hoskins, of Vermont, a very practical and noted horticulturist, and is highly recommended by him in the following terms : " The apple which well replaces for us the Roxbury Russet of a milder climate. . It is of a medium size, heavily striped and sometimes covered with red. Hard as a rock until April, at about which time it begins to mellow, becoming mild and aromatic, and far better in quality for a dessert fruit than Roxbury Russet, keeps fresh and crisp well into July." Magog Red Streak. — Second only to the Wealthy, of all the hardy winter apples. Tree a profuse bearer ; fruit large and a good keeper until April ; colour light yellow, shaded, striped and splashed faintly with light red over half its surface ; flesh, yellowish, moderately juicy, mild sub-acid ; stem short. This is also as reported by Dr. Hoskins. Ontario Apple. — Has freely fruited in Huron, and so far gives general satisfaction. It has the good point of holding to the tree like grim death. It still remains to test it as a cropper and value in market. Mr. C. J. Naftel, a Goderich township member, picked seventy-five splendid apples off his Ontario tree this season, and he thinks so highly of it that he has set a number of grafts from it upon other stocks. The following new varieties of apples were fruited this season at Cherrydale farm in Colborne township, county of Huron, by the enterprising proprietor, Mr. LeTouzel. Reinette de Lion, Verl Pippin, Romeril, Noir Binet, Cherrydale, Taylor Fish, Petit Jean, and Norfolk Beefin, which we describe as follows : Taylor Fish. — Still continues to bear heavy crops and fruit in excellent order for cooking up to January. Petit Jean. — Strongly resembles the Brock ville Beauty in colour, covered with white dots, and contains many raised ribs from stem to eye ; flesh white, crisp ; flavour pleasant ; quality fair. A handsome apple for dessert table and evidently a good shipper. KeeDs into February. Reinette de Lion. — Medium size, deeply flushed all over a yellowish cinnamon russet surface, similar in shape and eye to Blenheim Orange ; flavour slightly tart, brisk, pleasant, good, and resembles considerably the Westfield Seek-no-further ; stem slender. Keeps well into January, and would ship well. Norfolk Beefin. — Similar to the Chenango Strawberry in shape only coming more to 72 a point at the eye and smaller in size than that apple. Greenish yellow with splashes and streaks ; flesh firm, juicy, crisp and good. A good winter-keeper. Noir Binet. — Colour dull deep green covered nearly all over by a deep dark red ; form flat, with eye slightly depressed, average size of Col vert ; flesh greenish, juicy and pleasant, but lacks in decided flavour being rather insipid. Keeps till spring. Romeril. — A sweet apple about the size of Talman Sweet, is not likely to be of value. Green, with crimson blush on cheek, and brown dots covering surface ; deep open eye ; stem short. It keeps well through May. Cherry dale. — A home seedling, yellow, with cheek blushed with bright lively crimson. Has nothing to recommend it to particular notice. Vert Pippin. — About the size of a large Kentish Fillbasket ; green, with a blush cheek, dull ; calyx open ; very short stem ; quality only fair ; good cooker. Keeps until New Year. PEARS. Kiefter's Hybrid. — Considerable difference of opinion exists regarding the quality of this fruit, which mostly arises from the manner of ripening it. When gathered a little before maturity and packed in tight packages or smothered until fully ripe, it will be found to fully equal the Beurre Clairgeau as a dessert fruit, and is one of the best for canning purposes. Tree a hardy, strong, handsome grower, and perhaps as near blight- proof as any pear ; is enormously productive, coming into bearing at two years from the bud. These can be grown as surely and cheaply as apples, and will prove a great acquisi- tion to the list of pears. Le Conte. — Too tender for Canada — killing to the ground when budded on the Quince, although succeeding in the Niagara District when top-grafted on the Flemish Beauty. Of over fifty new European varieties of pears, imported for testing, the following are proving hardy and strong growers : British Queen, Lucie Grieve, Belle Anna, Louis Cappe, Bon Chretian Prevost, Leger, Antoine Lorimer, Madmoiselle Blanche Sannier, Comptesse Clara Frys, President de l'Estainot, Cure Carnoy, Philip Couvereur, De Grenna, Souvenir Trayve, Henri Decaisne, Souvenir de Rouen and Zoe. ORNITHOLOGY. The President announced that he appointed as a committee on ornithology Messrs. Walter H. Dempsey, B. Gott, and W. E. Saunders. At half-past twelve the meeting was adjourned until two o'clock. FRUITS ON EXHIBITION. Mr. Wellington read the following report : — Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Fruit Growers' Association. Your Committee appointed to examine the fruits on exhibition beg to report as follows : — PEARS. Josephine de Malines. — Shown by P. C. Dempsey, of Albury, Ont. The best winter pear in quality grown in Canada. Rich, juicy and sprightly, with a fine aroma. 73 Beurre Grise. — Quality medium, good keeper, medium to large size, green skin splashed with russet. Lawrence. — Quality good, medium size, good keeper. Vicar of Winkfield. — Quality varies ; cannot be depended on and would not recom- mend this pear. Champion Quince. — Shown by A. M. Smith, St. Catharines. Large size, and an improvement on the Orange. Shows excellent keeping qualities. APPLES. Arnold's Beauty. — Good keeper, quality fair. Fair samples were shown of Roxbury and Golden Russet. Ontario. — Good keeper, juicy, sprightly, quality fair. Nonpareil. — Shown by Mr. W. E. Wellington, who received it from Nova Scotia where it is largely grown for the English market. Fruit medium, roundish, conical, yel- lowish green, with patches of dull russet and red in the sun. Flesh crisp, juicy, mild acid, good. An excellent keeper. Nonpareil Russet. — Fruit small, greenish yellow covered with thin, dull russet, crisp, juicy, only fair quality. It is, like Nonpareil, largely grown in Nova Scotia for the Eng- lish market. Ben Davis. — Size, medium to large ; colour, yellow deeply splashed with red ; quality, inferior. This apple is in great demand on account of its excellent shipping qualities and fine appearance. Fair specimens were shown of the Wagener and Baldwin. Canada Baldwin. — An excellent apple. Medium to large size ; colour, bright red, fine keeper ; sprightly, juicy, sub-acid ; quality better than fair. Hastings. — Of good size ; skin, yellow splashed with red ; quality fair, but a little dry. Valuable on account of extreme hardiness — being a seedling of Fameuse. Mr. R. Brecon, of Richmond Hill, shows four seedlings. Nos. 1 and 2 inferior in appearance and quality. No. 3, a Russet which may be of some value. Has character ; but has been poorly kept. No. 4, worthless. Mr. Wm. Roy, Owen Sound, exhibits good specimens of Yellow Bellflower, Northern Spy, Baldwin, and three seedlings. No. 1, Royston Park, medium size ; deep yellow splashed with red ; quality medium, and sprightly sub-acid. Nos. 2 and 3 cannot be recommended. Mr. Thos. Beall, of Lindsay, shows excellent specimens of the Ontario apple. GRAPES. Three fine clusters of Catawba grape are shown in an excellent state of preservation. Also three clusters of Prentiss in fine condition. Quality good. . W. H. Marcon, of Guelph, shows a seedling potato raised from Myatt's improved Ashleaf and Early Vermont. Medium to large size ; flatish-oblong ; colour, white. Eyes well on surface. From general appearance would judge it to be an excellent potato. All of which is respectfully submitted. P. C. Dempsey, W. E. Wellington, A. McD. Allan, Geo. Leslie, Jr., A. A. Wright. 74 PROFITABLENESS OF GRAPES. The next topic for discussion was, " Can we make the Cultivation of Grapes Profit- able 1 If so, how 1 With what Varieties and what System of Cultivation 1 " Mr. Clark, of Lockport, was invited to introduce the discussion, and said : — I am a young man still, and would not presume to have any superior knowledge in regard to grapes, particularly in the presence of those old, gray-headed gentlemen, whose articles I have read and under whose instructions I have been for years ; such, for instance, as Mr. Arnold and your Secretary ; but I am glad to give you what little experience I have had. I should say that the cultivation of the grape for table and market purposes is taking quite a prominent position in western New York, and I should judge from the appearance of the fruits at your fall exhibitions, particularly at the one held this last September in Toronto, that you are not far behind us in the growing of the common native grapes in Canada. In fact, I think you are a little ahead of us in Niagara county. I have a vineyard of about fourteen acres, which I planted with a view to growing fruit for market purposes. Of the black grapes I find the most profitable with me to be tlie Hart- ford. It has the fault, when young, of the fruit dropping freely from the stem ; but I find that when the vines become of age they overcome that defect somewhat. The Con- cord, of course, thrives with us as it does all over the country where grapes will succeed. I have been quite successful with the Wilder grape ; by giving it a little extra care and attention, I can grow it and make it a very profitable grape. I have been obliged, how- ever, to make markets for it gradually. If it is sent into the wholesale market as a common black grape it will not sell for more than the Concord ; but where the grape is known it will sell for three or four times what the Concord will. Among the black grapes we find the Moore's Early quite a profitable one. Part of our crop of it we brought here last September, and sold during the fair at fourteen, fifteen, and twenty cents a pound wholesale. Among the red grapes I find the Niagara and the Agawam very successful. I have had a fine Worden in my garden for the last fifteen years, and it has always developed so much like the Concord — I see so little difference in them — that I have not propagated it at all. Down in the southern part of the State, they seem to see a little difference ; but if I see any difference in it at all I do not think it is as pro- ductive as the Concord, although it may ripen a mere trifle earlier. Mr. Roy. — How much earlier than the Concord? Mr. Clark.— I do not think it is more than two days. I am speaking of the quality of the Concord as we grow it here in comparison with the quality as grown down on the Hudson farther south. We hardly know what a good Concord is as compared with a well-ripened Concord grown in those regions. They ripen the Concord so thoroughly there that we hardly appreciate its quality as grown with us. The Agawam needs a little extra care in management ; when properly planted, grown, and cared for, it yields abundantly. The President. — Have you found any difficulty in regard to mildew? Mr. Clark. — Not at all with the Agawam. With the Salem we find some trouble from its mildewing. There are good reports of the Brighton wherever it has fruited. Everyone seems to be surprised with it. They have found it to be of much better quality than they had expected. I have never fruited the Brighton on my own ground. From what I have seen of it, it appears to be of a tender nature. They claim where they have fruited it in other localities that it is better. Among the white grapes I have had to rely entirely upon the Martha as a market grape. I have done so for the last ten years until this last year, when I had quite a crop of the Niagara, several tons of it. I have given the Niagara quite a test as a market grape. I shipped it to as many different markets as possible, and sold it through the hands of wholesale commission men to test it thoroughly, and I was agreeably surprised to find that it invariably sold at a higher rate than any other grape in the market, not excepting the California. The Martha is nowhere in comparison with the Niagara as a producer. The Brighton ripens with the Hartford ; you may go through the finest and select the bunches that are the earliest ripe, and market it with the Hartford. The Brighton has this valuable feature as a market grape, 75 that although the bunches are fit to be picked early, they will remain upon the vines a long time, and improve in quality. Mr. A. M. Smith. — I would like to know if Mr. Clark knows anything of the parentage of the Niagara, Mr. Clark. — It is a cross between the Concord and the Cassiday, and all who know what the parents are will know what its quality is. It was hybridized by hand. The Niagara is a seedling of the Concord fertilized with the Cassiday. I grow my grapes on trellises. I have three wires of about number nine or ten. The upper wire is about five feet and a half up. I set my vines about ten feet apart, and have the posts twenty feet apart. Upon the solicitation of a gentleman who has a wine cellar in Brockton, we sent him several hundred pounds of the Niagara, and he is so well pleased with the wine it produced that he and another gentleman are going to plant about fifteen acres of it. There is a probability of about seventy-five acres of it being planted out about Brockton this year. The President. — When do the owners intend to send that grape out I Mr. Clark. — They have not set any particular time to sell it yet; probably they will not send it out as long as they can plant any vines under their contract, probably not for two years at least, if then. Mr. Beall. — How do you protect your vines in the winter, or do you furnish any protection ? Mr. Clark. — We do not furnish any protection. In 1879, the Niagara produced in the neighbourhood of thirteen and a-half pounds to the vine. The grapes have sold from twelve and a half to twenty-five cents a pound wholesale. Mr. Morris. — There is one grape he did not mention, a white grape, which has done very well this year ; that was the Lady. The fruit of it sold in a city on the other side this past season at twenty-five cents a pound. That grape has been accused of cracking, but this season it has not done so. I think that people who expect high prices for white grapes to continue will be disappointed, because I think they are going to become as plentiful as the black. I believe the Niagara will be a good grape, although not of the highest quality. The Pocklington has ripened well this year at Montreal, and the vine being so very hardy and so free from mildew, I think it will prove very valuable. Mr. Gott. — There is no doubt at all about the profitableness of cultivating grapes in this country. We are not experimenting in that direction at the present time. Our friend from Lockport specially mentioned the Agawam as being a profitable variety there ; with us it is quite th /rcontrary, because of its being attacked by mildew. I was glad to hear the favourable account of the Hartford, because it is a kind of friend of mine. I think that of all the grapes the Iona perhaps stands number one in regard to internal value. In favourable locations it ripens well with us. The Lindley grape, that is, Rogers' No. thirty-nine, is perhaps the best of all the red grapes of Rogers. His No. four and No. forty-four are exceedingly valuable grapes, and can be grown well in most localities, and they give large returns. Among white grapes the Martha is no doubt a suceess in our country. The fruit is perhaps not of the highest quality or of the highest value, but it is good. The vines are very hardy. The President. — A basket of these Niagara grapes was sent to me late in November. I received it by express without any note. I did not know exactly where the basket came from ; but when I opened it I found it was filled with Niagara grapes. The grapes were at that time in a good state of preservation. They were in what I would call a fair marketable condition. They were not so sprightly as they would have been in the month of September or October, but they were in good enough condition to offer for sale, and would have sold readily. I submitted the samples to a number of friends, our worthy secretary, our director, Mr. Denton, and any other member of the Fruit Growers' Associa- tion that I could get at that time, and they were all pleased with the grape. I wpuld not consider from my own standpoint that it was a grape of the first quality. There are a great many other grapes that I would rather eat. At the same time I think it is a grape that will take well with the public, and sell at a good price. I should think it must be a very vigorous grower, and it is no doubt very prolific. Mr. Bucke. — I received a basket of the Niagara the same way at Ottawa. It was a long way to ship them, but they came in very good condition. I think the grape was 76 rather on the sweet side. There was no sprightliness much about it, but it was very, very ripe. The bunches were nice ones, closely set. I think the grape will be a very fine one for market. I think, however, a little more sprightliness would make it a better market grape. Mr. Wellington. — I think there is little doubt that grape-growing will pay in Canada, at least in Western Canada ; and I believe that the most money has so far been made out of the old Concord ; though it cannot be called a very high-class grape, yet it is hardy and productive, and has generally good qualities. We have fruited the Worden now two years on a number of vines in our small vineyard, and we have found it to be at least a week earlier than the Concord. It is of better quality, though a little smaller, and I think fully as productive. While it ripens earlier than the Concord, it hangs well to the vines. This last season has not, I think, been a good test for grapes anywhere, on account of its lateness ; but a year ago in the middle of October I found the Worden hanging to the vines in perfect condition, and the quality was not impaired, though the main crop had been taken off several weeks .before. This year grapes seemed to change their season with us, while last year our Brighton ripened first ; this year they were almost the last. We shipped to Toronto, Dela wares, Wordens, and a few Concords, and also Rogers' No. four, before we could pick our Brightons ; but after all the Brighton was the grape. I never saw anything so handsome as our Brighton vines this year. The Brighton will not bear transportation for long distances, but for short distances it can be shipped readily, and will command good prices, once it is known. I think it is equal in quality to a good many of the hothouse grapes that are on the market. Rogers' Nos. four, fifteen, and nine, I consider among the best of the Kogers. They do not mildew with us, although the Salem, which I consider a grape of excellent quality, mildewed this year so badly that we could not pick a cluster, though the vines were hanging full. With regard to white grapes, I consider the Lady a better grape for us here in Canada than the Martha. I believe it is more productive ; it is earlier, and it has, if anything, a better flavour. With us it has been very productive. The Pocklington came off our own vines this year ahead of the Brighton, though it will not do so every year. As I have said, the season seemed to have changed for grapes this year. The Iona ripens too late for general cultivation in Canada. Notwithstanding the lateness of the season we obtained fine samples, and they ripened up very well, although coming in latest of all. The Concord was good also. Mr. Clark. — In relation to the gentleman's report o.f- the Wordens, it agrees very much with the reports from the middle parts of New York state. There seems to be at least a week's difference there between it and the Concords as to the time of ripening. It also seems to be of better quality. I have fruited the Lady grape in my garden, and it appears to be a hardy grape, although a slow grower with me. The fruit ripens slowly ; and being left a little too long on the vines, nearly every berry was cracked throughout all the bunches. In quality it is about the same as the Martha. It is a little larger berry, and ripens a little earlier, and it comes a little sweeter into the market. Mr. Gott. — Was the cracking after very high winds? Mr. Clark. — It was after rain. It cracks a good deal, as the Delaware does, in a hard rain. With us the Delaware growing on rich soil cracks, and we lose a considerable por- tion of the crop sometimes, after a spell of damp weather. Amongst the other new varie- ties the Prentiss has fruited about Lockport, and it is a fair grower. It showed a little mildew this past season, both upon the leaves and upon the fruit. The Pocklington also fruited there. It seemed to grow very slowly with us. The fruit did not ripen at all with us — until very late, at least. It was quite passable in quality about the last of October. Mr. Beall. — There is another new white grape that is just now being placed before the public, called the Jessica. I would like to get some information respecting its quali- ties. ^ -Mr. A. M. Smith. — I have never fruited it, but I have seen it fruited in our locality and I consider it a very valuable grape. It is a grape of very fine quality, and one whic I think every amateur should have. The size of it and its clusters would not make it, think, a very valuable market grape, but for a home grape I do not know of anythin that is more promising at the present time. With regard to the Niagara, I formerly 77 when I saw it, said " sour grapes," because I could not get it ; but this year I have been to see it in all its glory and bearing at Lockport. I saw vineyards of eight or ten acres of different ages — some three or four acres in bearing, and I certainly never saw a more promising looking grape. As regards healthiness of foliage, uniformity of cluster, and apparently its shipping qualities, I never saw anything that attracted my attention more favourably than the Niagara. The Pocklington I consider a very good grape. It has been fruited in our section the past season. I received a vine of it some few years ago — from Mr. Morris, I think ; but I have not succeeded in fruiting it yet, although one of my neighbours had some very fine samples of the Pocklington this year. Mr. Wright. — When does it ripen as compared with the Concord ? Mr. Smith. — It ripened about the time of my Concords; but I considered his location a little more favourable than mine. In regard to the Brighton, my experience was that it ripened quite a good deal before the Concord this year, and the Worden seedling was at least five days ahead of the Concord with me. The Lady I got some two or three years ago, and I was disgusted with it, because it was, I thought, such a delicate grower. I think there must have been something wrong with the vine I got, because I have got some since and planted, which fruited this year and pleased me very much. It ripened nearly as early as Moore's Early with me this year. I did not see any indications of cracking. I consider it to be a very promising grape. Mr. Dempsey. — I received some little time ago a basket of Niagara grapes, and ever since I had the pleasure of tasting them I have looked upon the Niagara as the coming grape. My estimation of it is still increasing. I begin to like the grape better than I did at first, but I do not like the way they are keeping it. I have fruited the Worden grape for two years, and with me it is from ten days to two weeks earlier than the Con- cord growing beside it. Locality has a good deal to do with the maturing of grapes, and so has the quality of soil. We fruited the Lady grape this year by the side of the Wor- den, and there is very little difference in their period of ripening. The Lady grape is very early, in my opinion, and a very promising grape. I fruited the Moore's Early also this year near the Worden, and I am inclined to think that if I have the Moore's Early at all it is so near like the Worden that it is not worthy to be called a different grape. Perhaps I have not got Moore's Early. It is possible I have not. I have thought that I would order it again this spring to see if I would get the Worden again. I find fre- quently throughout the country that parties are cultivating the Worden who have not got it at all — they have got Concords. That, I presume, is not the case in Lockport, how- ever. If I was going to plant grapes again, and had suitable soil and a suitable location for it, I would plant largely of the Delaware. It is an old grape that we have tried for many years, and it appears to be giving perfect satisfaction yet. There is no grape in our market that is sought after more than it. Though it is small people do not despise it on that account. With us the Concord was never a success until I changed the locality in which I had it planted. Now it is doing very well ; but as the Worden is so near like it and the Concord comes so many days behind it I do not see that we require the Concord grape at all. I have nothing that pays me better than Rogers' No. 44, on account of its keep- ing qualities. It ripens sufficiently early, and ripens every year, and we have no difficulty in keeping it until midwinter or even longer. The Agawam produces immense grapes with us. I have picked considerably over a bushel off a single vine. But it ripens un- evenly. We are obliged to pick the fruit over several times. Nevertheless I believe the Agawam to be one of the most profitable of Rogers' hybrids. There is nothing better, however, than number three and number nine when it comes to a question of flavour. I think those two are just about as good as any we have of Rogers' hybrids, though not so good as the Brighton. I would not risk an extensive vineyard of the Brighton, because it is a grape that deteriorates in flavour quickly, and there is danger of our getting an overstock of it and not being able to hold it. Our Wordens this year matured with the Hartford, and not more than — I was going to say six hours — after the wonderful Cham- pion or Beaconsfield or Talman, which is supposed to be the earliest grape in cultivation at the present time. Mr. Roy. — Which of Rogers' hybrids do you think is the finest flavoured grape 1 78 Mr. Dempsey. — Three and nine — in fact three, four, and nine. When it comes to a matter of prolit I would prefer No. 44. Mr. Roy. — I have always preferred the Agawam. A Member. — I prefer it also. Mr. Bucke. — I prefer the flavour of the Salem ; but it is so apt to mildew. There is one prrticular grape grown largely about Ottawa, a white grape, which Mr. Gibb calls the Chasselas of Ayimer. It was brought to this country, I do not know how many years ago, by some French family coming out. It ripens very early, and has very good bunches, but the foliage is liable to thrip, as that of almost all the white grapes is with us. The Champion is a grape that has been a good deal talked down; but certainly if you have an early frost it is better to have some grape than none at all. Some people grow grapes because they cannot grow apples, and for the northern sections of this country, where the seasons are very short, I would rather have the Champion than nothing at all. I think the highest flavoured grape is the Burnet. It is a very strong-growing grape. The worst about it is that it has some small fruit in some of the bunches. But I consider it a very valuable grape, and I think any person who is growing for himself should have a Burnet. The Iona is one of the best grapes that grow, but it is certainly too late. We get it to ripen occasionally in Ottawa. The Lindley is better than the number fifteen, but the bunch is not so large. I like Rogers' number nine; I think it is one of the best grapes there is. It is a good bearer. The bunch is close, though not too close, but is not very heavy. Mr. Gott. — The Delaware is a very high-flavoured grape and a very valuable one ; but can the grower make it profitable 1 We get, say, two cents a pound more for it than for the Concord and some other varieties, but where we pick one pound of Delawares we can pick two or three pounds of Concords with the same labour and the same culture. Mr. Dempsey. — I think the difference in weight of the products of an acre of Con- cords and the products of an acre of Delawares would be very little with us. It would not amount to one cent a pound. The Delaware succeeds very well with us, while the Concord we cannot brag of any. The only difference there is in the two is that the Dela- ware is a little more expensive to grow. It requires a little more fertilizers to make it maintain its vigour. Mr. Bucke. — In growing the Delaware don't you find there is a great deal of prun- ing to be done about it % Mr. Dempsey. — I do not think so. Some of Rogers' hybrids require more attention than the Delaware. Mr. Roy. — I find the Delaware has always to be put in a hot-bed. Mr. Dempsey. — The Delaware is exceedingly stubborn to propagate. The President. — The Rogers' hybrids seem to monopolize a large share of the atten- tion of this meeting. My experience of them is that the majority of them are not desir- able, for the reason that they mildew so extensively. I had two vines of Salem last year which set in abundance all through. I should have at least a bushel of grapes ; but before they were half -grown the mildew entirely covered the foliage and fruit, and I failed to get a single specimen of the fruit. I think it is a grape we should not recommend our members to try, because I am satisfied not only from my own experience but also from the experience of a large number of other people that it is one of the most liable to mil- dew of any grapes we can grow. Rogers' number fifteen, Agawam, is not so liable to mil- dew with me, although it has mildewed ; but it sets such a loose bunch that it is not a sightly grape to send to market. It is unsightly both on that account and on account of its colour. The two varieties which I have found the most satifactory are number four, which is Wilder, and the Merrimac, number nineteen. The Merrimac is to my mind the most satisfactory of the Rogers' varieties. The berry is very large, and the bunch is so large that it attracts the attention of every one who sees it. It bears well and does not mildew to any considerable extent with me, and I have had an experience of perhaps three or four years in fruiting it. The Iona is a very desirable grape, but it does not usually ripen with us so as to be satisfactory. The Israella ripens well, and, I think, is a grape of very fair quality ; and last year the Ontario — the grape which we have all taken pleasure in running down — succeeded well in my grounds. It ripened well, and the clusters were very large 79 and handsome • and I do not think that in a locality in which it succeeds it is a grape to be despised. The Delaware succeeds very well in our district ; and the Concord, of course, succeeds everywhere. I think that of the white grapes the Martha, perhaps, has done better with me than any other variety. I have not fruited the Lady yet. I find it a slow grower — almost as slow as the Rebecca. I was surprised to hear M r. Clark say that the Pocklington was a slow grower. I find it, amongst about a hundred varieties that I have, to be one of the most vigorous growers of the lot ; but I have not yet fruited it so as to be able to give any other report on it. Col. McGill. — The variety that I find the most profitable of all that I grow is the Concord. The Hartford Prolific has done very well with me for the last two or three years, and as the vine grows older it does better. Moore's Early drops from the stem with me. It is earlier than the Concord some ten days on my grounds. The new black grape that has been brought out, the Worden, claims some attention. Not only in my grounds, but in other grounds at the town of Whitby we have not discovered more than two or three days difference for the last two years between it and the Concord as to the time of ripening, and it does not produce nearly the grapes with me that the Concord does. Of Rogers' hybrids I have Nos. 4, 9, 15, 19, 43, and the Salem ; and the only one of Rogers' hybrids that has ever shown any mildew — and I have now been fruiting them for the last ten years — is the Salem. Three years ago the Salem showed some signs of mildew, but this year none at all. So far as price is concerned the Brighton stands A No. 1. I sold all my Brightons this year at twenty cents a pound by the basket, and I had a very fine crop. I had clusters that weighed fourteen and fifteen ounces. Mr. McLean, a brother-in-law of the gentleman in Rochester who raised the original vine, says he never saw any clusters in Rochester equal to those I took to market and made him a present of. In white grapes I have the Martha and Lady. I like the Lady very much. The only fault I have with it is that it is rather slow in growth — at least I have found it so. But it is early, and I consider it a very fine grape. In my section of the country I think I could make grape-growing more profitable than I have ever made farming. I am satisfied that the small piece that I had in grapes this year paid me bet- ter than eighty bushels of wheat to the acre at two dollars a bushel. I had about seven hundred pounds of grapes on a piece a good deal less than the sixteenth part of an acre, and I sold them at from nine to twelve cents. The Delaware we can never get over twelve and a-half cents a pound for. The Champion is not a first-class grape ; but if it is well ripened and properly cared for, it is not a very bad grape ; and I think there is about as much money in it, take the country through, as in any grape that we are grow- ing. I had no difficulty whatever in the town of Oshawa in selling my Champion grapes for eleven cents a pound in quantities of fifteen and sixteen pounds at a time ; and there is a gentleman living away north of me who sells them for a higher price there. I am well satisfied that in our section of the country, where the ground is favourably situated, grape culture can be made profitable. Mr. Bucke. — I see some people smiling about the Champion, but a gentleman in Ottawa sold the first cuttings of the Champion at twenty-five cents a pound. Me,. Johnson, Campbellford. — I have tried all Rogers' hybrids, I think, and fruited them for twelve years, and I have not seen a sign of mildew on them yet. Rogers' No. 15 is perfection, I think — number one quality and a long keeper, and bunches seem to improve in size with age. I have had them weigh over a pound. No. 4 I consider the best among the black. I like Lindley also, and Nos. 19, 39, 41, and 43. My soil is gravelly. Rogers' hybrids all seem to do well in that neighbourhood. The Delaware also does very well. I have taken twenty-five pounds to the vine off the Delaware the third season after planting it. The Champion I do not care very much about. I like No. 3 about as well, and it ripens just as early as the Champion. The Champion is a poor quality of grape. I have fruited the Lady. It does not retain its quality more than two days after it is ripe with me ; it gets insipid. And the Brighton the same. I consider grape-grow- ing very profitable. I have now some one hundred and fifty varieties. I have not fruited them all yet. The only unhealthy vine I had this past summer was the Don Juan, and it appears perfectly hardy. I have the Niagara also. I fruited five vines this last 80 summer. They ripen quite early. I had two as good bunches, I think, of! the Niagara as any they grew at Lockport. I have two hundred vines of the Niagara. Mr. A. M. Smith. — With regard th the profitableness of grapes, it came incidentally under my notice how much a neighbour of mine realized for his grapes last year. He had three acres, mostly Concords, and the same man who was handling my peaches sold his grapes. I asked him if he could give me the net proceeds of the gentleman's grapes, and he said he could. He said he had paid him $800, and he knew of another individual who had paid him $100 more, making $900 from a crop of three acres. Mr. Denton. — On my visit to Port Stanley, to Bishop's old place last summer, I found the whole of his Rogers' varieties mildewed. I found the soil was sandy. The question naturally arose in my mind, has the soil anything to do with the mildewing of the varieties that you are now speaking about. oiFV Mr. Dempsey. — We have found some of the Rogers' varieties mildew so badly that we have abandoned the culture of them. Among them is No. 5, No. 14, No. 44, and No. 22. I took these out of my grounds two years ago, and since then I have not seen any mildew on the Rogers' varieties. I grow Rogers' varieties on clay and on sand, and I fail to see any difference in the mildewing between the vines on the different soils. Mr. Arnold. — I, for many years, suffered greatly from this grape fever, but I find latterly that I have cooled down as low as zero — perhaps a little lower. Many years ago I invited the Fruit Growers' Association — in fact I challenged the Board — to come up to my place and I would show them Rogers' hybrids growing in the open ground that would beat anything they could produce near Hamilton grown under glass. The Presi- dent and several of them came up there, and they admitted that they had nothing growing under glass equal to Rogers' No. 15. So long as I could keep up that quality of grape the fever lasted. But I cannot speak so highly of grapes to-day. Grapes have been in a measure a failure with me the past few years from various causes. A Member. — How does the Othello do with you now1? It does very well with me. Mr. Arnold. — It is a failure with me. It does well in France. There are many people in my section of the country who cannot succeed in growing grapes now as they used to do. Col. McGill speaks of selling Brighton grapes at twenty cents a pound. Why, we sold all varieties in our section at five cents a pound this last year, including Brightons. I, too, received a basket of the Niagara grapes. I never knew whom they came from • but I kept them, and on new year's day we had them on the table, and some of the bunches were in good condition then. I would not like to say much in favour of the flavour of the grape ; yet I believe it is a grape that will displace in time that im- ported sweet grape. There is a wonderful difference, however, in the taste of people in regard to grapes. Mr, Gilchrist. — I do not know much about grape growing ; but it must be very profitable, according to Col. McGill's statement. I have figured it up, and I find that it amounts to $2,240 per acre. Mr. Beadle. — This calculating the proceeds of an acre of grapes is certainly a very interesting process when you take one particular grape vine, get a pretty good crop off it, weigh the grapes, and take them to some dealer from whom you can get twenty cents a pound for them, and then calculate how many vines you can get on an acre, and how many pounds you can get off the acre, allowing for each vine as many pounds as were got off this particular one. In this way you can make it appear that you will get two or three thousand dollars off an acre. But when I hear those stories I am reminded of a story I heard or read somewhere of a boy who was dodging around when his father came home one day. The father said ; "John, what are you doing?" " I am helping Jim." "What is Jim doing'?" "Jim is catching rats." "And how many rats has Jim caught? " " Well, when we catch the rat we are after now, and two more, we shall have three." Col. McGill. — I have never yet said that I was going to raise that quantity on an acre, nor did I think that at all. I am only speaking of the piece of ground I was culti- vating. I have the names of the parties to whom I sold the Concords, and the price I received from each, and I can show these to any gentleman at any time who will come to Oshawa and ask to see them. 81 The President. — I do not think anybody will dispute the statement you make. It is only an inference they draw by multiplying the quantity. My Brightons that I received twenty cents for were for private use. ROSES. Mr. Beall then read the following paper : — To the Officers and Members of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario. Gentlemen, — Your Committee appointed at a previous meeting to enquire into the progress of rose culture in this Province, beg to report : — That the progress made during the last few years in this pleasing department of hor- ticulture has been much greater than at any previous period in the history of the Province. The increasing interest felt by our people in this branch of floriculture is the more grati- fying as it is altogether a " labour of love," no pecuniary profit resulting therefrom. The increasing demand for Hybrid Perpetuals during the last few years shows how rapidly the taste for rose culture is being developed. We have good reason to know that the number of rose plants sold in this Province during the last three years exceeds the total number sold previous to that time. The unusually cool, rainy weather during the months of May and June last seeemed suited to a better development of the beauties of the rose than that of ordinary seasons. For, although the blooming season was nearly two weeks later than usual, the blossoms were most abundant, very large and perfect, and the colour greatly intensified. The rose is acknowledged to be " the queen of flowers," and its cultivation may with justice be regarded as a standard of social and intellectual culture. In every community the owner of a plot, be it small or large, who cultivutes a few varieties of roses is tacitly acknowledged as being more refined and respectable than persons having similar facilities who neglect this inexpensive means of social refinement. To produce the best effect with roses they should be planted in groups, for when scattered promiscuously through a flower garden, much of the beauty obtainable by group- ing is lost ; and the best results are seen where the bushes are so placed as to receive partial shade from the mid-day sun. After much consideration your Committee concluded to recommend the following twenty varieties as being suited for general cultivation : Alfred Colomb. — Bright carmine red ; large, full, globular form ; very showy ; exceed- ingly fine. Baronne Prevost. — Deep rose ; very large and full ; a vigorous grower and abundant bloomer ; one of the oldest and finest of this class. Beauty oj Waltham. — Bright, rosy crimson; large ; very hardy ; very fine bloomer. Baron de Bonstetten. — Rich velvety ; narrow, large, full ; a splendid sort, though a shy bloomer in autumn. Caroline de Sansal. — Flesh colour, clear ; very delicate ; large ; very good. Coquette des Alps. — White, shaded with carmine ; small, but of very good form ; the growth is vigorous. Coquette de Blanches. — Pure white ; flowering in clusters. Duke of Edinburgh. — Brilliant scarlet crimson, shaded with maroon ; large and full. General Jacqueminot. — Brilliant crimson ; very large and showy. Jules Mar gotten. — Deep cherry red ; large ; showy ; fragrant ; free bloomer, both early and late ; superb. Louis van Houtte. — Reddish scarlet and amaranth ; the circumference blackish 82 crimson, shaded with bluish purple ; very large j full, and of fine globular form ; growth vigorous. La Reine. — Bright, rosy pink ; very large ; fragrant. La France. — Bright lilac, with rosy centre, often overlaid with a beautiful shade of silvery white ; delightfully fragrant. — W. Paul, when introducing this rose into England in 1867, said : " The shape of this rose is not at all regular, as the outer petals are often fantastically twisted and curled. It is, however, good enough and great enough to stand without conforming to conventional rose life," Madamoiselle Eugenie Verdier. — Silvery rose ; large, full ; of fine form and habit. Prince Camille de Rohan. — Dark crimson ; medium size ; very double. Climbing Jules Mar gotten. — Carmine rose, lightened with pink ; large, full flowers ; very pretty in bud. This is a decided acquisition ; the flowers are the same as in the old variety, and quite as freely produced ; the growth is more vigorous. Climbing Victor Verdier. — A very beautiful variety of great merit ; delicate pink shade ; is not a rank grower like the Queen of the Prairies, and can be grown as an upright with very little pruning. Countesse de Murinais. — The best white moss ; white slightly tinted with flesh. Perpetual White Moss. — Pure white ; quite mossy; not a free bloomer. Glory of Mosses. — Bluish ; very large ; very mossy ; one of the best. Your Committee would also direct the attention of the members of this Association to the necessity which exists of establishing in some of our large cities suitable houses for the cultivation of roses and other flowers suitable for funeral wreaths, and also for bouquets for wedding presents, private evening parties, public dinners, etc., etc., and thereby apply, for the encouragement of another home industry, the large sums which are annually sent to the United States for such purposes. Respectfully submitted. Thos. Be all, Chairman, Wm. E. Wellington, P. C. Dempsey. Toronto, February 1st, 1883. Mr. Dempsey. — There is one rose mentioned there which I think deserves to be spoken of a little more emphatically. It is a genuine tea rose that succeeds out of doors. I have grown it for several years. It is La France. It is a rose that a blind man can enjoy, and that for me is the best kind of a rose. With us, from the time it comes into bloom until the frost kills the foliage or destroys the bud, it is never out of bloom — we can go at any time and pick roses off our La France bush. I would rather lose the com- plete collection of roses outside of that than lose it. Mr. Wellington. — I quite agree with Mr. Dempsey in his remarks regarding La France. It is one of a class of roses now become very popular, namely, the Hybrid Teas; and there are some of them nearly, if not quite, as hardy as the Hybrid Perpetuals. I think there is no prettier sight than a group of these La France rose bushes. The great trouble, I think, in growing roses, and the reason why we have so little interest in it, is the fact that the bushes are grown isolated and in poor soil. To bring out the beauty of the rose, which is truly the " queen of flowers," we should group them ; we should have beds. If we cannot afford large ones let us have half-a-dozen bushes. If we can afford larger beds let the number of bushes run up to the hundreds. Then we can group the roses ac- cording to their colours, and bring out their beauties to perfection. In regard to the Hybrid Perpetual, I have heard a great many say that they cannot get their roses to bloom more than once during the season. They do not see any difference between the Hybrid Perpetuals and the Summer Bloomers. And why is it ? Simply because they do not give the roses enough to feed on. What they want is deep, rich soil; and do not be afraid to apply the pruning knife. Our Hybrid Perpetuals flower from the new wood 83 they make each year. Too many of our amateurs are afraid to touch the knife to their roses. Now, the old wood must be thrown out. Keep your roses growing the whole season; you can have your bed of them in bloom until they are cut down by the frost. As to the best twenty varieties for growing, that is rather a difficult matter to decide in view of the many hundreds of roses we have in our list ; but I have a list of those which I would call the best, that I have selected with great care. They are these : Alfred Colomb, Baron de Bonstetten, Climbing Jules Margotten, Countess of Serenye, Caro- line de Sansal, Coquette des Alps, Coquette des Blanches, Empress of India, Francois Michelon, General Jacqueminot, Louis Van Houtte, Madame Eugene Verdier, Prince Camille de Rohan, La France, Gloire de Dijon, Perle des Jardins, Countess of Murinais, Glory of Mosses, Perpetual White Moss, and Salet. If I were going to plant roses I would, in the first place, dig a deep trench, and put into that well-rotted compost to the depth of three 'or four inches. I would then put in some nice soil and plant my roses, working the top soil well in amongst the roots, firming it about the roots, and give them a mulching. I would then cut them back to within two eyes. Each fall or spring I would give them a liberal mulching of manure, digging that in in the spring, and cutting the bushes back at least two-thirds of the previous year's growth. Some varieties may need a little protection from the mid-day sun in this country. Your moss roses and your climbers you must prune very carefully. Mr. Beall. — Last year I found very good results from using burnt sods of weeds for manure. I had certain patches of my land overgrown with a certain weed, and we dug that out and burnt it, and I found first-rate results from using that. For manure of the ordinary kind I would prefer that from the cow-stable to manure from the horse- stable. Mr. Wellington. — The sod of weeds turned over and rotted is, of course, a regular manure for rose growers. Mr. Arnold. — For many years I used to gather sods from the roadside, lay them aside until they got dry, and then burn them, and I found them superior to any stable manure for flowers. Mr. Dempsey. — There is no rose that would give more satisfaction than the Gloire de Dijon. It is one of the hardiest of the tea rose family; but there is one thing requisite in growing it. If you grow it under glass in a cold grapery it will succeed. It is sufficiently hardy to stand the severity of the weather with the little protection the glass gives, so long as you prevent the roots getting frozen. If you can prevent the roots of almost any rose getting frozen, you can grow it out of doors. I grew the Gloire de Dijon for a number of years out of doors under glass, without any further protection than pro- tecting the roots. We allowed the roots to be exposed one winter, however, and it failed to put forth any buds. In cultivating roses out of doors where the soil is sandy and there is no snow lying on it, it is necessary to give protection. A clay soil is always better, according to my experience, than sand. Mr. Slight. — What is the best way to overcome the insect that is so very trouble- some on the rose plant ? Mr. Dempsey. — I used to be failing every year in cultivating roses ; and I got a little work that was published by Dr. Hole, of Scotland, and he suggests a remedy that you may depend upon every time. It is to maintain a thrifty growth all the time. If you cannot do that by cutting back or by using strong fertilizers, take your rose out and throw it away. Mr. Beadle. — In response to Mr. Slight's question, I would ask him what insect he refers to. Mr. Slight. — I think it is the aphis ; it is a small insect that eats under the upper part of the leaf and leaves it all perforated. Mr. Beadle. — That is not the aphis. If it is the aphis, you want to give him tobacco water. It is the red spider, however, and you want to sprinkle the plant with rainwater. The President. — I think the insect Mr. Slight refers to must be the thrip. It is an insect which it is very difficult to subdue, and it can only be attacked successfully in the earlier stages of its growth. Before its wings are grown its body is soft, and it is 84 then easily destroyed by the use of alkaline washes syringed on the under side of the leaf; or a lye can be made of whale oil soap and about a pound of concentrated lye, which is really caustic soda. If you delay the application until the insect gets winged, employ tobacco vapour ; that is, burn tobacco, and enclose the bush with some sort of covering ; either set a barrel over it, or make a paper cover. I have seen old hoopskirts used for that when they were in fashion, and a paper containing tobacco hung up by means of a string in the centre. By burning the tobacco in that way, enclosing the smoke, you can entirely destroy the insect. The slug can be reached by syringing the roses with Paris green and water, in the proportion of about a teaspoonful of Paris green to a pailful of water. Mr. Roy. — I have used whale oil soap for a number of years, about a pound of soap to a pail of water, and I do not find it succeed. The President. — Perhaps you allowed them to get too old. Mr. Roy. — No, I commenced early in the season. Mr. Slight. — It was not for my own information alone that I asked this question, but for the benefit of thousands of people throughout the Province who want to know how to get rid of this pest. The President. — The principal insects that injure roses at the commencement of the season belong to what we know as the family of Leaf Rollers. They are small cater- pillars which worm themselves into the flower buds and eat them. They are very easily got rid of by syringing the rose buds, just as they are bursting, with Paris green and water. A teaspoonful to a pail of water is sufficient if it is good — use from one to two teaspoonfuls in any case. Hellebore will also do in the proportion of about an ounce to a gallon of water. Having got over that difficulty you get a good crop before the thrip comes on. Then about the time the flowers appear you get the slug, that is, the cater- pillar. The eggs of the fly are deposited on the under side of the leaf, and the fly has a sort of piercer at the end of its tail by means of which it perforates the leaf when laying. The hellebore is a remedy for that also. The rose beetle is, in our section of the country, very seldom injurious to any extent, although I believe it gets inside the flowers and eats them, and eats the pollen as well. All these enemies are very easily managed except the thrip. Mr. Doel. — What is it that eats into the base of the bud ? The President. — This is the leaf roller. It is a very active little creature, and if it gets a chance it pops out the back way or any other way, and drops on the ground. If you rear it it produces a small moth. It is a very numerous and common insect, and very destructive in the buds of the rose. Mr. Beall. — In growing roses I think the first requisite is to have the bed thoroughly prepared. You cannot possibly make the ground too rich. In addition to the manure that has been mentioned here there is, I find, great benefit from the use of a large amount of charcoal dust. Then with regard to taking care of the bushes, we have found the best results from using whale oil' soap at first; that is, as soon as the leaf buds commence to open to wash them thoroughly with whale oil soap-suds. The only other enemy that we care about much in our neighbourhood is the thrip, which destroys the foliage, and unless the foliage is good I do not give much for the roses. My wife uses for that the remedy you have recommended, sir, employing a hoop skirt with another skirt over it. A POEM. Mr. Bucke here read the following poem : — THE LAY OF THE ANCIENT HYBRIDIST. BY P. E. BUCKE, OTTAWA. In the days of Columbus, so well known to fame, Who over to Cuba did gallantly pass, There lived a botanical, physicist, man, Who did much to improve our whole garden ' ' sass. " He lived in the light of sunnier climes, Some thousands of miles from this beautiful town ; He grew luscious greens for the sake of the dimes, And he met with a large and increasing renown. But selections and hybrids were chiefly his plans, To secure the results which his mind had conceived, He didn't care much for old nature's poor shams ; In the best that would flourish he only believed. He thought on this question by ni^ht and by day, In the old Alexandrian lib'ry he read All those classical books which philosophers say Would addle one's fancy, or quite turn your head. In the study of Greek he made a long pause Over Anaximander, that wonderful man ; Who believed that condensation of air was the cause Of the world-bodies formed on an aeriform plan. His conceptions were clear, fundamental and bold, The development theory he knew to be true, And by deep cosmological knowledge he told That the spheres when first formed were excessively few. Heraclites, that sage was no myth to his mind : In currents dame nature conceived, was his view ; The father of all was the struggle of kind, Perpetual change making everything new. Empedoclese taught accidental conjuncture Of forces which act and react, was the cause Of the first germs of life on this globular structure, Which slowly developed by circular laws. That the forms which existed in ages of old Were produced out of matter which never has rest, And those which survived were the fittest, he told, To exist in the future as being the best. The conclusion he came to when study was o'er, Was to "go it alone," as we say in this age ; Cut out a new road in the hybridist lore, So that next generations might call him a sage. So he set himself down to steady hard work, To cross a large fowl with a suitable vine, And he swore that his duty he never would shirk, Until mind and matter did closely combine. To come at this wonderful comical trick, Of a miracle, chemical, monstrosity, He thought himself hoarse, and he got pretty sick, It haunted him so in the land by the sea. The pollen he chose was the yolk of an egg, Hard boiled and rubbed down into powder so fine, That it looked like the stuff which sticks to the peg, Or the style of a flower on which the bees dine. A gourd was procured with a stamen whose cavern Could swallow whole gravel and not mind the load, Into this our scientist brushed in his pollen, And waited results with the patience of Job. To his joy one fine day at the end of September He passed by his gourd on his way to his swine, When he heard the " cheep, cheep," of a chick young and tender, And he knew that it came from his hybridized vine. 7 [F. G.] 86 To say that he Bprang twenty feet in the air, Would perhaps be a little overstepping the mark ; But surprise and confusion did raise up his hair, And his sensitive organs gave him a rough jerk. But collecting his senses and looking around, He found that his brain-box had led him astray, For the old " yallar " hen that was lost had been found, Having made her a nest in the cool on the clay. Like Jonah, she hatched in the shade of her vine, And brought out her chickens in comfort and ease ; She never once thought of the science sublime "Which grows drumhead cabbage on root of sweet pease. The man of deep thinking was awfully sold, Kept dark on his plans for improving the race, Lest his friends should combine, and turn him out in the cold, And his enemies give him a much warmer place. MORAL. Stick closer to nature, you may then succeed In developing something that's really some good ; But to cross a Shanghai with a pumpkin indeed, Would produce wings and giblets, but next to no food. Note. — Anaximander, who lived 625 B.C., assumed that out of infinity of matter through eternal revolutions, numerous world-bodies came into being as condensations of the air, and that the earth, too, as one of these world-bodies, issued out of a state originally fluid and afterwards aeriform. He also taught the theory that the earliest living creatures on the globe originated in the water from the action of the sun. From these creatures, later on, were developed the land-inhabiting plants and animals, which left the water and adapted themselves to life on dry land. Man likewise, gradually worked himself up from animal organism, and, in reality, from fish-like aquatic animals. One hundred years later, Heraclites, of Ephesus, propounded the principle that a great uninterrupted process of development pervaded the whole universal world, that all forms are evolved in everlasting cur- rents, and that struggle is " the father of all things," seeing that nowhere in the world exists absolute rest ; that all standing still is but apparent ; we are c mapelled everywhere to assume a perpetual change of matter, a constant variation of form. One form thrusting out its predecessor, the new usurping the place of the old. Later on, Empedoclese, of Agrigent, in Sicily, assumed that the everlasting universal struggle was caused by the laws of attraction and repulsion of atoms. He also taught that purposive forms or organisms came into existence through the accidental conjunction of counteracting forces. Out of this great struggle the living forms now existing have issued victoriously, because they were best prepared for the battle, and therefore most capable of life. FERTILIZERS FOR FRUITS. The next topic on the paper was, " Best Fertilizers for the different Fruits ; how pro- cured and how applied." Mr. Wellington being asked to introduce the discussion upon it, said : I might have to tell some of the tricks of the trade if 1 told all my experience in this matter. However, one of the best manures for fruit trees, and also for ornamental trees is our common wood ashes. We always use them when we can get them. We use them in connection with barnyard manure an J some lime. We have experimented some with the fertilizers that are sold, and have never had results from them sufficient to warrant us in taking hold of them ; and as long as we can get these old common ones we will not go outside of them. Mr. Morris. — For orchard purposes I think from 50 to 150 bushels of wood ashes to the acre would be a proper proportion. The ashes should be unleached ; it is the potash we want. I believe the use of unleached ashes has a tendency to cheok mildew. A Member. — Do you apply it annually 1 87 Mr. Morris. — You might apply it annually in small doses. Mr. Hopkins. — As I said before, it is one of the tricks of the trade to get hold of the ashes. We manage to get hold of them yet. Mr. Wright. — We make plenty of ashes and get them very cheaply, and once I wished I had not got them quite so cheaply, because 1 came very nearly killing my whole orchard with them. I applied them pretty liberally, and the first thing I knew they got all around the trees and came very nearly killing them. The man went and put a shovel- ful up against each tree instead of spreading them around as I told him. However, on clay soil there is nothing you can get so good as ashes with the exception of muck. You must not mix them with any manure whatever ; if you do they eat up your other manure and spoil it entirely. Mr. Roy. — I think one result of applying ashes is to keep down weeds. Mr. Robertson. — I agree that we have no better fertilizer for fruit trees than ashes, but then we cannot get them. At least that is my experience. But I can tell you some- thing we can get. I have found clay a good fertilizer for sandy soil ; and I think you may just reverse that and use sand for clay soil. Mr. Wright. — I have both clay and sand, and I use sand on my clay to loosen the soil and fertilize it ; but I have to be very careful when I work the soil to get the two mixed or else the ground becomes hard. We have to avoid working the soil when it is very wet. Mr. Reeves. — Bones are very soon softened by the use of wood ashes if they are kept moist. Mr. Wright. — Hardwood ashes are far better than softwood ashes to reduce bones. Mr. Slight. — Failing to get wood ashes, are coal ashes of any use whatever to the orchard ? Mb. Bucke. — Not the slightest. The President. — I think they are of very little use — hardly worth putting on. Mr. Croil. — Would it pay to buy ashes at, say, ten cents a bushel 1 Mr. Wellington. — We find it would, and even to pay a higher price than that. I think you would find it very cheap manure at that price. A Member. — I would like to know if salt would be of any use. Mr. Arnold. — I know it to be a valuable manure some seasons in some soils, but it has to be used with considerable caution. Many years ag,o in experimenting I used salt on a field where there were almost all manner of things growing, and I know that if you used the same quantity of salt on the raspberry. that you did on the strawberry the salt would do the raspberry good and kill the strawberry altogether. I once tried salt in the form of a weak biine to see whether it would kill mildew on grape vines, and I killed the mildew, but came very nearly killing the vines at the same time. I would be very sorry to recommend anyone to use anything like strong brine on grape vines. It is very bene- ficial to rose bushes, however, especially if the rose bushes are mildewed, along with tan- bark or anything of that kind. It is my opinion that if the season is wet the salt is very beneficial, and if the season is wet the salt is not required so much — the value of salt appears to be due to its retaining moisture. Mr. Roy. — Two or three years ago I had an animal that died. I had a heap of dung out in the field which 1 intended for the fall wheat. I had the carcass of the animal drawn out to this heap of dung, had a hole dug in the heap, and brought out a barrel of plaster of Paris. We sprinkled the animal all over with the plaster, and then put a lot of manure on it. We then put on more plaster of Paris, and afterwards heaped the manure up over the animal. In the fall when we were drawing out the manure we found the animal, bones and all, dissolved into pulp. Mr. Weld. — A plan that I have seen adopted in Kent, in England, where the ground was very hard and stubborn, indeed almost like brick clay, was this : In the dry season of the year the clay was dug up, piled in heaps, and a fire was made with old rubbish for fuel. The dry clay was then gradually piled on top of the fire until a large quantity of it was burned through. In that way ground that was almost useless before the burning was rendered comparatively fruitful. Mr. Reeves. — If the farmers here would in the summer season pile sods and rubbish 88 upon any old pine stump they may happen to have in the fallow, and then set fire to the heap, and will then draw what is left after the fire is out over the land, they will find that it is the best manure they can get. You very often find animals dying and getting killed around farms. If you will bury these in the neighbourhood of your apple trees or any- thing of that kind you will see the benefit of it in two years. In England we used to draw soot forty and fifty miles, and pay quite a price to get it for manure, and it is of great benefit. If you give your gooseberry and currant bushes a good dose of soot in the spring you will soon see the benefit of it. Mr. Wright. — The soil of the valley of the Yercheres River, where I live, is clay on both sides. On one side is the Brule ; that is, the burnt country. The land there was left perfectly useless. I have burned pine stumps out of my own land too, and wherever I did so the land was as hard as a brick, and I would not give two cents for it. FRUIT LIST FOR THE PROVINCE, On the next question, " Should we have a full Fruit List for the Province of Ontario 1 " The President said : — I think this question will be answered in the affirmative. I think we should have a fruit list for the northern sections, and one for the southern sec- tions. Mr. Arnold. — There should be a fruit list ; but I think it is folly to talk of one list that should apply to all parts of Ontario. No one list would do for the whole of the Pro- vince. We should pass a resolution instructing our members from the northern parts of the Province to bring in a list of the fruits that would do for their sections, and those members from the southern parts to bring in a list of fruits that they could grow, and then we would have a list that would be reliable. Mr. Gott. — My idea of a model fruit list is the one of Michigan. It is a record of the names of each of the fruits in the several departments, with their qualities, their times of ripening, and a sort of a little history of each. Provided this is our idea of a fruit list, the question how to get it is a very important one. In their list they have divided the State into three sections. The value of the fruits is determined by the delegates from those sections, and the fruits themselves are voted upon in council, and according to their exceedingly high value or low value they are " starred," the number of stars being pro- portionate to the value put on the different varieties. Mr. Beadle. — Our good friend Mr. Wright, who lives at Renfrew, asked me to sub- mit to this meeting a question that he would like to have discussed. He said he wanted to get information with reference to the best mode of preserving his trees — preventing them dying, as near as I could understand him, from cold. The trees up there catch cold, and get sick, and die. Now, I do not believe there is a man on the noor'of this house who knows half as much about the matter as Mr. Wright does himself, and I should like to hear from him. Mr. Hopkins. — Before this is acted upon I would suggest that we introduce in con- nection with it number ten upon the programme, as it bears upon that point, "The Culti- vation of Orchards." The President. — It is understood then that we take up cultivation, which is very closely allied with the subject we are treating of. Mr. Wright. — I think that this matter of protection to plants which are almost hardy enough for our section is one which would be interesting to any person almost. I have tried protection, and so have many of my neighbours. The first experiment that I made in it was with a rose-bush which 1 considered tolerably hardy. I turned a box over it, and in the winter it got covered with hoar-frost, and in the spring it was dead. My neighbours told me that they tried barrels in the same way, and their roses also were dead in the spring. Then I tried to collect what trees would grow in that district; but when I went to the Ontario Government and tried to get a list I could not • get any, and had to go to Minnesota, Michigan, and to my friend Dr. Hoskins,. in Yer- 89 mont. Now, I think it is very desirable that we should have a list. In the Province of Quebec they have one, and they revise it every year. We might do the same thing here. Each agricultural society in the Province might furnish a list at each annual meeting. If each county would go to work in that way, and have a list, and revise it from time to time, as they found new varieties coming up, I do not see why we should not have a list that would apply to every part of the country, so that those who were just starting out in the business would know exactly what to buy. It would be desirable, in giving in the lists of fruits, to state not only the varieties but also the latitude and the altitude at which they are grown, and also whether situated near water or not. After I found these things out from my friends in Minnesota and Vermont, I had my man make wisps of hay with which I bound my trees, and in the spring, after unwinding these off the trees, you could see a spiral mark around each tree; the parts that the straw had touched were black. I had nearly destroyed my trees in this way. I had two Duchess of Oldenburg beside each other. I stood a lot of cornstalks around one of them, and in the spring for some rea- son that tree was dead, while the other tree which I had not protected at all was perfectly alive and grew as well as any tree in my orchard. My grape vines I protected with the clay soil that was close to them, and I found that that was not the thing at all. If you had a very dry fall and you put the clay on the grape vines it worked all right and pro- tected them well \ but if you happened to have a wet fall the clay was cold, and killed your vines entirely. So I had to desist from the use of the clay soil ; but if I used muck the vines came out all right. I then bought a Flemish Beauty pear tree, and tried to protect it with straw. I put straw all around it ; but *the wind came in a circle around this tree and blew the snow away from it, and during the winter the frost penetrated into the ground and killed the tree completely. Another experiment which I tried with an apple tree. I planted apple trees near one corner of a little building which I had, and could not get them to grow at all. Discovering that the wind was taking the snow away from them I got some boards and put them around the trees to a height of about three feet and extending about sixteen feet in each direction, and the snow filled in there and protected the trees so that they lived. My soil being clay I have to avoid allowing the roots to go down into it to any depth. I try and plant my trees up as near to the surface as 1 can, and endeavour to get the roots to go out in every direction instead of going down deep into the soil. To prevent the roots striking too far down I get a pine tree about three feet in diameter and saw planks off it about three inches thick, and put these under my trees. In this way I get the tree to live. If you alloAV the roots to go too far down they are torn apart by the heaving of the frost. Another precaution that we have to take is never to work the soil in the fall. We try to get our trees to grow as early in the spring as we can, and to prevent them as much as we can from growing in the fall. If we let them grow in the fall the wood is not matured, and the early frost injures the trees. The President. — Will you kindly give us the names of the apples that succeed well with you'? Mr. Wright. — Here is my list of five, revised up to the present time. First of all the Wealthy, next the Duchess of Oldenburg, next the Mcintosh Red, next the Peach of Montreal, next the Yellow Transparent. I know that all these that I have are true to name. If you really get these varieties there is no. doubt that they will grow in a climate where the mercury falls to from 36° to 40° below zero. Mr. Bucke. — Have you tried the Alexander 1 Mr. Wright. — I have tried the Alexander, but have not fruited it yet. I would not like to recommend a tree until I have fruited it four years. The difficulty is to get trees to mature their wood early enough in the fall. The President. — What varieties of grapes have you that ripen with you ? Mr. Wright. — The Pocklington came quite near ripening with me last year, but did not quite. Moore's Early, I think, is going to ripen there. The Agawam ripens there ; so does the Concord ; and so does the Champion of course. And I may say that we grow the Champion in preference to almost any other grape in our locality, because it is a thrifty and hardy grape, and we can sell it at ten cents. The Delaware ripens with us 90 too, and does tolerably well umier ordinary circumstances ; that is, if we have a favour- able season. Mr. Croil. — Will the Se^knofurther apple stand with you? Mr. Wright. — No, nor the Talman Sweet either. The Red Astrachan will not succeed with us either, although it may promise to do so at first. Of Scott's Winter one-half grew with me and the other half died. That may succeed in our locality, but I am not sure whether it will or not. The President. — Some time in October I received from Sault Ste. Marie some fine specimens of the Duchess of Oldenburg, showing that they are even succeeding in that district with that variety. Mr. Roy. — I was in Montreal about four years ago, and saw this Peach Apple in a small garden, and a most beautiful apple it was. It took my attention at once. I had not seen it in Ontario at all, so I made arrangements to have some scions of it sent up to me, and I have got them in trees now. It will be an acquisition to the apples of Ontario. Mr. Wright. — I would not advise anyone to grow it who can grow other apples to any extent, because it does not keep — it will bruise easily, and it shows its bruises very much. The Mcintosh Red is a magnificent apple with us. It keeps a long time. Mr. Arnold. — I was going to ask Mr. Wright if he had ever tried to gel apples worked on the Paradise stock. My experience of apples is that there are some varieties that will grow hardy on the Paradise stock that will be tender on seedling stocks. Mr. Wright. — I was not aware it made any difference what kind of stock you grafted on. I thought it was the graft that made the difference. Mr. Roy. — I believe it is conceded that a hardy stock will have an effect upon the scion that is put into it. Mr. Morris. — A better plan would be to grow the hardy varieties for these cold sections, and to graft with a long scion on pieces of root about two inches long ; plant these deep, and the scion will then throw out roots that will be as hardy as the top. The President. — It would benefit Mr. Wright's locality very materially if he would sow some seed of hardy varieties and raise some seedlings. When I was at Saulte Ste. Marie, three or four years ago, I found that a gentleman there had raised some varieties from seeds of the Fameuse, that would stand the climate when Fameuse died out. The seedlings were not as good as the Fameuse itself, but were really very good. I think that the way in which we must look for hardy varieties for our cold countries is to raise the trees from seed. The seed having been subjected to the cold, produces plants which are hardier than the parents from which the fruit producing the seed was obtained. Mr. Wright. — I am working now in connection with the Renfrew Fruit and Flower Association, in the County of Renfrew, and in Arnprior. I have no interest in those people myself, but am merely working with them to try to get hardy seedlings ; and the way they do is, to go around to the seedling orchards in the fall, and find out which are the hardy varieties. We have now one very promising variety. It originated on the Calumet Island, and we have called it the Calumet apple. Nearly all of our hardy varieties are fall apples. This apple that I speak of will keep until the following spring, and it is a beautiful apple ; but the difficulty is that we do not know whether it is hardy enough or not, because, growing on that island — although it is twenty-seven miles north of us — it is surrounded by water. They have something over twenty varieties of seedlings, which they are growing now in Arnprior, and which we think will be very valuable indeed. Mr. Beadle. — If this apple that you have just spoken about, is of such good qual- ity that you want, if possible, to grow apples like it, I would advise you to sow the seeds of it in your locality. If you do, you will be very likely to get some good long-keeping varieties from it that will be hardy. I have experimented in that direction for a good many years, and I am perfectly satisfied that the principle is a true one ; that if you take a tree from a more southern locality and bring it into a section where it will barely live, but you can get it to live long enough to produce fruit, and you then sow the seed of that fruit, it will produce a tree hardier than the parent tree. I he stock does .not make every variety enough hardier to make such a great difference ; but if you happen to get a variety that is almost hardy enough — Red Astrachan, for example — it may be 91 that you will find that the stock will cause the branches of the summer growth to ripen up early, and when they ripen up their wood to the extremity and form their terminal buds, they generally live through the winter. Mr. Roy. — Raising apples from seed is a very slow process. I had about fifty trees that I sowed the seed of, and there are only about four or five, or perhaps six, samples of seedlings there now. That is all that T got out of the fifty trees — all that I retained, and that were good for anything. The President. — You want to grow a large number and select from them. Mr. Dempsey. — I am afraid Mr. Wright might be disappointed if he grew his trees on the Paradise stock. I have tested a number of varieties upon it. There is one sent out which is grown from the seed by Mr. Rivers, of England, that is a little hardier than the others. I have found one variety of apples which is quite tender on the Paradise stock, but, which grafted on the original stock, appeared to be quite hardy. The only way I can account for that is, that the Paradise threw out such a number of fibrous roots near the surface that the light rains that begin to come in the month of September are quite likely to cause a partial second-growth, and they are too often poorly prepared for the severity of the winter. Mr. Morris. — I would recommend taking the seedlings when they are one year old and grafting them into larger trees. You would have the fruit then in two or three years and be able to see whether it is good or not. Mr. Slight. — I have had a little experience in the north ; and, to give it a very short form, I will picture to you two fruit trees I have my eye upon, which I have watched closely for some years back. There is one, the owner of which is a very active man, who gathered all the information he could, and tried his very best to work upon it. He cultivated and did his utmost to have a good, successful orchard. He was, at the time I speak of, and is now, about discouraged. Another man beside him took a very easy way to grow an orchard. He has left it growing in grass, and every year, in the spring time, he scatters a light covering of ashes around each tree, and that keeps the grass down. He does no cultivation whatever in the orchard. He grows his trees very low, and when the fruit is on them, you can hardly get through the orchard. The trees are loaded. He has a shelter-belt on the north side of his trees. The result is that, whereas his neighbour near him has failed entirely with the best cultivation, he has had the greatest success with very little cultivation. He rather favours planting the orchard on a northern slope, in preference to putting it on one facing to the south, or south-west. I have found a great many orchards in that section which were facing somewhat to the south, and invariably I found that in them the trees in the spring time thawed out most on the side next to the sun, and the prevailing winds being from the south-west, I found in a great many cases that trees would become black — scorched, as it were — on the south- west side where the mid-day sun struck them, and in four or five years be entirely destroyed. Mr. Wright. — We invariably choose a northern slope, and the higher it is the better, because the frost does not strike it so soon. It now being half-past five o'clock the Convention took recess until half-past seven. During the ensuing evening session quite a number of visitors, ladies and gentlemen, were present, and appeared to take considerable interest in the discussions. PACKAGES FOR APPLES. The first topic discussed was " The Best Size and Form of Package for Apples for for- eign shipment." Mr. A. McD. Allan. — I have never used any package except the one, to any extent ; tha't is, the well-known apple barrel, supposed 'to hold two bushels and three pecks — in reality I suppose the majority of them, when they are properly packed down, hold as close to three bushels as possible. I have tried boxes holding one bushel apiece. I have sent 92 out circulars to the old country asking as to the different packages, and the majority of the replies are to the effect that they prefer the Canadian half-barrel, as they call it, to any package that is sent across as long as it is air-tight. I contemplate a change in the barrel that we have been using. That is, to employ a barrel with scarcely any bilge at all. The less bilge there is in a barrel the better. We find that when the bilge is large the apples in the outside of the centre of the barrel are more or less bruised in the rolling of the barrel, in the dumping of it, and in the storing of it away in the hold of the vessel. My idea is to have a barrel with staves that are almost straight, and with large quarter hoops, and if possible, a bevelled quarter hoop so that in rolling the barrel the weight will come on the quarter it is rolled on. At one time I thought of using a new sort of barrel which was manufactured by a Guelph company out of whole wood of the same style as the cheese boxes. The idea of such a barrel was that it was going to roll on the top and bottom hoop. But I do not think that would answer as well as one of the sort I ha^e referred to. I think the common barrel, on the whole, is going to suit as well as • ' © © any, and it seems to take as well. The opinion of the dealers in the old country seems to be in favour of it. Several extensive firms in London, England, complain of too many of our barrels having too large a bilge. I believe if a company could be formed for the purpose of packing in sufficiently large quantities, who would place a pad of very fine marsh grass in the bottom and top of each barrel, and then fill up the barrel with medium sized Northern Spys, well coloured, they would find that apples so put up would take about as well in the English market as anything going. Each apple should be folded in a piece of tissue paper and then packed in fine oat chaff, with chaff between the outside apples and the barrel. I think it would pay shippers to use a more expensive barrel than we have been using in the past. I believe that in the European market they are perfectly willing to pay for a neat, good package. Mr. Beadle. — The United States is a foreign market; and perhaps some of our shippers would prefer to send their fruit to New Vork city. I was recently conversing with a gentleman who has been in the habit of sending choice fruit there and to Boston, and he told me he always sent choice fruit, if it was apples, in half-barrels — if pears in bushel boxes. He says he can get more money for a half-barrel doubled, making it a barrel, than he can for the same quantity of fruit in a barrel. He also corroborates what Mr. Allan says, that — within certain limits, I suppose — you cannot make your package too neat, and tidy, and attractive looking, apart altogether from the quality of the fruit. Do not send to those markets an old barrel that has been used for something else, or a cheaply-made barrel, but a strong, tight, well-made article. Then if your apples are such as Mr. Allan has described, wrap them in tissue paper ; he says if it is coloured tissue paper, all the better. He always wraps each pear in tissue paper, and labels the package on the outside with a neat piece of paper pasted on. This label is neatly got up, and is attractive looking, and the name of the fruit is written on it. There are also labels on the apple barrels having the name of the fruit written on them and the name of the party sending them printed on. He says that by sending your fruit in this nice, tidy shape to market you will get a considerable percentage more for it than you can get for the same fruit put up in a less tidy form. When I came into his office he had just opened a letter giving the returns of four half-barrels of Lady apples that he had sent down. They had sold one of the half-barrels for eight dollars. I suppose it was about Christmas time when a pretty, attractive little apple was wanted for table decoration. For a package of Beurre d'Anjou pears got up in this nice style he got five dollars. Mr. Wellington — I received from Nova Scotia to-day a newspaper report of a meeting of the Fruit Growers' Association there, in which I notice a communication from Mr. Frederick J. H. Axford, who it seems has put up apples for the English market, and who succeeded in taking a prize offered by a London firm for the best way of packing ten barrels of apples. He says : — " Sir, — According to the requirement by advertisement for competitors for prize offered by Nothard and Lowe, of London, England, for best ten barrels of Ribston Pippins, I forward you a brief statement of my method of packing and marking apples for market. " Picking. — The fruit is hand-picked from off the trees singly and carefully into 93 baskets which are carefully emptied into apple barrels close at hand in the orchard (excluding all wormy fruit, to prevent good fruit being defaced by the worms in fruit bin). Thence they are taken to the fruit room, and carefully placed in the fruit bins, where they are allowed to sweat and remain until required to be put up for the market. "Packing and Marking. — I secure, if possible, air-tight barrels,1 believing that the more the air is excluded from the fruit the better it will keep anywhere, and especially as freight in a vessel. Having obtained the barrels, I number the bottom and sides before I remove the bottoms, to secure the right ones when heading up. I then nail the heads and bilge hoops securely, taking care that no nail points are exposed inside the barrel. I then place a thin layer of excelsior shavings inside on the head of the barrel, line it with white paper, placing same upon the excelsior, and proceed to pack the fruit, marking in pencil the intended quality on each barrel, to avoid any mistake when labelling. When sorting fruit I choose some of the brightest and best for heading with, so that when it is opened it may appear desirable, and ask to be poured out for inspection. I lay the first two layers of fruit with the stems down (they show up when the barrel is opened), placing them in tightly, after which I carefully put in the best from the basket, putting in perfect fruit in form and of uniform size, for the first quality ; shaking the barrel occasionally that the fruit might settle. When full I put in some of smaller size to fill up the spaces, and place a layer of white paper over all, before I put in the bottom of the barrel, or as it is termed, head up, which operation I perform with the screw header (M. C. Bacon's, Falmouth), which took the prize at the Kentville Exhibition, where I bought it. Having got the bottom in place through steady pressure and gentle tapping of sides of barrel all round, and otherwise shaking the barrel to get apples solidly in place, I put the hoops on and secure by nails, using stout shingle nails for bottom hoops, and either large tacks or small lath nails, as the hoops may require, for the bilge. After which they are marked by stencil plates, with the name and quality of fruit, name of grower, and locality of growth, and forwarded to market, seeking for as good a price as is going. " I am, sir, yours truly, "Fred. J. H. Axford." Mr. Morris. — A plan that I have thought would be well for the fruit growers to adopt would be for them to provide themselves with boxes, each of about a size for two men to carry, with a handle on each end. These could be made out of five-eighths of an inch lumber, or something about that thickness. When the apples were gathered from the trees they could be put into these boxes, and carried into the barn in them, and in this way the fruit would require less handling than it generally receives, besides which it would be all ready for shipping. Mr. Dempsey. — We ship pears a short distance. Montreal is the farthest we have ever sent them. The most profitable package we have ever used is the three-half-peck basket — just the ordinary peach basket — not the old style, but those with a handle on top like a market basket. We sort our pears for every basket uniform in size as far as possible, and cover the fruit with a cloth which I think they call tarleton, so that you can readily see the pears through it. Our pears this year brought us a dollar and a half for each three half-pecks, that is, a dollar a peck. I mean that we realized that at home. If we had packed them in barrels we would not have got that price. In shipping apples I have found the same difficulty that Mr. Allan has been speaking of — that where there is much bilge to the barrel the fruit does not arrive in England in such a good condition as it does when packed in barrels that are almost straight. I had been at a loss to know why that was the case ; but Mr. Miller, a very large shipper of the Early Canada, says that when he has shipped apples in large barrels the rubbing of the barrels together in the ship has actually worn the staves through by the time they arrived in England. If the apples happen to be packed so that they are a little loose, or if they happen to shrink a little after being packed, the apples roll in the barrels themselves, and the consequence is that when they arrive in England every apple is discoloured. I fancy that if we can get a barrel nearly straight — I would not want it perfectly straight — this difficulty would be nearly overcome. With reference to packing, I never saw a system work as well as this: 94 To have a table in the orchard, one which can be easily moved, and which has some soft cloth on it, and have the pickers empty the apples on this table, and then sort them on it into uniform sizes. The table should be about twelve feet long,' and of a width which will admit of its being reached across. When apples are sorted in this way, medium sized ones will bring about as much as the large ones. Sometimes we have got more for Northern Spys that were of medium size than we have for large apples of the same variety. When we are sorting the apples we can have the barrels into which we are putting them standing beside the table. One word in opposition to the packing in tissue paper. If we could maintain the same temperature in the fruit until it arrives in the market that it has when the apples are rolled up, there would be no difficulty whatever. But supposing the apple is cooled when the paper is put on it, and it is moved into a temperature which is very much warmer, as it generally is when it goes in a ship, par- ticularly when it is beside a boiler, a certain amount of moisture comes from the apple and makes the tissue paper adhere to the fruit, and this has a very injurious effect on it. I fancy that if we would send our apples over to England in any shape in which they would carry nicely, and then have very small and nice packages there, and persons to sort our apples and put them into those, we would do well with them. This practice is about to be introduced into England this coming season by Macaulay & Miller, of our county. One member of the firm intends going to England to repack all the apples into small packages when they arrive there, so as to have none of the slaughter market busi- ness. The way apples are sold over there now is to open a barrel, and to auction the lot off by that sample ; and if that particular barrel happens to have some defect about it which the others have not, there is a loss on the whole consignment. A certain amount of moisture comes through the skin of apples, some call it sweating, and this is what causes them to shrivel. Mr. Roy. — And you will find when the sweating process is going on the apple has a kind of oily feeling. Mr. Dempsey. — I think that allowing them to stand in the barrel until they get a temperature uniform with that of the surrounding atmosphere will prevent this sweating, which I think is very injurious. I think that lining apple barrels with paper has a beneficial effect. Sometimes we get orders for apples late in the season. I had some apples that were frozen-in a couple of years ago in the St. Lawrence. The last ship that started out got stuck fast. Fortunately I had lined the barrels in which they were contained with paper, and those apples afterwards arrived in perfect order, and brought handsome prices. The lining of the barrels with paper prevented them from freezing. Mr. Wellington. — I am inclined to take exception to the plan of the last speaker of leaving the apples in barrels very long after they are picked, especially if the weather should be very warm, because there would be danger of their ripening too much. I have tried that and found them to ripen very rapidly, and the result was that they were not in as good a condition for keeping. They got too ripe before shipping, and were injured in that way. I think it is far better, unless the weather is quite cool, that they be turned out where there is a free circulation of air. I think they will ship better. Mr. Dempsey. — I heard considerable in Michigan from the people there upon this subject. The majority of them advocated the building of a fruit-room convenient to the orchard, and recommended that as quick as the fruit was put up in the barrels it should be removed to that room. Their fruit-room was generally built of wood, with a double wall having a space in it of about three feet in width, which they would pack full of straw. Where they had sawdust they left a space of about a foot and a half which they packed with sawdust. Every cold evening they would open the doors, and let this room cool, and early in the morning the doors, which were double, would be closed. By this means they got enough cool air to cool their apples off, and the fruit was then ready to be packed for shipping. 95 ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. Mr. Wellington submitted the report of the Committee on Ornamental Trees and Shrubs, as follows : ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS. To do the subject under consideration justice would require volumes of space, extensive information, and an ability in weilding the pen which the writer does not feel possessed of. Little more can be done in an article of necessary brevity but give a simple classification of ornamental trees and shrubs best suited to Canada. This is itself difficult, because in Canada we have so many and totally distinct climatic influences to contend with that what will succeed in one section will be uncertain in another where there is apparently little difference in climate. Every part of the world has its charac- teristic vegetation, depending to certain extent upon climate and soil, but probably more upon other causes, which has been variously explained by different investigation. In this short article we can only speak of facts as we have found them, with little speculation as to the agencies which have operated to bring them into existence. We find that plants are not by any means distributed or confined, in a wild state, to localities best suited to them, or where alone they will flourish. Frequently we find that plants attain a development unknown in their natural state, when conveyed to a distant part of the world possessing a similar climate. This we think may be attributed in a great measure to freshness of soil, and it will not surprise us if in the near future many trees and plants which have been grown with indifferent results in Canada will attain almost perfect success in our great North- West. In Australia many of our common weeds were introduced with grain and cereals, and in many instances where they escaped beyond the limits of cultivation, they took complete possession of the soil to the total expulsion of the native vegetation. In course of time the vigour of these introduced plants diminished, and they were gradually reduced to more equal terms with the native plants. This fact supplies a valuable hint to the cultivator respecting the importance of change of soil, and explains the relative fertility of freshly broken land. It is gratifying to learn that not only have the tastes of the people led them to plant more extensively each year of ornamental trees and shrubs, and the demand for beautiful trees and shrubs is ever increasing, but that the efforts of the importer, hybridizer and propagator have been productive of such success. It is only within a few years that we have had that most beautiful of climbing plants — the Clematis ; and how many of us can remember when the only Paeonia known was the old- fashioned red, known as the Piney, which though brilliant in hue, and fine in size and appearance, was enchanting only at a distance, for its distasteful odours condemed it to such an extent as to almost drive it from our gardens. Now, however, we have Paeonias almost as numerous and many-coloured as the rose, and with perfume so delicate as almost to rival that queen of flowers. And to a greater or less extent has this improvement gone on through the whole list of ornamental trees and shrubs. Every country has . given us of its handsome trees and shrubs, until we now have a list that should please the most fastidious. Japan furnishes us with beautiful Deutzias, Hydrangeas, Pyrus Japonica, Kerria, Forsythia, various species of Clematis, etc., etc. Siberia and Northern China give us Kolreuteria faniculata, Ailanthus, and many untried recent introductions. Asia Minor contributes Rhododendron Ponticum, and North America and the mountains of India are the native countries of most of the other cultivated species of this beautiful genus. The majority of the coniferous trees that are hardy come from our own conti- nent and Japan. The gigantic Sequoias, the stately Piceas and Abies, and many species of Pinus, together with some of the handsomest of the Cupre'ssidse. Without further digression we will come back to the point indicated at the begin- ning of this article, and enumerate under three heads the best ornamental trees and shrubs for Canada. 96 DECID10US ORNAMENTALS. Acer — Maple. English or Cork-barked. — A native of central Europe. It is a slow growing stocky tree, of compact, roundish babit, with corky bark and small handsome foliage ; hardy and very ornamental. White or Silver -leaved Maple. — A North American species, of large growth, large size, and irregular rounded form ; foliage bright green above and slivery- white beneath ; tree very hardy and easily transplanted ; where immediate shade is required, one of the most useful trees ; also a favourite street and park tree. Weii^s Cut-leaved Maple. — A silver maple with remarkable and dissected foliage. Of rapid growth ; shoots slender and drooping, giving it a very graceful appearance. Norway Maple. — A distinct foreign variety, with large broad leaves of a deep green. Probably the best maple in cultivation. Curled-leaved Norway Maple. — A curious variety of the above, with leaves the lobes of which curl and turn inwards, giving the tree a novel and distinct aspect. ReitenbacKs Norway Maple. — A promising new variety with dark purple leaves in spring. In summer and autumn the leaves have a faint purple tint. Schwedler's Norway Maple. — A beautiful variety, with yoimg shoots and leaves of a bright purplish aud crimson colour, which changes to purplish- green in the older leaves. It is a great improvement on the well-known Colchicum rubrum ; the foliage being much brighter and the growth more vigorous. Japan Maple (polymorphum). — This is the normal form or type ; growth slow and shrubby ; foliage small, five-lobed, and of a bright cheerful green in spring and summer, changing to a lovely dark crimson in autumn. Apparently perfectly hardy. One of the most beautiful and valuable of small sized trees. Japan Maple (sanguineum). — Of dwarf habit and rounded form; foliage five-lobed and serrated ; reddish crimson in June. A charming variety and one of the best of the Japanese maples. European Sycamore Maple. — From Europe. A handsome tree of rapid and upright growth, with large foliage and smooth, ash-gray coloured bark. Purple-leaved Sycamore Maple. — Tree of fine robust habit; foliage deep green on the upper surface, and purplish red underneath. Produces a fine effect planted with golden- leaved trees. Golden-leaved Sycamore Maple. — Recently introduced from Hamburg, Germany. In spring the foliage is of a golden yellow colour, which changes to a duller shade as the season advances. The young growth continues brilliant throughout the summer. A valuable and effective variety for grouping with purple-leaved trees. Red or Scarlet Maple, Red Bud Maple. — A native species of medium size and rounded head, produces deep red blossoms, which appear before the leaves. In autumn the foli- age changes to brilliant scarlet, rendering the tree very conspicuous. At the south the seeds assume gorgeous tints. Alnus — Alder. European or Common Alder. — A tree of rapid growth, suitable for damp soils, but thriving well everywhere. Cut-leaved Alder. — From Northern France. A very ornamental variety, with dark green and deeply serrated foliage. Imperial Cut-leaved Alder. — A very striking and beautiful tree, with delicate and beautiful cut-leaves ; hardy and of vigorous growth ; one of the finest cut-leaved trees in cultivation. 97 Linden-leaved Alder. — An ornamental species of medium size, with large, handsome, cordate, dark green leaves, very distinct. Amelanchier. Botryapium. — An American species known as " June Berry," " Wild Pear," "Ser- vice Tree," and " Shad Blow." Grows thirty to forty feet ; of fastigiate form ; flowers wliite, produced in great profusion early in April, succeeded by a small fruit of purplish colour, ripe in July, and pleasant to the taste. One of the finest very early flowering trees ; not appreciated as it should be. Ovalis, oval-leaved Amelanchier. — A native of North America. When grafted five or six feet it makes a very handsome round-headed small tree ; has bright scarlet berries in the fall. Aelanthus — Tree of Heaven. Glandulosa. — From Japan. A lofty, rapid-growing tree, with long feathery foliage ; exempt from all diseases and insects. One of the most distinct of ornamental trees with pinnate foliage. Almond. Large Double Flowering. — A vigorous, beautiful tree, covered in May with double rose-coloured blossoms, like small roses. (Esulus — Horse Chestnut. Trees of elegant habit, magnificent foliage, and fine large spikes of flowers in May and June. European or White Flowering. — A very beautiful well-known tree, with round dense head, dark green foliage, and an abundance of showy flowers in early spring. Double White Flowering. — A superb variety with large spikes of handsome double flowers. Red Flowering. — Not so rapid a grower as the white ; foliage of a deep green, and blooms late. A very showy tree. Betula — Birch. European White Weeping. — A graceful tree, of moderate size, with silvery bark and slender branches. Quite erect when young, but after four or five years' growth .assumes an elegant drooping habit, rendering the tree very effective in landscapes. Pyramidal Birch. — Silvery white bark, with elegant pyramidal habit like Lombardy Poplar. Purple-leaved Birch. — A variety possessing the vigorous habit of the birches, and having purple foliage. Cut-leaved Weeping Birch. — Beyond question one of the most popular of all weeping or pendulous trees. Its tall, slender, yet vigorous growth, graceful drooping branches, silvery white bark, and delicately cut foliage, present a combination of attractive characteristics rarely met with in a single tree. Young's Weeping Birch. — This variety is of a beautiful pendulous habit, with long slender shoots of picturesque form. The leaves are broad, almost heart-shaped, and very pretty. As a small weeping ornamental tree it has no equal. It is a decided acquisition. Carya — Hicko ry . Shell- bark Hickory. — The most ornamental and valuable of the genus. The nuts are whiter and shell thinner than those of other species. 98 Castanea — Chestnut. Sweet or Spanish. — Originally introduced from Asia Minor into Europe. A valuable species both for ornament and fruit. It forms a handsome lawn tree, and produces much larger fruit than the American variety. American Sweet Chestnut. — Among our large collection of ornamental native forest trees, the chestnut is unrivaled for its beauty. When grown in the open ground it assumes an elegant symmetrical form. The foliage is rich, glossy and healthy, and the whole tree is covered in early summer with long pendant tassel-like blossoms, than which there is none more graceful and beautiful. It is especially desirable for its nuts, which it bears profusely a few years after transplanting. The chestnut thrives well on any soil except a wet one. When nursery grown, bears transplanting well, and when once established is a rapid grower, and soon comes into bearing. Catalpa. Speciosa. — A variety originating at the west. More upright and symmetrical in its growth than the common Catalpa (syringaefolia), and blossoms two or three weeks earlier. Very valuable for timber, fence posts, railroad ties, etc. — possessing wonderful durability. A very ornamental and valuable tree. Cerasus — Cherry. Dwarf Double Flowering Cherry. — A variety of the Morello with double white flowers. Ever Flowering Weeping Cherry. — A fine drooping variety that bears fruit and flowers all summer. Large Double Flowering Cherry. — At the period of flowering a remarkably beautiful and attractive tree. The flowers are so numerous as to conceal the branches, and pre- sent to the eye nothing but a mass of bloom, each flower resembling a miniature white rose. A valuable variety, deserving of wide dissemination. Japonica rosea pendula. — Brought from Japan by Von Siebold, and is certainly one of the finest pendulous trees for the lawn or small grounds. The branches are slender, and fall gracefully to the ground, and the flowers are rose coloured. Undoubtedly one of the finest weeping cherries. Dwarf Weeping Cherry. — Very delicate drooping branches and tiny leaves and flowers. Cornus — Dogwood. White Flowering Dogwood. — An American species, of fine form, growing from six- teen to twenty-five feet high. The flowers produced in spring before the leaves appear, are from three to three and a-half inches in diameter, white and very showy. They begin to appear just as the Magnolia, flowers are fading, and are invaluable for maintaining a succession of bloom in the garden border or on the lawn. They also are very durable, lasting in favourable weather more than two weeks. Besides being a tree of fine form its foliage is of a grayish green colour, glossy and handsome, and in the autumn turns to a deep red, rendering the tree one of the most showy and beautiful objects at that season. We regard it, all things considered, as one of the most valuable trees for ornamental planting, ranking next to the Magnolia among flowering trees, and only second to the Scarlet Oak, which it almost equals, in brilliant foliage in autumn. Cornus Florida pendula. — Is a variety of the great Cornus Florida, which is itself known as one of the most beautiful of ornamental plants. It is admired especially for its large white floral bracts, which are succeeded by red berries as brilliant as the holly, while in the fall the deep red foliage is one of the chief elements in our brilliant autumn scenery. A weeping variety of such a splendid plant would alone be a grand addition to our lists, even though it had to be grafted on tall stems as other weeping plants are. 99 But this beautiful plant has one advantage in which it stands alone among weeping trees : while every branch is heavily pendulous, the leader ascends straight as an arrow, and makes a plant which charms everyone by its regular beauty, so unusual in weeping trees. It has this further peculiarity — the branches are thrown out in pairs, at regular intervals, and on each side directly opposite each other, and the branches next above growing so as to droop exactly between those below. It possesses the perfect hardiness of the Oornus family, even the tops of the limbs and terminal buds passing through the severest winter without injury. The whole stock and control of this splendid addition to the list of ornamental trees was bought by Messrs. Stone & Wellington, of the Fonthill nurseries, of Mr. Thomas Meehan, the well-known editor of the Gardener's Monthly. Cratolgus — Thorn. Double Scarlet Thorn. — A fine variety ; flowers deep crimson, with scarlet shade ; very double, and considered larger than the double red ; fine, rich foliage. Paul's Double Scarlet Thorn. — This is a new sort, and the best. Flowers are in cluster like verbenas ; are very double, large, and full, and of a deep rich crimson. Double White Thorn. — Has small, double white flowers. Weeping Scarlet Thorn. — This variety, grafted standard high, forms pretty drooping heads. The branches are slender, and hang gracefully towards the ground ; flowers crimson ; unique and beautiful. Fagus — Beech. Fern-leaved Beech. — Of elegant round habit, and delicately cut fern-like foliage. One of the finest lawn trees. Cut-leaved Beech. — Foliage deeply and finely cut. Weeping Beech. — Originated in Belgium. Bemarkably vigorous, picturesque tree, of large size. Its mode of growth is extremely curious. The trunk or stem is generally straight, with the branches tortuous and spreading. Quite ungainly in appearance divested of their leaves ; but, when covered with rich, luxuriant foliage, of wonderful grace and beauty. Purple-leaved Beech. — A remarkable species with deep purple foliage, changing to greenish purple in autumn. A very striking contrast with other ornamental trees. Fraxinus — Ash. Acuba-leaved Ash. — A native tree, growing from thirty to fifty feet high ; flowers in May. European Ash. — A lofty tree, with pinnate foliage and spreading head. Golden-Bark Weeping Ash. — An elegant weeping tree ; bark in winter yellow as gold. Pendula Ash. — The common, well-known sort ; one of the finest lawn and arbour trees. Covers a great space, and grows rapidly. Juglans — Walnut. Butternut. — A native tree of medium size, spreading head, grayish coloured bark, and foliage resembling that of the Ailanthus ; nut oblong and rough. Black Walnut. — Another native species of great size and majestic habit ; bark very dark and deeply furrowed ; foliage beautiful, each leaf being composed of from thirteen to seventeen leaflets ; nut round. 100 KOLREUTEEIA. Paniculata . — From China. A hardy, small, round-headed tree, with fine lobed leaves and large panicles of showy, golden-yellow flowers, in the latter end of July; leaves change in autumn to a fine yellow. One of the most durable trees, particularly valuable for its brilliant, golden blossoms, which are produced so late in the season, when few, if any, trees are in full bloom. Larix — Larch. European Larch. — An excellent, rapid growing, pyramidal tree ; also valuable for timber ; small branches drooping. Weeping European Larch. — One of the most picturesque weeping trees. The branches spread and droop irregularly, assuming curious forms. Liquidambar — Sweet Gum, or Bilstead. One of the finest American trees. Of medium size and moderate growth ; form' round-headed, or tapering ; leaves resemble somewhat those of the maple, but are star shaped, and of a beautiful glossy green colour in summer, turning to a deep purplish crimson in autumn ; bark corky ; beautiful ia all stages of growth. It is particularly handsome and striking in autumn. Populus — Poplar. Lombardy Poplar. — A very distinct, well-known variety, of rapid growth, and tall, narrow form. Weeping Tooth-leaved Poplar. — A variety of rapid growth, with long, slender branches, drooping gracefully to the ground ; foliage large and deeply serrated ; a fine weeper. Pyrus — Crab and Mountain Ash. Fragrant Garland Flowering Crab. — Single blush flowers, with the fragrance of sweet violets. Blossoms appear about a week after those of the Double Kose flowering ; very desirable. Chinese Double White Flowering Crab. — Double white fragrant flowers in clusters. White Beam Tree. — A vigorous growing tree, with broad, distinct, fine foliage ; young wood downy ; fruit grayish brown. One of the best. European Mountain Ash. — A fine, hardy tree; head dense and regular, covered from July till winter with large clusters of bright scarlet berries. Weeping Mountain Ash. — A beautiful tree, with straggling, weeping branches ; makes a fine tree for the lawn, suitable for covering arbours. Oak-leaved Mountain Ash. — A variety with large, hoary, lobed leaves ; distinct and fine. Qurcus — Oak. American White Oak. — One of the finest American trees ; of large size, and spreading branches ; leaves lobed, pale green above and glaucous beneath. Bicolor. — A native species, with handsome, large, sinuate, toothed leaves, which turn to a bright scarlet in autumn. Scarlet Oak. — A native tree of rapid growth, pyramidal outline, and especially remarkable in autumn, when the foliage changes to a bright scarlet. Mossy Cup, or Burr Oak. — A native tree of spreading form ; foliage deeply lobed, and the largest and most beautiful among oak leaves ; cup-bearing, acorn fringed and burr like ; bark corky. One of the noblest of the family. 101 English Oak, — The Royal Oak of England and well-known tree of spreading, slow growth. Purple-leaved Oak. — A magnificent variety, with dark purple leaves, which retain their beautiful tint the entire summer. Golden Oak. — A new variety of great beauty. Leaves green, heavily shaded with a rich golden yellow. A most striking and beautiful tree on the lawn, and should be in every collection. Cut-leaved Oak. — Tree of fine habit, and elegant, deeply cut foliage. One of the best cut-leaved trees. Robinia — Locust, or Acacia. Bose, or Moss Locust. — A native species, of spreading, irregular growth, with long, elegant clusters of rose coloured flowers in June, and at intervals all the season. Black, or Yellow Locust. — A native tree of large size, rapid growth, and valuable for timber, as well as quite ornamental. The flowers are disposed in long racemes, white or yellowish, very fragrant, and appear in June. Gum, or Bose Flowered. — A small native species ; young shoots clammy ; produces beautiful rose-coloured flowers in short racemes ; very desirable for small places. Salisburea — Maiden Hair Tree. A remarkable tree from Japan, combining in its foliage characteristics of the conifer and deciduous tree. The tree is of medium size, rapid growth, with beautiful fern-like foliage. Salix — Willow. Babylonian, or Weeping Willow. — A native of Asia. Our common and well-known weeping willow. Kilmarnock Weeping Willow. — An exceedingly graceful tree, with large glossy leaves. One of the finest of this class of trees. American Weeping. An American dwarf ; slender, branched species ; grafted five or six feet high, it makes one of the most ornamental of small weeping trees ; more orna- mental than the Babylonica. Rosemary-leaved Willow. — Very distinct and ornamental, with long, glossy, silver foliage. Makes a striking and pretty small tree when worked standard high. Tilia — Linden and Lime Tree. American, or Basswood. — A rapid- growing, beautiful native tree, with very large leaves and fragrant flowers. European Linden. — A very pyramidal tree, with large leaves and fragrant flowers. White-leaved European Linden. — A handsome, vigorous-growing tree ; large leaves, whitish on the under side, and having a beautiful appearance when ruffled by the wind. White-leaved Weeping Linden. — A fine tree, with large leaves and drooping branches. Golden-barked Linden, — A variety of medium size, with golden-yellow twigs; very conspicuous in winter. Ulmus — Elm. American White, or Weeping. — The noble, drooping, spreading tree of our own woods. One of the grandest of park or street trees. Purple-leaved English Elm. — A striking variety, with erect branches and purple leaves. Scotch, or Wych. — A fine spreading tree, of rapid growth ; foliage large. 8 [f. G.] 102 Camper down. — Its vigorous, irregular branches, which have a uniform weeping habit, overlap so regularly that a compact, roof-like head is formed ; the finest weeping elm. Huntingdon Elm. — Of very erect habit, and rapid, vigorous growth ; bark clean and smooth ; one of the finest elms for any purpose. Scotch Weeping Elm. — A vigorous, graceful weeping tree ; branches somewhat marked with a persistent horizontal growth ; again growing perpendicularly downwards ; foliage large and massive. We have omitted many fine varieties in each class, feeling that our space would not admit of a description of them also. Several fine species, such as Magnolias, Tulip trees, etc., etc., which will succeed in the extreme west and south-western portion of Canada, but which are not hardy enough for Ontario generally. We now come to the coniferous class of trees, or evergreens ; and one cannot but feel sorrow in having to leave out so many handsome varieties which are too tender for this country. EVERGREENS. Abies — Spruce, Fir, and Hemlock, White Spruce. — A native tree of medium size, varying in height from twenty-five to fifty feet : of a fine pyramidal form ; foliage silvery gray, and bark light coloured ; very hardy and valuable. Hemlock Spruce. — An elegant pyramidal tree with drooping branches and delicate dark foliage, like that of the yew ; distinct from all other trees. It is a beautiful lawn tree, and makes a highly ornamental hedge. Norway Spruce. — A lofty, elegant tree, of perfect pyramidal habit ; remarkably ele- gant and rich, and, as it gets age, has fine, graceful pendulous branches ; it is exceed- ingly picturesque and beautiful ; very popular — and deservedly so — and should be largely planted. One of the best evergreens for hedges. Conical Spruce. — A dwarf variety of compact, conical habit, becomes perfectly sym- metrical without pruning, Pendula-branched Spruce. — Leaves dark glossy green ; branches very drooping. Himalayan, or Smith's Spruce. — A noble and elegant tree, having the character of the Deodar cedar in foliage, and is distinguished by a striking and graceful drooping habit at all stages of its growth. Dwarf Black Spruce. — A fine variety, growing from two to three feet in height, and three to four feet in breadth ; foliage dark coloured. Picea — Silver Fir. Balsam Fir. — A very erect, regular pyramidal tree, with dark green, sombre foliage ; grows rapidly, and is very hardy. Cephalonian Silver Fir. — From Europe. A very remarkable and beautiful species ; very broad for its height ; leaves silvery and dagger- shaped, with a spine on the points. Quite hardy and vigorous. Nordman's Silver. — This is a symmetrical and imposing tree ; the warm green of the young shoots contrasts finely with the rich deep colour of the old foliage. The best of the silver firs. Pitch Silver Fir. — From the mountains of Siberia. A medium sized tree, of com- pact, conical growth, with dark green foliage ; fine and hardy. Cupressus — Cypress. Lawson's Cypress. — From California, where it forms a very large tree. It has ele- 103 gant drooping branches, and very slender, feathery branchlets ; leaves dark glossy green, tinged with a glaucous hue. One of the fine cypresses. Nootka Sound Cypress. — A desirable species from Nootka Sound. It is a pyramid in habit with light, glossy green foliage, sometimes with a bluish shade. Juniperus — Juniper. These will only succeed in western Canada. Irish Juniper. — Very erect and tapering in its growth, forming a column of deep green foliage ; a pretty little tree or shrub, and for its beauty and hardiness is a general favourite. Sweedish Juniper. — Similar to the Irish, though not so erect, with bluish green foliage, of somewhat lighter colour than the preceeding, forming a beautiful, pyramidal, srnali tree. Venusta Juniper. — A. rapid grower, of erect habit, and fine silvery foliage. Very ornamental and perfectly hardy. Virginiana Red Cedar. — A well known American tree ; varies much in habit and colour of foliage, some being quite stiff, regular aud conical, and others loose and irregular. It makes a fine ornamental hedge plant. Pinus — Pine. Austrian. — A remarkably robust hardy spreading tree ; leaves long, stiff and dark green. Growth rapid. Valuable for this country. Scotch. — A fine robust rapidly growing tree, with stout erect shoots, and silver- green foliage. White or Weymouth Pine. — The most ornamental of all our native pines ; foliage light, delicate or silvery-green. Flourishes in the poorest soils. Jeffrey's Pine. — This is a noble pine, with deep bluish-green leaves. It grows 150 feet high in North California. Hardy and very valuable. Taxus — Yew. Would require protection in Canada. English Yew. — A fine pyramidal variety, with dark-green foliage. Desirable. Beautiful Variegated Yew. — A beautiful tree of small dense habit ; leaves striped with silver, frequently turning to light yellow. Thuja — Western Arbor Vita. American. — A beautiful native tree, commonly known as the White Cedar. Especially valuable for screens and hedges. Compacta. — Foliage light green, habit dwarfish, and quite compact. Globe-headed. — Originated at Philadelphia. Forms a dense round shrub. Roveys Golden. — A seedling from American, of dwarf habit, globular outline, and bright green foliage. Fine and hardy. Pyramidalis. — The most beautiful of all the Arbor Vitaes, having dark green com- pact foliage and remarkably erect form. Siberian. — The best of the genus of this country. Exceedingly hardy; keeping colour well in winter. Growth compact and pyramidal. Makes an elegant lawn tree. Tom Thumb. — Similar to the heath-leaved, but more desirable. Remarkable for slow compact habit. Valuable for planting in cemeteries and small places where large trees are not admissible. 104 ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS. Azalea. Mollis. — A splendid half-hardy species from Japan. Flowers large, like those of the rhododendron, in fine trusses of various colours. Nudiflora — Pink-flowering American Honeysuckle, or Swamp Pink. — A native species with pink flowers. Berberis — Berberry. American. — A native species, forming a shrub or low tree, with handsome distinct foliage, and yellow flowers from April to June, succeeded by red berries. European. — Eed-fruited. Purple-leaved. — An interesting and beautiful variety, with violet-purple leaves and fruit. Calycanthus — Sweet-scented Shrub. Floridus. — A native species, growing six to eight feet high, with double purple, very fragrant flowers. Cornus — Dogwood. Bound-leaved. — A native species with round leaves, downy beneath. Flowers small, white, in flat cymes in June and July. Fruit light blue. Cornelian Cherry. — Bright yellow flowers in May. Mascula Variegata. — Leaves striped with pale yellow or white. Very beautiful. Red-branched. — Very conspicuous and ornamental in winter on account of its blood- red bark. Corylus — Filbert. Purple-leaved. — A very conspicuous shrub, with large dark purple leaves. Distinct and fine. Cut-leaved Filbert. — A very ornamental shrub, with deeply cut foliage. Cydonia — Quince. Japan. — Has bright scarlet-crimson flowers in great profusion in the early spring. Blush. — A very beautiful variety of the scarlet, with delicate white and blush flowers. Daphne. Mezereum. — Flowers appear very early — before the leaves — and are very beautiful. Deutzia. Bough-leaved. — One of the most beautiful profuse flowering shrubs. White. Gracilis — Slender-branched. — A charming species introduced from Japan by Dr. Siebold. Flowers pure white. Fine for pot culture, as it flowers freely at a low tem- perature in the winter. Crenata flore pleno. — Similar in growth and habit to gracilis. Flowers double ; white, tinged with rose. Candidissima. — One of the finest shrubs, producing snow-white flowers of great beauty, and valuable for bouquets and baskets. Pride of Rochester. — A^variety raised from Crenata flore pleno, and producing large double white flowers ; the back of the petals being slightly tinged with rose. It excels 105 all of the older sorts in size of flower, length of panicle, profusenes3 of bloom and vigorous habit ; blooms nearly a week earlier than Crenata flore pleno. Parviflora. — Of dwarf habit. Flowers medium size, in short racemes, valuable for forcing. Diervilla — Weigela. Amabilis. — Of robust habit, large foliage and flowers, and blooms freely in autumn. A great acquisition. Rosea. — An elegant shrub, with fine rose-coloured flowers. Introduced from China by Mr. Fortune, and considered one of the finest plants he has discovered. Quite hardy. Blossoms in May. Desboisi. — A beautiful variety, with deep rose-coloured flowers. One of the darkest and best. Variegated. — Leaves bordered with yellowish white, finely marked flowers, bright pink. Euonymus — Strawberry or Spindle Tree. European. — Forms a tree sometimes thirty feet in height. Fruit rose-coloured. White-fruited Euonymus. — A variety with white fruit. Foesythia — Golden Bell. Viridissima. — A fine hardy shrub, introduced by Mr. Fortune, from China. Leaves and bark deep green ; flowers deep yellow. Very early in spring. Fortuneii. — Growth upright ; foliage deep green ; flowers bright yellow. Halesia or Silver Bell. Common Snowdrop Tree. — A beautiful large shrub, with pretty white, bell- shaped flowers in May. It is distinguished by its four- winged fruit, which is from one to two inches long. Hibiscus — Althea or Rose of Sharon. Boule de Feu. — A finfc new variety of vigorous growth. Flowers large, very double, and of a beautiful violet-red colour. Variegated-leaved Double Purple. — Avery showy kind ; distinct. Leaves variegated with light yellow. Flowers double purple. Double Variegated, or Painted Lady. — Fine double flowering. Variegated pink and white. Double Lilac. — Very handsome ; double lilac flowering. Double Purple. — Double reddish-purple ; fine. Double Red. — Double red flowers. Violacea. — Double flower of violet-blue colour, and of medium size. Due de Brabant. — Flowers large, very double, and of a reddish-lilac colour. One of the best varieties. Pceoniflora. — Kosy-purple flowers. Dwarf grower, and very free flowering. Totus Albus. — Single; pure white. Very fine. Hydrangea. Paniculata grandiflora. — A fine shrub, growing from eight to ten feet high. Flowers white, in great pyramidal panicles a foot long, and produced in August or September, when very few shrubs are in flower. 106 Quercifolia — Oak-leaved Hydrangea. — A hardy massive sbrub of woody growth and bushy habit ; leaves lobed like those of the oak, and downy beneath, turning to crimson in autumn. Flowers white, changing to purple. Otaksa. — Large foliage, of a deep green. Bears a profusion of deep rose-coloured flowers in huge trusses. New and very fine. Thomas Hogg. — A beautiful variety, with large trusses of pure white flowers. Not hardy, but very valuable for forcing. Hortensia — Garden or Changeable Hydrangea. — Native of Japan. Introduced in 1790. An elegant, well known plant, with large leaves, and large globular heads of rose- coloured flowers, usually grown in pots or boxes. In the north requires protection out- of-doors in winter. Kerria. Japonica. — A slender green branched shrub, five or six feet high, with globular, yellow flowers, from July to October. Lonicera — Upright Honeysuckle. White Tartarian. — Forms a high bush with white flowers and fruit. Fragrant Upright. — A spreading shrub, with deep green foliage, and very fragrant small flowers, which appear before the leaves. Foliage almost evergreen. Pink Flowering. — A beautiful shrub, very vigorous, and producing large, bright red flowers, striped with white, in June. Superseding the old Ked Tartarian. Philadelphus — Syringa or Mock Orange. Garland Syringa. — The common popular shrub, with pure white delicately perfumed flowers. Double Flowering Syringa. — A variety with partially double very fragrant flowers. Yokohama. — A white and very fragrant species from Japan, of upright, compact habit ; foliage plaited. Makes a beautiful shrub. Prunus — Plum. Dwarf Double White Flowering Almond. — Produces beautiful double white flowers in May. Dwarf Double Red Flowering Almond. — A beautiful shrub, bearing in May, before the leaves appear, an abundance of small double rose-like flowers, closely set upon the twigs. Double Flowering Plum. — Native of China. A highly interesting and desirable addition to hardy shrubs ; flowers double, of a delicate pink, upwards of an inch in diameter, thickly set on the long, slender branches ; flowers in May. Ribes — Currant. Yellow Flowering. — A native species, with glabrous shining leaves and yellow flowers. Crimson Flowering Currant. — An American species with deep red flowers, produced in great abundance in early spring. Double Crimson Flowering* — A variety of the crimson, with double flowers in July. Sambucus — Elder. Golden. — A handsome variety with golden-yellow foliage. Fern-leaved Elder. — Luxuriant grower, with deeply and delicately cut foliage. Variegated-leaved Elder. — Of strong, healthy growth ; foliage mottled with white and yellow. 107 SpiRjEAS — Meadow Sweet. Billardi. — Eose colour ; blossoms nearly all summer. Callosa Alba. — A white flowering variety of dwarf habit ; very fine. Double Flowering Plum-leaved. — Very beautiful ; its flowers are like white daisies. Douglassi. — Has spikes of beautiful deep rose-coloured flowers in July and August. Spircea van Houtte. — The finest of all the Spiraeas ; flowers in clusters, from the base of stalk to the end of the shoots being a mass of delicate white bloom. Is splendid for ornamental hedging. Elm-leaved^ — Leaves somewhat resembling the elm ; large, round clusters of white flowers. Golden-leaved. — An interesting variety, with golden-yellow tinged foliage and double white flowers in June. Lance-leaved. — Narrow, pointed leaves, and large, round clusters of white flowers that cover the whole plant. Revesii ftore pleno. — Flowers white and double ; blooms freely in clusters. Staphylea — Bladder Nut. Colchica — One of the finest early flowering shrubs ; flowers white, fragrant, disposed in clusters. Symphoricarpus — St. Peter's Wort. Snowberry. — A well-known shrub, with small pink flowers and large white berries, that hang on the plant in winter. Red-fruited, or Indian Currant. — A shrub of very pretty habit ; foliage, flowers, and fruit small ; fruit purple ; hangs all winter. Syringa — Lilac. Josikcea, or Chionanthus-leaved. — Has dark shining leaves, like the White Fringe Tree, and purple flowers ; fine and distinct. Persian. — Medium sized shrub, with small leaves and bright purple flowers. White Persian. — A fine sort ; white flowers, delicately tinged with rose. Common Lilac. — Bluish purple flowers. Large-floivered White Lilac. — A beautiful variety, has very large, pure white panicles of flowers. Charles the Tenth. — A strong rapid grower, with large shining leaves, and reddish- purple flowers. Double Purple. — Similar to the common, but has a double row of petals. Very neat and pretty. Dwarf Lilac. — Distinct, large and compact. Spike of dark reddish-purple flowers. Tamarix. African. — This is a very beautiful shrub, with small leaves somewhat like the juniper, and delicate small flowers in spikes. Chinensis. — A vigorous upright grower, with delicate foliage of a lively green colour. Flowers rose-coloured in September. 108 Viburnum — Arrowroot. Early White. — A large robust shrub, with soft hoary leaves, and large clusters of white flowers in May, succeeded with red fruits. Retains its foliage very late. Opulus or Bush Cranberry. — Both ornamental and useful. Its red berries, resemb- ling cranberries, hang until destroyed by frost late in the fall. Resembling the snow- ball in wood and foliage. Guelder Rose — Snowball Tree. — A well-known favourite shrub of large size, with globular clusters of pure white, sterile flowers, the latter part of May. Plicatum. — A rare and exceedingly beautiful species from Japan. Flowers pure white, and very large globular heads. Xanthoceeas. Sorbifolia. — From central China. One of the most important introductions of the last few years. Forms a shrub or small tree. Foliage resembling that of the Service Tree or Mountain Ash. Flowers five-petalled, white, reddish-copper coloured at base ; disposed in racemes about eight inches long. Flowers expand in April or May with the leaves. CLIMBING SHE UBS. Ampelopsis. American Ivy or Virginian Creeper. — Has beautiful digitate leaves that become rich crimson in autumn. 'A very rapid grower. Like the bignonia and ivy it throws out tendrils and roots at the joints, by which it fastens itself to anything it touches. One of the finest vines for covering walls, verandahs or trunks of trees. Affords shade quickly. Veitckii. — A miniature foliaged creeper which clings with the tenacity of ivy. Beautiful leaves of a glossy green, shaded with purple. Perfectly hardy, and colours finely in autumn. Aristolochia. Sipho. — A twining vine of rapid growth, having large dark green leaves, and curious brownish pipe-shaped bloom. Clematis — Virgin's Bower. The following varieties bloom in the spring (May and June) from the old or ripened wood : — Fair Rosamond. — Blush- white, with an indistinct wine-red bar. Lady Londesborough. — Silver gray ; pale bar. Miss Bateman. — White chocolate ; red anthers. Stella. — Light violet ; distinct reddish plum bar. Sir Garnet Wolseley. — Bluish ground ; plum bar. Varieties which flower in summer from the old or ripened wood: — Fortuneii. — Double rosette formed ; creamy white ; fragrant. John Gould Veitch. — Double lavender-blue. Lucy Lemonie. — Double white. Varieties flowering during the summer and autumn successionally, on short lateral summer shoots ; flowers dispersed : — Henry I. — Very large fine form ; creamy white. 109 Lady Caroline Neville. — French white, with mauve bars. Tjanguinosa Candida. — Grayish white. Lawsoniana. — Large rosy purple; darker veins. Otto Frozbel. — Grayish white ; very large. Varieties which flower in the summer and autumn successionally in masses, on summer shoots : — Mrs. James Bateman. — Pale lavender. Viticella wodesta. — Large reddish-violet. Viticella rubra grandiflora. — Bright scarlet-red. Viticella venosa. — Eeddish-purple ; veined. One of the finest. Varieties flowering during the summer and autumn in continuous masses, on sum- mer shoots : — Flamula. — European Sweet Clematis. Flowers small, white and very fragrant. Jackmanii. — Large intense violet purple. Eemarkable for velvety richness ; free in growth, and an abundant and successive bloomer. A great acquisition. Lady Stratford de Redcliffe. — Delicate mauve. Madame Grange. — Crimson violet; red bar in centre. Magnifica. — Reddish-purple, with red bars. Rubella. — Rich claret-purple. Star of India. — Reddish-plum, with red bars. Velutina purpurea. — Blackish-mulberry. Loniceea — Honey 'suckle , »r Woodbine. Japan Golden-leaved. — A handsome variety, with the foliage beautifully netted or variegated with yellow. Canadian. — A very robust, rapid grower, with large glaucous leaves, and yellow flowers. Yellow Trumpet. — Well known native vine, with yellow trumpet flowers. Chinese Twining. — Well known vine, holding its foliage nearly all winter. Blooms in July and September, and is very sweet. Monthly Fragrant. — Blooms all summer ; red and yellow. Very fragrant flowers. Scarlet Trumpet. — This and its varieties are the handsomest in cultivation. It is a strong rapid grower, and produces scarlet inodorous flowers all summer. Tecoma — Trumpet Flower. American Climbing Trumpet Vine. — A splendid hardy climbing plant, with large trumpet-shaped flowers in August. Dwarf Red or Parple Trumpet Flower. — A vigorous shrub, with purplish-crimson flowers. Wistaria. Chinese. — A beautiful climber, of rapid growth, and producing long pendulous olusters of pale blue flowers. When well established makes an enormous growth. Chinese White. — Pure white flowers. Introduced by Mr. Fortune from China, and regarded as one of the greatest acquisitions. 110 Magnified. — Flowers in dense drooping racemes of the same size as the Chinese, and of a pale lilac colour. Vigorous and perfectly hardy. Double Purple Wistaria. — A rare and charming variety, with perfectly double flowers, deeper in colour than the single, and with racemes of remarkable length. The plant is perfectly hardy. We do not feel that our space will permit us to touch on the herbaceous plants, such as Paaonias, Phlox, etc., etc., as there is matter in them for a separate article. Already we have exceeded in length our report, and yet nothing has been said on most important points, viz., transplanting, pruning, etc. When one looks at the bare and mutilated trunks of the trees in our own fair city, one cannot but wonder at the ignor- ance and want of taste displayed, in view of the fact, too, that nearly every nurseryman's catalogue contains concise information, plainly written, which should teach any man better than to mutilate trees in such a way. Much could be said too on the arrangement of trees and shrubs. We notice in most grounds too great a tendency to isolation in planting, whereas the only way to bring out the beauties of many trees and shrubs is by massing them in groups, so that their bright and many-coloured foliage will be brought out by contrast, or their glorious bloom shown by massing. Such shrubs as Weigela, Deutzia, Spiraea, Hydrangea, Japan Quince, Double Flowering Almond, Lilac, Viburnum, Althea, Paeony, etc., etc., when planted in masses produce a magnificent effect, need no protection, and little care or management. What grand masses of bloom can be had by grouping the various families, while the purple and variegated-leaved trees and shrubs can be planted in such a manner as to form new and striking contrasts. W. E. Wellington. The President. — The Pyramidal Arbor Vitae which Mr. Wellington refers to is a very beautiful tree. My Azalea nudiflora has failed altogether. I have tried trans- planting it from the woods several times, and have never had any satisfaction with it. The Japan Quince was referred to. I have been very much disappointed, after reading of all the glorious colours it takes, and after ordering several of the shrubs, to find that when they flowered it required considerable observation to discover any difference between the different varieties. I do not think too much can be said in favour of Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora. It is one of the most striking objects in a shrubbery. The clusters will often measure from ten inches to a foot or more across, and on good rich ground nothing is more beautiful. They generally last a full month if they are well moistened and well fed, and they change from nearly white, when they open, until they get quite pinkish, before the flowers begin to fade. The Double Flowering Plum is a shrub that, I think, is not sufficiently disseminated. True, it has the disadvantage of losing its flowers in a very short time ; but the colour is so pretty, and the shrub is so completely covered with bloom during the time of blossoming, that it is then a perfect picture ; and the foliage itself is very pretty. Among the Viburnums praise was given to the V. plicatum from Japan, which is no doubt much prettier than our ordinary snowball. But there is one variety that was not mentioned, and that is Viburnum lantanoides. Its flowers are succeeded by berries which get quite red-coloured as the season advances. It is a native of this country, and very hardy. Mr. Morris. — There is one of the Spiraeas left off that list ; that is, the Spiraea Van Houtte. It is a mass of pure white, perfectly hardy, and one of the earliest in the season. Mr. Wellington. — That has been omitted in copying. It is certainly one of the most beautiful Spiraeas I have ever seen. The President. — It is a perfect mass of bloom from top to bottom when in bloom. Mr. Poy. — I had four flowers on the Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora this year — the one sent out by the Society. Mr. Gilchrist. — The Juniperus prostrata is a very pretty one. I think it would be very suitable for amateurs, It will grow on drifting sand. Ill The President. — There is another very valuable ornamental tree which grows all through the western section of Ontario, and that is the Sour Gum — we have had reference to the Sweet Gum. There are large forests of this Sour Gum, or Nissa multiflora, from Long Point to Amherstburg. That is the only part of Canada that I know of where it grows wild, but it seems to grow all over the country if planted out ; that is, it stands the climate all over the western part of Ontario. I do not know how it would stand further east. Mr. Beadle. — I am very glad that Mr. Wellington has called attention to the Japan maples. Of course they are under trial here, particularly those purple- leaved varieties. Some of them we have already been obliged to say are not hardy. But whether they are hardy or not, the common Japan maple — the one that is known as pblymorphum, which is used as a stock on which to graft these different varieties — is perfectly hardy. I believe it will grow in Manitoba and Muskoka. The leaves are of very beautiful form, and in autumn the tree puts on all the beautiful tints of our maples, with a variety of shading unknown to our maples. I think it is a tree that can be recommended to anyone having a small city lot where a large-growing tree cannot be planted, but where a small tree that is attractive at all seasons is wanted. The time will come when nurserymen will be able to supply it in quantity. It can be got now to a limited extent. Then again, I think Mr. Wellington has done us good service in calling attention to that western Catalpa. I have long cultivated the Bignonioides, which is beautiful in bloom, beautiful in foliage, but in its earlier growth apt to be killed back by our winters. If we succeed, by a little shelter and care, in getting it to live until it is able to strike its roots down below frost line, and to grow a little more moderately than it does in its earlier childhood, so as not to be so sappy and tender, it will stand the climate about St. Catharines — I do not know how much farther north. I have seen it growing well at Hamilton. It is suit- able for a small lawn, and indeed for a large one. The flowers are pretty, and the long pods — nearly a yard long — are very ornamental. Catalpa speciosa can be grown any- where in Canada. I do not know whether it would grow in Muskoka, but it does grow in Nova Scotia and in many of the colder parts of Ontario. In its blossoms it is as beautiful as the bignonioides, and a little more so. The pods are not quite so long, and may perhaps be in thart respect not quite so ornamental. The leaves are heart-shaped, very much like those of the Catalpa bignonioides. I think the variety is worthy of com- mendation. I wish specially to thank Mr. Wellington for telling us of Cornus Florida. Why Canadians have omitted to cultivate this native tree, which in summer is very pretty and in autumn is as handsome as an English holly, I cannot see. I wish to call attention to the oak-leaved Mountain Ash. It is a very upright, compact-growing variety — at least, it is so when it has got some growth. The leaves are different in form from those of the common Mountain Ash. Instead of being pinnate they are entire, and have a distant resemblance to a cut-leaf. Somehow it has had the name " oak leaved " given to it by somebody who thought it resembled an oak. If we are going to plant mountain ashes — and I think all of them are pretty — it deserves a place among them. Then, among the oaks, the scarlet-leaved oak — the Coccinea — has leaves which are beautifully cut. When green they are very smooth and glossy, and the shiny leaf looks as though it were burnished ; and then in autumn it takes on a scarlet hue. It is a tree which grows wild in our forests — not so generally distributed over the Province as some other oaks, perhaps. It is a tree for large lawns and even parks, and might, I think, be planted with a great deal of satisfaction. Then, among the elms, when we go away from our own graceful elms, if we want one that is specially drooping — beneath which we can place our seats — I think there is none of them equal to the Camperdown Elm. It is certainly one of the best of the drooping elms we can get. The Purple Filbert has not, I think, received enough attention. If we want contrasts in foliage I know of nothing that will give it to us better than that. The leaves are quite large, larger than those of the common type of the species. They are almost purple in the summer, but late in the autumn they grow rather bronzy and green. If you find a tree that keeps purple leaves or white leaves all the season you will find a tree that will soon die. With the exception of late in autumn when it becomes bronzed and somewhat green, the Purple Filbert makes a most perfect contrast all the season through. Then, among lilacs that are hardy and will stand almost 112 anywhere, the most beautiful is the Persian Lilac. When the branches come out they droop away over, and when they are weighed down with their load of blossoms — the spikes of which are long — I think it is one of the most fairy-like plants we have. Mr. Dempsey. — With regard to lilacs, is it customary to graft the finer sorts on the common stock 1 Mr. Beadle. — Yes. Mr. Beall. — How many colours are there of the Persian Lilac 1 Are there several 1 Mr. Beadle. — My opinion is that there is but one that deserves to be called a colour, and that has a light lilac colour. There is a variety of Persian lilac that is called white. Mr. Beall. — There is a reddish lilac too. Mr. Beadle. — Well, this one that I refer to you might call reddish or purplish. Mr. Beall. — A few years ago 1 bought several from you, and I have two distinct colours. I bought, perhaps, half-a-dozen. Mr. Beadle. — I am inclined to think that difference in soil varies the colour of lilacs. There may have been difference in colour. The double Wistaria is a beautiful thing. I do not know how hardy it will be. We have not had it long enough yet to talk much about it ; but if one wants something beautiful in the way of bloom he will find it in that. Mr. Dempsey. — We have in our section of the country a curiosity among native trees. We have a maple tree that was discovered two years ago in the forest in the county of Northumberland, the foliage of which is pretty at any time, but which for about three weeks is just as brilliant in colour as any Chameleon Coleus you have ever seen. The leaves are of all shades of scarlet apparently. It presents one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen yet in the shape of a tree. Two years ago my attention was drawn to that tree by my daughter, who was looking for ferns or mosses, and who asked me to go that way on purpose to see it. I thought possibly it was the work of an insect that made it look »o beautiful, but this fall I went to see it again, and it was just as it was a year before. The trunk of the tree is about seven or eight inches in diameter. What I am most anxious about is to know in what way that tree could be propagated. It is worthy of propagation. Mr. Leslie. — Do you say it was before the frost you saw the variegation. Mr. Dempsey. — Yes. Mr. Beadle. — I wonder if there is anything the matter with that tree that made it turn scarlet so early. One of my neighbours came to me one day in July, and said he : " Mr. Beadle, I have found something, and it is worth a fortune to a man, and I have come to tell you of it. I think you would like to get it." Said I, " What is that ? " Said he, " It is a scarlet-leaved maple." Said I, " Where did you find it 1 " Oh ! " said he " I found it out here in the bush." Said I, " How much scarlet is there in it 1 " Said he, " Oh, it is just as scarlet as it is in autumn." Said he, " If you will agree to propagate that tree and let me go half with you I will show you where it is." " Well," I said, " I will not tell you till you let me see the tree." I went and saw it, and I found that the rabbits or something else had knawed the bark off around the tree, and inconse- quence the leaves had turned as scarlet in July as they usually do in autumn. STANDING COMMITTEES. On motion of Mr. Beadle the following committees were appointed : — On New Fruits. — Messrs. Dempsey, (Chairman), Wright, Morris, Allan, and Leslie. On Vegetables. — Messrs. Beall, (Chairman), Rennie, and Page.. On Ornamental Trees. — Messrs. Leslie, (Chairman), Goldie, and Gofct. On Roses. — Mr. Wellington, (Chairman), the President, and the Secretary. 113 PEARS. The Convention then proceeded with the discussion of the next item on the pro- gramme : " Pears, for Home Use and for Market. What varieties'? On what soils ?" Mr. Beadle. — The Josephine de Malines is the best winter pear we have got, or are likely to get. For a long time I took the ground that there was not a winter pear worth anything. They used to tell us how good the Vicar of Winkfield was, and I grew it year after year, and I used to put a squash on one side and a pumpkin on the other and the pear in between, and I could scarcely ever tell the dfference in flavour between them. One day Mr. Arnold came to one of our meetings in Hamilton and gave me a Vicar to eat. I took my knife and ate it and said nothing. When I had finished Mr. Arnold looked at me, and said, "Well, now, Mr. Beadle, what do you say about that." I said, "If you get any more I want to know. That is the only Vicar of Winktield I ever ate that was good for anything." " No," he said, " I have no more to spare ; I have only three or four, and I want them for other members." The next year I asked Mr. Arnold if he had another Vicar of Winkfield. He said ,c he bad not; you must be con- tent with such a pear once in a lifetime." The Beurre d'Anjou you can keep with great care up to this time ; but you nor I would not keep it so long — we would have it ripe and eaten up. By dint of putting it in a place where it will almost freeze — watching it carefully so as to keep it in a temperature as near 32° as possible without actually freez- ing— you can keep it. But that is not my idea of a winter pear. The Josephine de Malines you can keep almost to this time. When the pears of that variety are well-grown the flesh is a nice colour, almost pink, and is delicious to the taste ; but the pears of the first crop that you get off a tree of the Josephine de Malines have no more taste than so much sawdust ; and so it will be perhaps for three or four years until the tree has attained maturity. After that the pears will be fine. Mr. Dempsey. — The Mount Vernon is a very good winter pear in point of flavour ; but it will not compare with the Josephine de Malines. The Mount Vernon is rather a November pear. It will not keep to this season of the year. It is not a good cooking pear, and on that account I cannot recommend it so highly as I would some other varieties. It produces well, and when the crop is properly thinned — which it requires- — it produces very fine specimens. But it is liable to overbear. It does 'not seem so liable to be attacked by the blight as some other varieties. I can endorse everything the secre- tary has said about the Josephine de Malines. At first, after receiving it from Mr. Eil- wanger, I planted about fifty trees I liked it so well. It fruited very early, and then I was just as much disappointed in it as Mr. Beadle says you will be. I top-grafted all of them but one tree. Now we are top grafting them back again. The Josephine de Malines is slow in growing. The Duchesse de Bordeaux will keep till May, and I cannot see any reason why we should not cultivate pears, and have our table graced with the most beau- tiful fruit that is cultivated, till as late as they have it in France and other countries in Europe. You will find them there cultivating those pears successfully. The IXichesse de Bordeaux is a lovely pear when properly ripened ; but for the first two or three years after the tree commences to bear the fruit will not ripen under any circumstances what- ever, and you might as well have a quince to eat — my teeth were never strong enough to get a bite out of it. But after that time the pears ripen up as well as the Josephine de Malines ; and they keep till away on in the spring. Their flesh presents one of the most lovely yellow you can imagine. But what is of more importance to us in the cultivation of the pear than what I have been talking about is, that we should be able to produce varieties for ourselves. When I see how many men in Europe have devoted themselves to the improvement of the pear, I feel rather jealous that, with so many enterprising people as we have in Canada — so many enterprising fruit growers as we have, members of this Association — so few of them are engaged in acclimating this, the most beautiful fruit that God has ever given us. Notwithstanding that it is so easy to improve or accli- mate this fruit, we have very few persons who have ever made the effort to produce seed- ling pears with the intention of improving or acclimating that fruit. I can assure you that there is no fruit so easily crossed in the flower as the pear. I will tell you the prin- 114 eiple I have adopted for improving this fruit. We have a number of varieties planted close together, and it is only necessary to allow a branch to extend a sufficient distance to come into contact with a branch of some other variety, — for example, a branch of the Beurre Hardy, one of the finest pears we can cultivate, with a branch of the Buerre Gris, which is a magnificent keeper. We want to fetch them into blossom at the same time, and that is very easily done by raising or lowering one of the branches. By bringing one branch close to the ground and having another four feet higher, you can cause a week's difference in the time of blossoming. From the branch of the tree that we wish to hybridize, we pick off the blossoms that we cannot open prematurely, and remove the stamens from the remainder. We pick them away so that there will be no fruit formed whatever, and then nature does the work for us. I have made several mistakes that I might as well speak of here. I have produced some hundreds of seedling pears that have been artificially crossed in this way, and when I have got a variety that was dwarf -growing I have thought it was too tender, and have invariably thrown it away. Again, a variety that would not withstand the blight 1 have allowed to die. Now, you may recollect that Mr. Gibb, who is travelling in Russia with some friends, describes some plums and cherries that he found growing in some sections of that country on bushes not larger than gooseberry or currant bushes. When I saw this I at once began to think of our grains. My attention was called to the Indian corn. In its native country it grows to a height of about ten or twelve feet, and it requires, to attain its full growth, about eight months. In other climates it will not attain a height of more than four feet, but will make that growth in about eight weeks. Now, if corn will so adapt itself to the differences of climate so much that it can grow a hundred miles north of us, although strictly it is a tropical plant, why cannot the pear tree adapt itself to the severity of climate as well 1 Those plums and cherries have been brought from the south, and we find that, in order to their becoming more hardy, nature has provided that they shall require, before fruiting, a less growth than the same sort of trees in milder climates, because they had not as much time in which to mature. I am of the opinion, then, that I have rejected the best of my seedlings in throwing away the small-growing varieties. I only wish that we could manage in some way to get some of our young men to commence this enterprise in early life ; but even then they would have grey hairs, I suppose, before they would be likely to see any results of much consequence from their labours. Such work is much more discour- aging to an old man ; still I expect to keep at it as long as God gives me breath. Mr. Beadle. — We have now before the public a cross between the European Pear and the Chinese Sand Pear. Mr. Parry, of New Jersey, got hold of this accidental cross in a garden in Philadelphia, where it was raised, and he claims that it is blight-proof. That position is controverted, however, to an extent, by a few who say they have seen trees of it blighted. But granting that that is a variety of which there may have been a few trees blighted, I can speak of the one known as the Kieffer of which a great many thousand trees have been planted, and yet but very few instances indeed, if any, have been noticed of its being attacked by that disease which we know as pear-blight. Now, I think here is another direction in which we ought to exercise our skill. Let us see if we cannot raise a variety of pear that is not subject to the blight. A few of the varieties that we now have are not so liable to die of it as some others. The Flemish Beauty often goes — the whole tree — with the blight ; sometimes the bark of it. The Duchesse D'An- gduleme seldom dies of it. The Doctor Reeder very seldom blights. Now, if in this cross with the Sand Pear we have got another strain that seldom blights, by working this, and the Duchesse D'Angouleme, and the Doctor Reeder together, crossing and intercross- ing, may we not hope to raise a race of pear that will enable us to defy blight ? I speak of this in order that some gentlemen, young or old, who are interested in raising new varieties of pears may turn their attention to it. I have tried the Kieffer pear and like it very much. It has a quince-like flavour when cooked that I like very much. When raw it is very juicy, but has a peculiar flavour which I do not relish — not so much as that of some of these other pears ; it is not buttery. It has not the fine flavour of the Flemish Beauty or some of those other pears that we are accustomed to. It may be, however, that by crossing that pear with some others we may get a pear of improved flavour. This Kieffer pear is going to be planted yet more extensively than it has been, 115 especially in Delaware and New Jersey, for canning purposes. I think people must have got crazy last fall at Philadelphia, when they paid twenty-five cents apiece for those pears. Mr. Satterthwaite, the President of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, had a very large orchard of them, and had a large quantity of that variety of pears, and he sold them all in the Pennsylvania market at twenty-five cents each. This circumstance reminded me of a little incident that occurred this summer at my own place. I happened to have twenty -two vines of the Champion grape in bearing. My gardener said to me one day, ' ' I am going to Toronto to-morrow, and I think I will take those Champion grapes with me." I said, " I hope you will, because I do not think anybody here wants them." He did so, and when he came back he handed me forty dollars which he said he had got for them. I said then as I say now about the Kiefier pears, that I thought the fools were not all dead. The President. — I wish to take a little exception to the way my friend Dempsey recommends for hybridizing pears. If you are going to calculate on what you are to get from a cross between any two varieties, by operating in the way he describes, you may have a result that will be a little disappointing. It is to remove the stamens from one variety and leave the other variety untouched. The only two ways in which those stig- mas could be fertilized, would be through the agency of the wind blowing the pollen from the one to the other, which would be very unlikely to be accomplished ; and, the more probable way, through the bees carrying the pollen on their legs from one to the other ; and the bees are just as likely as not to go to some variety that he does not want to cross from, and carry pollen from that to the one from which he has removed the stamens. I should prefer the pollen carried by some one with more intelligence than a bee. It is very easy to gather the pollen and put it on the blossom of the tree with which you wish to cross, and then cover the blossom. I have done this, and found no very great difficulty in the way. Perhaps it would not be out of place, as Mr. Dempsey has referred to Mr. Gibb's work in Russia, to call attention to one course of work that might be undertaken in the way of hybridizing. Mr. Gibb speaks of a variety of cherries grown there on bushes, which is very fine and very prolific. Now, we have a dwarf cherry in this country known as the Sand cherry. It is grown up in the northern sections of the country — up about Manitoulin Island and the Sault, and also along the shores of Lake Huron. I think it might be crossed with our native varieties, and produce a race of cherries somewhat like what Mr. Gibb describes ; and if we could get them to grow on bushes about the size of gooseberry bushes we could protect the cherries from the birds. Mr. Dempsey. — This system of hybridization, under which you have to protect your branches with paper bags or muslin bags, involves considerable work and attention, and if the wind is blowing when you have to open those to operate on the blossom the pollen grains which are flying in the air may fall on blossoms on which you do not want them. I have grown pear and apple trees in tubs and had them bearing there. All my first hybrids were produced on such trees as those, and the experiments were performed in- variably under glass. It is very hard on the eyes and on the. head to work under glass when the sun is shining very brightly. I am seeing the results of my labour, however, more and more every year. We have as the result of these crosses some fruits that are delicious in flavour, though lacking in size ; and we have some that are not lacking in either size or flavour. I felt a little afraid to say a year ago that I had succeeded in crossing an apple with a pear ; but I have no hesitation now in saying I have accom- plished it. I have had the fruit this year. The apple had been artificially fertilized with pollen from the pear. Mr. Beadle suggested that we use for parents such varieties as the Duchesse d'Angouleme, varieties which are blight-proof. Now, I have never seen any blight on the Josephine de Malines, and I have not seen any blight yet on my grounds on the Duchesse d' Angouleme. Nevertheless, I had a cross on my grounds from those two varieties which had attained a height of fifteen feet last year, and from which I was expecting to have fruit that was going to be something good, and to my astonishment one day my wife said, "Why, there is a blight on that seedling tree." I cut off the branch then, and a few days afterwards came that way again, and my wife said, " Why, there is another branch blighted on that tree." I kept on cutting off branch after branch, and all I have left is a little sprout. Some of the most hardy plants that I have are 116 crosses of plants that are liable to blight — that are not hardy. I have some seedlings of the Beurre d'Anjou, and thus far they are free from blight, although the trees all around them are blighted. I judge that we shall be able to get a good variety from some two inferior varieties on the principle on which in poultry raising we get a good variety from crossing two varieties that are deficient in opposite qualities. Mr. Doel. — I am going to ask a question about a tree of which I can only give a general description. The tree I spoke of bore the three or four last years. It is of a some- what spreading habit, resembling more the Clapp's Favourite, perhaps, than anything else. The few pears that it had on in 1881 were of medium size, rather flattened and russet, a very nice pear, a late fall pear. Last year the pears that that tree had on were ae nice Clapp's Favourite as you would find. What is the reason of that ? The President. — What time did the fruit ripen last year 1 Mr. Doel. — It was a little later than the Clapp's Favourite. We picked the fruit before we did that of the Duchesse or any of those pears, so as to have it in perfection — without rotting at the core. The President. — How did it compare with the Bartlett as to the time of ripening 1 Mr. Doel. — It ripened earlier than the Bartlett. Mr. Beadle. — I think we shall have to send for Mr. Arnold. He is the man who knows all about that. He laid some apples an the table here as Spitzenburgs, which came from a tree of that variety, but which were russets. One branch of that tree always bears that kind of apples. When we want anybody to tell us about anything that is queer, strange and abnormal we always go for Mr. Arnold, and if he does not know about it we give it up. Mr. Doel. — This tree stands low. It is on the side of a hill about half-way down the hill, and is about twenty-five feet high. The top of the hill is planted with cherries, and down towards the bottom of the hill it is crab apples. There are odds and ends of plums planted along that side of the hill. The soil above the crab apples is sandy. A Beurre Clairgeau which I had came into bloom this spring, and I concluded we would have to take off at any rate three-fourths of the fruit, but it never put out a leaf. The blossoms dropped apparently naturally, and then the tree died. I then examined it more carefully, and about a foot up from the ground the bark was swollen and cracked. FRUIT CULTURE AND CHARACTER-BUILDING. A paper on the above subject by Mr. Gott was here submitted. It was as follows : My Friends of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario: According to my text, which may be a little outside of your present programme of subjects, I am pleased to present to your thoughtful attention the bold and beautiful figure Pomona, as a character-builder. This beautiful and noble nymph is to be repre- sented as employed upon us in our most vital and important interests, namely, our character for this world and after. Block upon block, block upon block, is deftly laid permanently in its place by her accomplished and skilful hands, as the structure rises in high and noble symmetry until the apex is reached, and all beholders cry " glory, glory unto it. " Perhaps some of you may be tempted to say this is a fanciful idea, and rather stretched for our purpose and objects 1 Well, let it be granted ; but, if we can succeed in gathering only one or two useful lessons from it, what odds about the fancifulness of the theme. There are, doubtless, from the beginning, many noble influences at work upon character, and if we can by a slight stretch of fancy make our favourite industry one of them, what are we going to loose by the effort 1 Surely it cannot be denied that a man's business has an influence upon his character, and if by plain consideration we can deduee that ours has an ennobling influence upon us, is it not an end worthy of the effort 1 Should we not be exceedingly grateful of the thought, that ours as a business is capable of exerting such an influence upon us 1 In the formation of the character of men it 117 is doubtless true, that many influences continue their force upon them, the chief of which are perhaps THE HOME, THE CHURCH, AND THE STATE, and our business, we think, may safely be added as a real factor in the process. But, to come without any further apology to our theme. Pomona as a builder, has a definite work to do upon us, distinct from all other outside influences ; for though she may be, and indeed is helped by the other forces mentioned, yet she is not supplanted by them ; she still has her own, her essentially proper work to do upon us to help us to reaclj the high development of our being, the formation of high and noble character. She does her work upon us by a sort of reflex action, and the intensity and efficiency of the work is in exact proportion to our love and entire devotion to her. Her services are paid by the richest returns, and the more and better we do for her, the greater and more blessed are the returns. Veteran fruit growers, can you not testify that this is no myth 1 Have you not found this to be abundantly and encouragingly true in your past experience in the services of our esteemed art 1 I know you will all answer in the most united affirmative. Character, from an old word, meaning to write or engrave, is literally the peculiar or distinguishing marks of personality, and indicates internal principle of action, and is as variable as the mental compositions of men. It is, moreover, that by which we are individually " KNOWN AND READ OF ALL MEN." Certain types of character are popular and win men many friends, and the converse are unpopular. When a man becomes settled in his principles of action, and his daily life among his fellows clearly manifests the traits, he is said to possess real character in contrast to estimated character, which is simply character in its transition state and unat- tained. Character may be of widely different degrees of excellence, according to principles and attainments of the person concerned, from a low to a high and noble character ; but, in no case can a noble character be formed without correspondingly high and noble principles as a foundation to build upon. Although we, as • Canadians, do not, like the people of Europe, recognize a constituted nobility as one of our social institutions, yet we do recognize nobility of character, and we are most happy in thinking that it is an attainment that is frequently found in its highest development in the happy homes of our people. Thanks to our free institutions of State, and the favourable circumstances of school and home, we have the possibilities among ourselves of the highest moral and physical development. Recognized high character is found to be absolutely necessary for the business success of men among their fellows. A man may be ably endowed with intellectual abilities from his birth, and be possessed of many fine personal charms and graces, accompanied by a large and ample inherited fortune to gratify all fond ambitions, but without a well-formed character for probity and uprightness, they will all in the end slip from under him like a stone from under the wall, and leave him but as a tottering fence and a shattered piece of shakey humanity. Fruit growers of our country ! I appeal to you. When did you ever know one of your number that was intelligently devoted to his interesting business that was ever shipwrecked by it 1 Has not the very elements of our business a tendency from the beginning of it to form and ennoble character ? I knew in the range of my large experience one man with a coarse and ungenerous nature, that took to gardening in as fine and beautiful a spot of earth as the sun ever shone upon, but he was not a success. Another born to as fine a fruit inheritance in our country as it is possible for the heart of mortal to desire, and yet is suffering from a moral plague, he is not happy. Do not facts of observation like these sufficiently attest, that without a firmly and broadly-laid char- acter for nobility and honour, the fairest prospects are abortive and but a bubble. How often have we lifted our hearts in deepest thankfulness to the " Giver of all good," that we had a business, and that it was at once so pleasant and so fruitful of exalting good ? Can you not all agree with us in the utterance of this proud sentiment, and be thankful for the reflex influence of your profession upon you ? But to come closer to our theme, we may look at it in some of its prominent features and particulars. In our profession 9 [F. G.] 118 as Fruit Growers, we are taught to cultivate in the most approved methods the manly virtues. 1ST. THOUGHTFUL STUDY. There is little doubt but that the cultivation of intelligent thought is the key to success in any legitimate business, but how much more is it emphatically so in ours 1 The very elements that we have to deal with and the grandeur of the results sought to be obtained, puts success utterly out of the question without this first article of our creed. What makes such glaring differences in the life-work of one man over another 1 Deep, studious, intelligent thought. How easily and cheaply are we taught to think, to reflect, to study in the work of the garden, the orchard, and the nursery. Even the poorest and the most neglected may come and learn, and ultimately attain to high and honorable results. A man who wants to become a lawyer, a doctor, a clergyman, or even a school teacher of our dear children, he finds at the very threshold of his ambitions a very formi- dable and discouraging difficulty, and unless his friends come to his assistance a difficulty that he cannot surmont. Is this discouraging difficulty at the threshold of Pomona? No. Here a man with an honest soul in him and a disposition for honest effort, may walk in and labour for his own good and one-quarter good of others, and his name become enscribed on the temple of fame. Thoughtful study is the sunlight that guides and stimulates us in our efforts, and it is the golden key that unlocks the hidden resources of the earth and makes them available to our best uses. 2ND. MANLY INDEPENDENCE. This is a foundation stone of great importance in the formation of noble character ; without it comparatively nothing can be achieved, either for his own fortune, or the for- tune of others. He simply becomes a mere underling in society and a mere parasite upon her productive industries. But on the contrary, under the influence of this ennobling trait of character, how admirably the man goes on from step to step in the development of his own resources to become a blessing to himself and also to others. Fruit growing is perhaps the very best employment for the full and healthy development of the muscular and mental system, and by it the manly independence of the citizen is most surely brought out. He is made to feel from the very start in his career, that if ever he succeeds at all it must be alone by his own honest efforts, manfully put forth. Some difficulties there are to be overcome, and some disappointments there are to be met, with a firm and resolute will, before the desired prizes can be reached. A gentleman said to me a few days ago, " I think Mr. Gott that you make a good living easier off your small farm, than I do off my large one." " I beg to tell you sir, I said, that you are entirely mistaken in your estimation, as it is not by any means a question of ease, but a question of means to ends. If you took only a-quarter of your fine farm, and by skilful effort managed it as fruit growers do, there is nothing to hinder you to live as easy as they." This idea rather staggered him. 3RD. INDOMITABLE PERSEVERANCE. This is a characteristic of the successful man in any business, but much more so in the business in which we are engaged. Some one has said, " Be sure you are right and then go ahead." This will very appropriately apply in the present instance. The very nature of the business of fruit growing requires careful proceeding and constancy. If the man's plans are like the early snow, or like the morning dew that soon melt away, failure to him is inevitable. Difficulties there are, as in all the paths of life, that will arise in his horizon like dark clouds that foretell coming doom, but these must be manfully met and over- come. A s fruit growers, plan wisely and push energetically, and let nothing daunt you in the accomplishment of your work to the end. < 4TH. INTELLECTUAL CULTURE. This trait is somewhat different from our first one, as it indicates results rather than means, and is the end to be aimed at by all our thoughtful studies. It is a polished stone, a choice corner-stone in the structure of character. What other calling can you point to that at once offers so many fine opportunities and so many inducements for the manly cultiva- 119 tion of this personal adornment 1 Surrounded by the beautiful and the gorgeous in nature, and dealing daily with the most intricate and subtile forces, he is bent on the most aston- ishing results. Planting, training, and pruning, cultivating and tenderly ministering weekly and monthly to the prized objects of his desires ; what fine opportunities for profitable study and for mental discipline and culture % Means are to be suited to ends in processes and operations. Differences in requirements and needs, in texture and composition, are to be observed and noted. Qualities and points are to be estimated and valued. The modes of operation and experiences of our fellows to be consulted and pronounced upon, and all for the training of the intellect and the formation of the judgment with a view to ultimate results. In connection with this beautiful theme, I would not for a moment overlook the admirable advantages that the practical fruit grower daily has of becoming more and more acquainted with the various insect tribes, in all their variableness, their beauty and grandeur. From the earliest of the season to the end of it, what a gorgeous panorama of insect specimens are brought successively before our observation % Wonder- ous moths and their frequently changing and destructive larvse ; exquisitely coloured but- terflies and their varied and numerous progeny ; beautiful beetles and buzzing gnats, in almost endless variety and beauty, are constantly passing and repassing in ever-changing activity before him. Only think what an element this is in the process of intellectual culture and what it is worth. What would the devoted scientist give for these fine op- portunities ! Why, if he had half of the grand chances that we have for observation and inspection of modes and processes among the insects that flutter around us, he would be ready to think that he was the favoured one of all his brethern. Let us open our wonder- ing eyes to their grand attractions, and by our fine comprehensions let us show that these favoured lessons are not lost upon us. 5TH. — BUSINESS TACT. You will all know readily what this item means, and you who are fruit growers by profession, will also accuratly estimate its value. Business tact is a practical trait, and to its possessor invariably means success. Woe be to the man who launches out in any business without it ! The end will be disappointment, empty coffers, and vexation of spirit. Can any calling be better calculated in its very elements than our calling, to bring out to its fullest extent this business quality % We think not. 6TH. HABITUAL INDUSTRY. I am now* afraid that some who have patiently followed me to this point, will now turn away at the mention of it, as it is commonly thought to imply something that in our day is not over popular with many. Patience friends, do not turn away, the deformity is only on the outside. It has no power to hurt you, but only to do you good. You, however, who are fruit growers know well the worth of this practice and how much you are indebted to it for all you have and are. You know that had you been afraid of habitual industry, you never could have been where you are at the present time, enrolled among the benefactors of your land. Be not deceived, my brethren, "from nothing, noth- ing proceeds" and without industry constant, indefatigable, untiring industry, there is not a spectre of a hope for many of us. It is said that " labour is the wealth of the State," if this be so, let me ask you how much of the wealth of this great nation have we con- tributed % For let him know that he who contributes to the resources of his country, is brightning his own prospects. Again, "labour is her own reward," and each of us gets the rewards of our labour whether they be many or but few. Work on, therefore, you faithful fruit growers, your habits of industry are as a never-failing bank of ample re- sources to you and yours. To the man who is afraid of work, I may say, " let him keep clear," never enter here, for there are no laurels for you and your unproductive life. But lastly, PROUD SUCCESS. What can be more captivating than a climax like this % Is it not what you all are labouring for, and the thought of which nerves you to the direst attacks % Statesmen, 120 lawyers, artificers, menials, from the highest to the lowest ranks of society, what but for this are you straining every nerve and jepordizing even your lives'? Let me say, "enter these fair and beautiful fields ; " devote your energies to horticulture and the good of your race, and in becoming producers of beautiful fruits, your success is accomplished, and your names will be emblazoned on the fair temple of fame as benefactors of your people. In- struct your children in the arts so pleasant, your sons and your daughters, that they may proudly look to their fruits and their flowers, and point them out to their friends with happy mein. So shall you be bestowing blessings on generations which are to come. Having glanced at some of the more prominent of the manly virtues that are largely encouraged and educated by a life given to the cultivation of the delicate and beautiful fruits of our climate, I wish as briefly as possible to proceed to other considerations which, I may say, I had for a very long time in my deep reflections : " Fruit as a Character- Builder in its Integral Elements." I am not quite sure that I shall be enabled to make this statement sufficiently clear to be understood. I will make the effort as best I can. I mean to say that by habitually using fine and savoury fruits in our food and as our food, our temper and disposition so largely depending on the corporeal formation will be modi- fied and tuned by its savoury influences, and thus the character of the man will be de- termined. We hold that fruit in its very elements is to be used not merely as a luxury, that we can do either with or without, but rather that it was originally intended by the All wise former of our frames, and by our intuitive desires, to serve a felt and important purpose in the economy of our natures. That fruit is to be used by us as a daily food, a something to be used by us in addition to other substantial food elements, to nourish our bodies and build up the parts, to modify and rectify by their fine and powerful juices, the tastes and dispositions of the growing and future man, and also to help him in his development of intellectual and moral qualities to form a noble, personal character. Our common and classical literature is teeming with allusions to this same idea of the use of fruits. In Milton's inimitable work, is a fine and masterly description of Eve's table, when to entertain her august guest — " She gathers tribute large, And on the board, heaps, with unsparing hand, Fruits of all kinds." Again, Adam in his address to the angel visitor, is made to say — ' ' Heavenly stranger ! please to taste These bounties which our Nourisher, from whom All perfect good, unmeasured out, descends, To us for food and for delight hath caused The earth to yield." To whom the answer is made — "Therefore what He gives to man in part Spiritual, may of purest spirits be found no ingrateful food ; And food alike those pure Intelligential substances require, As doth your rational, and both contain Within them every lower faculty Of sense, whereby they hear, see, smell, touch, taste, Tasting concoct, digest, assimilate, And corporeal to incorporeal turn. " — Paradise Lost, Book V. , Can. 410. As this extract from our sublime epic poet is so applicable I have thought best to introduce it here, as it is by this means said much better than we could possibly say it. But to proceed, we hold further that fruit is to be used as a builder and former of these fine tissues and organizations of the body that largely determine temper and dispositions, as the organs of the brain and of the nervous system. It is perfectly surprising to the observer how far a certain line of food habitually used will determine the character of the man who uses it. All of you will have observed instances of this kind, as the brewer, for instance, and the butcher, in your daily walks of life. We do not say that noble character may be or even is wholly indebted to the influence of food for its formation, as there may be so many subtle influences engaged in forming it, but we do most unhesi- 121 tatingly say that it is without doubt a very active factor. I will leave this subject to your kind consideration, to be thought out individually — each one for himself to determine how far or how frequently he shall use his fruit as his food. With your indulgent per- mission I will proceed briefly to state another favourite article in our creed — FRUIT IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR THE USE OF ALCOHOL. I need not stop to tell you that as a people we are much addicted to the use of alcohol as a stimulant in health and diesase. This is manufactured from our grains, and is felt to be really needed by us in our peculiar condition of climate, society, etc. How far this is really the case thari it is needful, I suppose you will vary in your opinions ; but I may say I know you do not, as intelligent fruit growers, believe it. Yet there are some who do believe it. We believe on the contrary that it is a useless expense, and a very pernicious habit, and some men are making thousands out of its manufacture and sale, to the injury and ruin of their fellows. This article is not friendly to the highest development of our nature, and is the direct cause of the degrada- tion of thousands of our species. We must meet it as a fact already established in our midst, and we find we cannot cope with a habit so general and so formidable by a simple enactment of Parliament. Our theory is to produce better fruit, and more of it, and place it within the daily reach of all classes of society, and at all seasons of the year, and at all periods of their lives. This is the idea of our life, and we feel that we are steadily gravitating to this idea. Commence with the young, and teach them early to love fruit ; for a man with his tastes all burned up and vitiated by the use of alcohol has no savour left for fruit. I never knew a drunkard who had the slightest appreciation of the fine flavours of fruit, or either a man who is habitually in the use of tobacco. If we could get our people habitually to use in their food rich and luscious fruit, possessing mild and nourishing juices, just slightly stimulating, and nerving to the system, and building up with healthy material, we feel that the use of alcohol would soon be found to be what it really is — a poison — and not a food, and consequently no use found for it. My friends, have you ever thought seriously upon this question ? If practicable, are we not on the high road for the highest achievement that is possible to work out for "our generation." I feel great confidence that you will all readily grapple this point, and heartily work for it, as well you may with right good-will. In this connection, I am most happy to think that I know in my large acquaintance of fruit growers very few that are either habitual gluttons or habitual drunkards in the fraternity. This is a good mark ; let us be thank- ful for it, and proud of it, and let us labour to preserve it as a distinction of our favourite industry. On the other hand, prosperity and happiness both in our possessions and our families seem to be everywhere the rule and not the exception. Thanks for this ; it should make us increasingly contented and happy with our lot. One more point and then we are done. FRUIT IS A NECESSITY OF OUR MODERN CIVILIZATION. This is a theme in itself, and the most pregnant of fine thoughts we have yet looked at, and it is everywhere established by our daily observation. Our modern civilization — how stately is its ownward march, and how grand and noble are its modern achievements 1 But yet without fruit even its foundations would be undermined and the fair structure would soon totter and fall to the ground as a mere wreck. Everywhere and among all classes there is felt deep down among their needs the rectifying and refining influences of fruit as a condition of life, and fruit, too, that is worthy of our time and of ourselves. All need it — both male and female, both old and young, both black and white, and bond and free. Both the sedate and the gay, the learned and the illiterate, the wise and the unwise ; and from whatever country, or nation, or clime, or people, or tongue on the sur- face of this fair earth. All need it, and for their best interests must have it or suffer. As our matchless civilization moves onward with steady pace and firm step, the use of fruit as a concomitant will increase and march along with it. As fruit acts upon our civilization so our civilization reacts in turn upon our fruit. The fruit helps our civiliza- 122 tion in her onward march over the masses, and the civilization in turn as kindly encour- ages the production of better fruit. You see, brethren, that it is a fine, mutually-assist- ing march, and the one, like the married pair, cannot advance without the other. Have you confidence and faith in our civilization 1 Have equally steadfast faith also in fruit. Encourage her to the utmost of your ability and power to work, for she is the handmaid of the civilization of our country and time. Bring deep-penetrating, many-eyed science to help in the production of good fruit by her researches into the hidden mysteries of nature, and into the hidden forces of her secret developments. Only by asking she stands ready and willing to help you in your arduous and honourable work. Does the Artificer in the various forms of industrial life need the active and effective aids of scientific research*? How much more so do you need her ? We are thankful for what has been done for fruit. Do you not now grow more fruit and better fruit than you did a few years ago ? I am afaid there is something deeply amiss if you do not. More is needed, and much better. Science is advancing, our admir- able civilization is advancing ; knowledge, in all its ramifications, is advancing ; the noble and essential art of fruit growing must also be advancing, or where shall we hide our defamed heads for very shame. The use of fruit is increasing with our prospects and growing with our growth. Where is the supply to come from if we are listless or inatten- tive to the urgent demands of our popular interests 1 What has nature to help us, not done for us 1 Has she not given us as fair and fruitful fields as ever fell to the lot of man to possess, or ever the sun shone upon 1 Does she not give us as timely and copious rains, and as refreshing and richest dews as ever fell on fair leaf or flower? Where in all the fields of creation on the bosom of this earth will you find the genial influences of life-giving sunshine like to ours 1 Are not all these influences in every way adequate, and just exactly what is needed for the fullest and finest developments of noble fruits that ever touched the fair lips of exalted manhood ? Where would you prefer to live to carry on your high calling to most happy results if not here ? Talk about the handsome specimens of fruit produced in the expensive fruit-houses of Europe. Can they, after all their boasted beauty and loveliness, come up to ours 1 My friends, if you are not successful in the production of lai-ge quantities of the best of fruits, that will favourably compare with those of the East or Western Indies, the fault must be yours, and the sin must lie at your own doors. In conclusion, let me say, take fresh courage. Look to your interests, and awake to the true position and nobility of your calling. The world needs you ; let it be felt that you are not living here for naught. B. Gott. ARBORICULTURE. The following paper was then handed in : — ARBORICULTURE. I am pleased by the propounding of this interesting question for discussion, though it be ever so humbly done. The idea of the planting of trees and the equally interesting idea of results and the advantages to farmers are so prepossessing to our minds that they at once elicit our most devout respect. Advantageous to farmers ! How can anything be advantageous to them that is not equally so to the great mass of the community 1 Is not the welfare of the whole of society identified with that of the farmers 1 We assume therefore, that whatever is an advantage and a blessing to the farmers is important and essential to the interests of all other men. Let us hail, then, with supreme delight any means or any course of conduct that promises results and advantages to the farmer. Away with that miserable, narrow, and ungentlemanly feeling that would deprive a farmer of pleasure and advantages simply because he is a farmer ! Such a sentiment as this cannot possibly live in the clear and glowing sunlight of our blessed civilization. It can only live in the darkness of ignorance. In looking at the question of tree-planting, I can 123 scarcely conceive of it as a question of advantage or of disadvantage. To my conception it is rather a question of position and felt need, and not something that we may or may not do as we see fit, but something that is forced upon us as a necessity of the times in which we live. Tree-plan tic g must be done on a large plan and systematically, if we would enjoy the fruits of our fields and orchards and the quiet of our peaceful homes. A glance at the condition of wretchedness and want of deforested China and Japan, which have in times past so wantonly destroyed their rich inheritanc of forest wealth, is enough to make us tremble at the mere prospect of the like befalling our homes and our fair fields. Let us be armed in time to evade these calamities ! What, we may ask, is becoming of the once famous, unmeasured, and boundless forests of Canada 1 Are they not fast disappearing 1 What are we, who are reaping these harvests of wealth, trying to do to replace the fine old trees for future generations ? Where are our acres of young and thriving forest trees'? Our beautiful and defensive belts of trees along our highways and around our orchards and fields, and around our homes 1 1 know it is difficult to find them, and that we are not doing our duty in this matter to those who are to succeed us ? Let us then as briefly as possible consider the best way to commence the business of tree-planting. When we are convinced of our duty to plant trees, the first thing we most certainly want before any decided steps can be taken is a supply of young trees to plant. A want of these has deterred many a good man from planting trees at all who otherwise would have done so. To overcome this difficulty a little timely forethought is necessary. The seeds of our forest trees fall plentifully around us, and we can have them merely for the gathering up. The seeds, if properly secured in mother earth, will pro- duce for us all the young trees that we may need whenever we feel our better nature prompting us to plant. It is calculated that 100 feet square of good land covered with the seeds will produce enough of young trees to plant 100 acres ! Only think how pro- lific in her returns kind nature is to us 1 When her capabilities are properly husbanded for our interests we are perfectly astonished. " These tree seedlings" planted out in well- prepared ground, four by four feet, or 2,722 trees to the acre, would soon grow up to be a sight of beauty to our country and a source of wealth to the cultivator and fortunate possessor. Suppose a few acres, say ten acres of each of our 100 acre farms, was devoted to trees, even at this rate of planting, what a magnificent growth of fine young timber — just what the country needs — might soon be produced. A belt of trees standing one rod apart round each of our 100 acre lots, would contain 560 specimens to be an ornament to the inheritance and to bless the hand of the provident planter. Prof. Brown, of the Agricultural College, Guelph, has shown that in our country the prevailing winds that bring rain are from the south-west to the north-east. According to this showing it is clearly our duty to plant belts of trees along the north and west sides of our lots, to obstruct the fierce winds and to attract the moisture they may contain. The plantings may be in the following order : — First, a row of maples or basswood, or elms four feet from the line and one rod apart ; secondly, ten feet from this row may be planted a row of Scotch or Austrian pine, and one rod apart ; thirdly, ten or fifteen feet from this row may be planted a row of Norway or black spruce, so that they will intercept the spaces in the pine row. If it is thought best to fill up the spaces between these plantings as early as possible, low-growing shrubbery may be planted in among them. This will make a useful and beautiful belt, and while it is growing up and coming into service will be increasing in beauty and efficiency every year. The system of hedge-planting is also another way in which tree-planting may be made very useful and very beautiful. For this purpose the best sort of trees to use may be either buckthorn, or honey locust, or berberry, each being well-known as the best hedge plants known in our climate and conditions. For low, damp, or swampy lands, or even for rough, stony, and uncultivable lands, the planting of trees for coppices is a most profitable exercise, and will well repay any amount of care bestowed upon it. ■ The timber for those purposes must be those that will readily sprout again from the bottom after being cut off, as basswood, or ash, or elm, and some of the oaks. Surely there is enough said in this short sketch to interest any man of ordinary attainments in the matter of tree-planting. But should any further inducements be required, and as we are a matter-of-fact sort of people, I will attempt to show| 124 THE RESULTS AND ADVANTAGES. Here let me say that in the very limited space at my command I scarcely know how- to do anything like justice to the following important propositions, as each of them are ample and full for a theme in themselves. They are each of them big with fine practical truths and lessons in themselves, so that if I should attempt to open up with any degree of fulness I would require more space than I have allotted to my whole subject. Suffice therefore with mere suggestions of the advantages of tree-planting on our farms. TREES FOR ORNAMENT. First. — The ornamentation of the farm. I feel confident that I am addressing myself to an intelligent and appreciative class of men, who will be willing to admit this idea for its full value to them on their farms. You know that your farms are worth more for your efforts at improving and beautifying them, not only for to market, but also for your own personal use. You know that they will sell readier, and that they will bring you more money when sold, for the beautiful trees that are planted upon them. You yourself would not take much money to have those trees removed that your own hands have planted and you have watched with care. In all our sterner thoughts of life we cannot afford to altogether ignore the beautiful in nature and the beautiful in art. To you " A thing of beauty is a joy forever," as well as to the rest of humanity who are even now panting for the beautiful. Again, " Life without beauty is a dead and unwhole- some thing"; and again, "Trees are fit to minister to man's manly sense of beauty." These are the modern expressions of the deep and hidden sense of the beautiful lying under our sterner natures, and which are so successfully ministered to by the grand and majestic beauty of the living plant or tree. The man who could pitch the dwelling, designed for the abode and resting-place of his family, in a drear and open field, treeless and flowerless, is a long way behind the aesthetics of the age. If he is content to leave it so, he has spent the foregoing part of his life for nothing, and has yet everything to learn respecting the beauty of this life. We know that men are alive to their best interests, and that they must and will plant trees around their farms and their homes for beauty and for use. Everywhere we see encouraging examples of movement in this direction, and much may they be extended. THE HOMES OP THE BIRDS. Second. — Trees are the homes and meeting-places for the birds. Every farmer in our vast domain will at once see and recognize the force of this proposition. Birds are the children of the air, and lodge among the branches of the trees. If there are no trees, with their wealth of beautiful branches, on our place, we can have no birds. If there are no birds there is no restraint upon the millions of devouring insects that are ever ready to prey upon the crops that the honest farmer needs for his bread and his money. So the relation between tree-planting and the farmer's pocket is established, and is intima- tely close — closer, indeed, than some of us are aware of Let us remember that most of the small and beautiful birds that warble among the branches of the trees, are insect- eating birds, and are most intimate and devoted friends, ever working for our interests. Let us encourage them and their friendly efforts for our good in every possible way by planting trees for their convenience. The tree and the bird ! How astonishingly beauti- ful these organized objects of kind nature in their life and their work ! Both of them are grand conceptions of Infinite wisdom, and are worthy of our attention and careful study that would fill volumes of scientific and useful teaching. The tree and the bird ! How intimately close is the relationship that exists between the deparments of the natural world, between the vegetable and the animal kindgdoms ! Between the merest vegetable and the highly organized beauty of the air. This relationship is easily traced, the one ministering to the daily requirements of the other. Would we have birds to cheer and to bless us, let us plant liberally the trees they love. 125 FARM ECONOMY. Third. — The economics of the farm requires trees planted. I am sure there is no farmer but will appreciate this statement, and will immediately pluck up his ears at the mention of it. By the economics of the farm, however, I do not intend the discussion of the most advantageous ways of feeding stock, or the best breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, etc., to keep for profit, but rather what are we going to do with those waste lands on our farms that are too wet and mucky to be used for the culture of grain, or that are too rough and stony to admit the plough ? These are questions of much importance to us, because every acre of our farms has to be paid for, and every acre is liable for taxa- tion ; and consequently we of all men can ill afford to allow any of it to lie idle. We want it all to bring in something, and something that is useful to us. We advise you to plant the low mucky places with Canadian larch or with black ash, or with elm or willow ; and* besides turning a dismal swamp into a field of beauty it will soon be a source of great profit to its owner. The thousands of acres of rough, stony, and useless land of this country should be planted as early as possible, though in ever so rough a way, with young seedlings of oak, maple, or even black walnut. It would soon astonish the most incredulous to see the quantity and suddenness of the growth and profits arising from these discarded eyesores of the farm. Farmers of our country awake to your best interests ! Allow no stagnant miasma holes or useless eyesores on your place to destroy the symmetry and beauty of your lovely farms. Plant them with trees, so shall they be to you objects of pride and satisfaction, and blessings to your country. TREES FOR HEALTH. Fourth. — The healthfulness of the farm. At first sight you may perhaps think that now you have me, for since the farm has been cleaned up of its trees you have never once had an attack of ague and fever in yourself or your family. But stop my friend and consider for one moment. The trees on your place were not wholly responsible for those cruel attacks of shaking ague and still more dreaded fever. It was rather your sudden onslaught on the enormous crops of vegetation everywhere around you that caused it. Cleaning away the timber, letting in the sunlight and the resultant decay of vegetable matter everywhere filled the air with the germs of disease, and you took it freely into your system until it almost shook the dear life out of you. Let not the recol- lection of this dishearten you in your efforts at planting trees, for they are a source of healthfulness and blessing. We say in all candor plant them on the farm and town lot for healthfulness. It is well known that trees in their growing action absorb large quantities of gases from the earth and from the air. These gases for the most part are effete animal exhalations that have served a purpose, but are now given off from our bodies as useless, and worse than useless to us. These gases are the very life of the trees, and are absorbed by them in large quantities. Again, the trees give off gases that are useless to them, and these gases are the food of our life. Only think of an arrangement like this in the infinitely wise economics of nature ! The vegetable and the animal — the one mutually dependent on the other, the lower form living for the higher, and neither of them living for itself. We have thought that a small but wild plantation of trees as a coppice on the lower end of each town and village lot would be the very best advice that could be given by our boards of health. How much effete and decaying vegetable matter are recklessly thrown out in the back yards of all our town lots, and left to decay and poison the atmosphere we are hourly breathing for our life ? Its deadly influences are sometimes felt by us and the dear ones of our family circle, when attacked with the varied forms of acute inflammations, or with typhoid fever, and the more dreadful diphtheria. A coppice of wild trees, interlaced with wild vines and creepers just at the lower end of the lot, would be a calm retreat from the scorching heat, and a reservoir to utilize all the poisons and pestilences of the atmosphere How simple the remedy, and yet we are paying the debt of our negligence of the specifics of nature. Blocks of trees and belts of trees on the farm would answer precisely the same purposes, and be an everlasting fund of satisfaction and of pure enjoyment. Farmers, let us plant 126 trees for healthfulness for ourselves and for our families, for what are all the wealth of your coffers of gold compared with the unspeakable blessing of .health 1 THE MODIFICATION OF TEMPERATURE. Fifth. — It is very generally admitted that trees have the power of absorbing and storing up latent heat, and again giving it out in times of extreme cold. If this is so, and we fully believe it is, how fine is the modifying influence that may be exerted on our climate in its depressing moods ? Again, it is believed that the tree has power of absorption of moisture, and in a time of severe drought again giving it out liberally through its trunk, and its branches and leaves in the summer time. This influence ascribed to the tree has the effect of cooling and moistening our dry atmosphere during the heated term. This view presents the tree as an enormous laboratory, utilizing heat and dispensing coolness and moisture to correct the extremes of our seasons. By the simple means of their agency the extremes of temperature endured in every treeless region may be corrected. But further, we have sometimes thought, while sitting under our spreading beech trees in the intense heat of summer, that there was always a cooling breeze there, and consequently that they were attractive to coolness and breeze. Have you not many times been struck with the same idea? If we had the space at our command, we would like much to enlarge here on the subject of wind-breaks and storm-stayers, etc., in relation to trees. We are more than certain that the agency of trees is the most efficient and effectual wind-breakers that can be adopted. We are almost as certain that the same gentle influences may be credited with the cooling and refreshing moisture of many a summer shower that visits our planta- tions. When shall we arrive at a correct understanding of the great laws of nature, and the governing forces of the world 1 When shall we learn the proper relationship of one part to another in the arrangements of nature 1 How can we have the blessings of a fertile and fruitful country without the agency of trees 1 DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRICITY. Sixth. — The distribution of electric fluids in the air. The subject of electricity is a mysterious question that we cannot fully understand. Yet we know that the vast treeless plains of our continent are frequently visited with those destructive influences and the deadly lightning bolt. The great prairies of the west are annually visited by those alarming displays of nature, to their serious loss and the discomfiture of the people. In tree- growing regions these displays are less frequent and less severe. Our advice, therefore, is to plant trees around your fields and around your dwellings to ward off the influence of destructive lightning. TREES FOR SHADE. Seventh, — Trees furnish a friendly shade and cooling breezes for the farmer's children and his cattle. As we have already anticipated this item to some extent, we will here simply say that for this use alone trees will pay far more than they cost. Is it nothing to you that your children have not the cooling shade of the spreading beech trees, or the more emblematic maple, under whose spreading branches to enjoy their healthy sports at mid-day in the height of our heated season 1 Is it nothing to you that your cattle of pure blood, your horses of noble ancestry, and your sheep of finest clip, are left out standing in the melting heat in a friendly fence corner, and without the grateful shades of one spreading branch over their defenceless heads? Oh, I know you count your interests better than this, and though you would not for your children, yet for your horses, cattle, and sheep you will provide the grateful shade that blesses them in the burning noonday. Plant trees. 127 TREES FOR TIMBER. Eighth. — Trees supply timber, poles, and brush for the use of the farm. Oh! you say, this is a glaring statement. It will take years upon years after I am old, to grow timber, etc., for the use of the farm from these trees, and we will never see any benefit from the trees we plant ! Stay, my friend, this is entirely a false impression, and one not supported by the facts. A gentleman, in a paper read at the late Forestry Conven- tion, at Montreal, stated that Catalpa trees can be profitably planted as close as four by six feet, and at the end of ten years from planting, one- quarter of them can be taken, and will each make two fence posts valued at ten cents each. We know from our own experience that trees planted on good soil, and doing well for this length of time, will come into considerable usefulness, especially for poles and brush for the farm. In passing through the county of Prince Edward a short time ago, we were amazed at the size and beauty of their fine trees planted on the roadside. These trees, mostly our beautiful sugar maples, could not have been planted many years, and yet they were from twelve to twenty inches through at the bottom, and were fine spreading, handsome trees, and an ornament to any country. Be not, therefore, so easily discouraged. Kind nature is generous of any assistance given her, and what can be done in this county can also be done in any county in Canada. Plant trees, therefore, as nature can do nothing for the man who will not help himself. If you help her, she will reward you with the proudest and most satisfactory results to crown your feeble efforts. Try it ! TREES AND PRECIPITATION. Ninth. — Trees are an encouragement to rainfall and water supply. This is now become a settled principle in the creed of understanding tree-planters, and our observation teaches us that it is correct. It is authoritatively stated that through trackless regions of the Muskoka district, rainfall and water supply are abundant and plentiful, and solely on account of its dense forest growth. This is in exact keeping with our past experiences in western Canada, as we all quite well recollect. Is it so with us now 1 Where are the flowing streams that were once flush 1 Where are the bubbling springs bursting forth from every hill, and flowing across our pathway 1 I know you will look for them in vain, for they are dried up and their sources are emptied. Again, it is stated that the region of country lying between Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay is especially left to welter in its intense summer droughts, and mostly on account of rapid clearing of the country. Trees by means of their influence on the atmosphere increase the amount of conden- sation of moisture and precipitation. Again, by means of their roots and their action on the soil, they check the force and injury of torrents, and by rendering the ground porous and open, largely drink it in, to be given out again and again when and where most needed. But again, forests, by means of their abundant foliage, evaporate or throw off enormous quantities of moisture into the air, and this, after being carried about by the winds, is condensed by the coolness of evening, and falls plentifully upon the neighbouring country in the form of pearly dew. So the action of the trees and the reaction of the atmosphere is constantly going on, and every time man receives blessings by the mysterious arrangement. Plant trees for moisture. GENERAL BENEFITS. Tenth, and lastly. — By planting trees for ornamentation and shade we shall have more fruit and better fruit, better crops of grain and grass, and better horses and cattle, and more pleasure and purer enjoyments in life. We need trees around our orchards to give out warming and tempering influences in the spring time, when the trees are covered with tender blossoms, and the air is loaded with pinching cold. We need the presence of trees around our*fields and our homes in summer to condense the cooling vapours, and to invite the pleasant zephyrs to fan our parched brows. More especially we need the presence of trees in our winters to offer a calm resistance to the raging blast, 128 and to shelter the tender buds of our fruit trees from the withering cold and killing frost. We need their grateful presence around the home of our loved ones, for their presence is cheering to our eyesight, and it is a relief to look upon them while nothing but whiteness is all around. Only for one moment let us imagine the total eradication of all our blessed trees from the surface of our fair country, and what would become of us 1 Let us each in our humble way strive to add our humble mite to the sum total of our engagements of this humble life below, by planting a few trees to live and testify of us after our heads are laid low, and our hands are still in everlasting rest. B. Gott. The following paper was presented by Mr. Alex. McD. Allan, of Goderich, on APPLE ORCHARDS. PLANTING AND AFTER CARE. In choosing a site upon which to plant an orchard the best exposure for that par- ticular section of the country should be selected, and the land should be well under- drained, as low wet lands induce disease both to wood and fruit. The orchardist must himself possess taste in order to lay out properly a well selected ground. A well laid out orchard adds beauty to any home, and greatly enhances the value of the farm. But an orchard is only beautiful when the trees are set in rows perfectly straight, every tree standing upright, properly trimmed, and the land well cultivated so that, be it in spring when covered with gorgeous blossom, or autumn when laden with rich fruit, it presents a picture that readily attracts the eye. But who was ever charmed at the sight of an orchard rough and uncultivated, some trees standing at an angle of forty-five degress, some heads pointing in one direction and others in another, roots appearing here and there above ground, and torn or half -broken limbs hanging from occasional tops ! In selecting varieties the orchardist must consult the market demand as well as local consumption. As a rule we find too many early summer and fall varieties planted, and too few good winter keeping kinds. It is only within the last two or three years that our early apples have been profitable to the grower in many sections, as the crop has generally been far in excess of the local market demand. But now that the evaporation process has been fully established and perfected, these varieties are becoming more profit- able. I believe too that as our North-West becomes populated a market for all our surplus summer and fall apples will there be opened to us. But notwithstanding all this I believe there is more money to be made by consulting the demands of the British markets for winter fruit. It is well known that in no country in the world do we find apples of so exquisite a flavour, and so rich in colour and flesh as in our own Province. Our leading winter varieties stand at the top of the list in competition with other countries upon the markets of Britain. We have an article that is in keen demand in that market, and the price is generally a secondary consideration. So long as the sample is choice no price is grudged that cash can cover. If I were planting an orchard in my own county (Huron), based upon my experience in shipping apples for the past few years I would plant a thousand trees of the following kinds : Baldwin 500, A. G. Russet 200, Spy 100, King of Tompkins County 50, Wagner 50, Canada Red 50, Ribston Pippin 30, Mann 20. This would form my orchard for profit in shipping to Britain. To complete this I would add for home consumption and possibly a few for local market, R. I. Green- ing 2, Wealthy 2, St. Lawrence 2, Duchess of Oldenburg 2, and Early Harvest 2. Orchardists make a very common mistake by planting too close. I consider forty feet close enough for an orchard of standard apples. It is possible that more profit per acre would be realized in the first few years of bearing at thirty feet apart, but when we know that an orchard planted and properly attended to will continue to give good bear- ing results for more than a lifetime of man, and when we^see how orchards planted at twenty-five and thirty feet spread both roots and branches to meet each other, and then in spite of attention in cultivation and trimming they fail to give, either in quantity or 129 quality the fruit results of former years, we can readily see the reason to exist in a lack of space where the sun and air can have full scope to exercise upon tree, earth and fruit those influences that are so essential. Besides where there is liberal space the roots and root fibres continue, even when the trees are old, to feed in a living soil. We have often observed that in old closely planted orchards even grass becomes sickly and the soil sodden, and clammy for the want of air and sunlight. Yes, I believe we must have sunlight and free circulation of air in an old orchard if we desire both fine quality and large crops of fruit and continued growth and health of wood. Roots of trees planted thirteen to sixteen years will, in ordinary good soil, extend about twenty-six feet and sometimes farther in all directions, so that even when planted forty feet apart the entire ground is occupied. It is absolutely necessary after planting an orchard to at once proceed to train it up in the way it should go. Systematic yearly pruning should be faithfully followed. The aim should be to hold the tree to a good form, trimming outer limbs upward and the centre outwards, so that in looking down into the tree the head is in good form, open and well balanced. Mueh mischief is often done by pruning only once in three or four years as this necessitates cutting out large branches. Opinion varies somewhat as to the proper time for pruning, but for the majority of growers the month of March is probably the most convenient season, there being then nothing specially pressing in other departments of the farm. We frequently see old trees topgrafted to get a better variety, or because the fruit has become small and spotted, doubtless from sheer neglect of tree and soil. Look at many such an orchard in three or four years after, and you will see that these grafts have been allowed to grow and spread after their own sweet will without regard to form or comliness, until the tree top is formed again as dense and unfit to bear good specimens of fruit as before. Whatever difference of opinion there may exist as to whether or not orchards should be cultivated after they have grown to fruiting years, all will readily agree to their culti- vation yearly when young. Such orchards can be profitably cropped for a few years with roots and corn. Many fall into error by too freely manuring a growing orchard, thus forcing wood growth to such an extent that it cannot properly mature, and hence such trees often fall victims to disease and death. It is sufficient that the soil is cultivated, and if not already rich enough, that manure be added to produce a fair, healthy growth of wood, anything more than this would be forcing an unnatural growth. But when bearing begins manure should be applied liberally, and occasionally a good dressing of wood ashes. A broadcast sowing of salt every second year has the effect of bringing out the colour more distinctly in the fruit ■ it also toughens the skin and combines with the ashes in keeping wood and fruit clean. Besides salt not only draws moisture from the atmosphere and retains it in the topsoil in dry weather, but also draws it from beneath and thus assists cultivation in the circulation of air in the soil and protecting the root fibres that feed near the surface from the baneful effects of drought. In cultivated orchards the roots strike deeper in the soil ; but where trees are planted in grass, or the soil not cultivated, the roots are found near the surface where they are subject to the excessive cold of winter and the scorching heat of summer. An orchard should not be cropped longer than five or six years from planting ; after which I think it well to sow frequently to clover and plough down when grown to cover well. When bearing begins care must be taken when ploughing not to go deep enough to cut the roots severely, and hence instead of ploughing up to the trees many prefer to work a portion around each tree with the fork. Newly set trees should be mulched in the fall, this has the effect of protecting the roots from severe frosts as well as enriching the soil by soaking. In case mice should burrow under manure used for mulching which has hay or straw in it, a mound of earth should be raised around each tree three or four inches high. Farmers are too intelligent now-a-days to attempt to cultivate and crop the same field year after year without returning to the soil sufficient plant food to supply that which the gathered crop has extracted. But alas, this rule that is so systematically followed in modern agriculture, is from sheer thoughtlessness, I believe, lost sight of in the orchard, as witness the thousands of farm orchards in our Province that are allowed to take care of themselves. Soon the trees have exhausted the elements in the soil necessary to pro- 130 duce healthy, strong growth, and clean, well-flavoured fruit. The grain field upon an}' farm receiving the same treatment as such orchards, would soon be in a state of hopeless bankruptcy ! Speak of taxes, but where can we find a piece of property burdened as heavily as such orchards which are taxed to support a crop of wood, and either roots, grain, hay or grass as well ! When thoughtless growers discover, as they soon will, that the apple orchard, when properly cared for, is the best paying spot upon the farm, they will blush crimson at the thought of such neglect. Almost all orchards would be benefited by a storm break, but many are apt to look upon shelter for an orchard as meaning an absolute thicket through which the winds can scarcely find way. There never was a greater error. The object is merely to break the storms, and hence in a majority of cases instead of planting a close high hedge on the north, west or other side requiring protection, I believe the Norway spruce (which I con- sider one of the best trees we have for this purpose,) planted at intervals of about ten feet would answer admirably. Further than this it is a matter every orchardist must decide for himself in accordance with his exposure. We have come to a time in the history of this Province when agriculturists must look into the matter of farming for profit with some degree of earnestness. Grain grow- ing has been and still is a profitable investment. But now that our immense prairie pos- sessions in the North- West are being rapidly covered with a soil-tilling population and that great country modernized by lines of railway, wheat growing will no longer be profitable in Ontario. It is time to consider the question, what shall we do with our farms ? Doubtless cattle grazing and feeding will form one important branch of the operations of successful farmers in years to come. Fruit growing will certainly take a leading position, nay, I believe the first place in many sections among the crops of farms a few years hence. It is well-known that Ontario grown apples are second to none in the world in point of flavour which is the highest point of merit. In the markets of Britain where our shippers compete with the surplus crop of other countries our apples invariably stand at the top of the list where proper care has been taken in selecting and packing. Now is the time to prepare for a crop that can be depended upon to hold its own against all competition, now is the time to plant orchards, not a few trees, but large fields of such varieties of the various fruits as each particular soil and exposure is best suited for, and the home and market demand. Mr. Thorpe Holmes, of St. Catharines, presented the following paper in reply to the question — HOW CAN WE INDUCE FARMERS TO PLANT TREES ALONG THE ROADSIDE ? 11 How can we induce farmers to plant trees along the roadside? " To this query I offer a response, and that is : Protection to the trees both from men and animals. My neighbour to the south planted his fronts a few years ago, which started very well, but such lines as were on the road allowance are gone, except very few. Cows at large were the chief destroyers. Tracks in the snow snowed how one was broken — a waggon was made to take a circuit, so that the neck-yoke bore down the sapling, and the axle broke it off. My neighbour to the east has a large frontage, by reason of a road on each side, and one across ; and he told me he would plant trees but for the cost of enclosing each one. The destructive energies of boys are fearful, and I dread the holidays. A tree coming up in pasture I trained handsomely, and protected it till it was beyond the reach of stock : it was cut down, I suppose, for a fish pole. A willow planted by the water disappeared. In clearing, two wild cherries were left. By barking, one has long been dead, and the other is a wreck. One springing up by the fence, which I have cared for, has been shaved. A walnut tree, springing up outside, I fenced as long as need be ; but boys have tried their axes on it, and damaged it every year by frequent trials for the nuts, 131 scarcely ever allowing any to mature. I am careless as to the nuts, but I am enraged as to the destruction of foliage, by throwing sticks and stones into it — poling it, and climbing into it. Opposite the window by which I am writing, about two hundred yards across the canal, there stands a large oak tree. I saw a man once come down the hill and chop off a lot of bark, which he carried away. The chestnut is one of the thriftiest and most beautiful of our indigenous trees ; glorious to behold, especially when in blossom ; valuable for rough timber, and beauti- ful for inside purposes ; esteemed for its delicious nuts, which in some countries are a staple food. But we may not plant them here till the morals of the community improve, or till it shall be the duty of some official to prosecute depredators. The punishment should be crushing, and not measured by the offence detected, but by the damage done. At the winter meeting of 1881 a report on fencing was introduced. There can be no arrangement by which fencing may be much diminished ; and the use of barbed wires, stapled to planted trees, and between which the berries of the sweet wild brier are dibbled, settles the matter for a long life-time — gives charms to the landscape, and so far meets the question I am answering. But the fencing which keeps our own creatures in will not keep those on the road out, by reason of their greater number eating off the grass shorter. Working on the off side of the road, in hauling manure off or crops in, by reason of having to close gates every time, is greatly hindered. What a comfort in winter if we could drive out and in to the shed without having to stop at our own gate both ways in the cold or wet, and all because somebody's cow may be on the road. The by-laws of this township provide that animals may be impounded, or the owners complained of and fined. But this involves trouble, and the hostility, and per- haps malevolence, of parties proceeded against ; incurring evils not merely for his own ease and safety, but for that of his neighbourhood also. Prosecutions made by officials, whose duties include such action, do not incur the ill-will individual action does ; and the inspectors, constables, pound-keepers and path-masters should be amply remunerated out of the fines imposed on conviction. If the pound-keepers were authorized to pay a fee to every one bringing a creature (which I am told is the case in Stamford) the clearing of the road would be largely a boy's business. The Tree Planting Act, now before the Ontario Legislature, provides for inspectors. Their duties should include the hunting of depredators on the trees, and the impounding of cattle. In the list of trees given I do not recognize one of our most beautiful natives — the tulip tree. There is a large magnolia in this vicinity, known as the cucumber tree, but it has been dying for some years. There are a number of unused road allowances that might be thickly planted. About three-quarters of an acre along my south line can never be used as a thorough- fare for carriages. At present it is a nuisance to me and the opposite owner, as a general pasture ground. Without interfering with pedestrians, it might be made a plantation, if men, boys and animals would let it alone. Some such unused allowances are enclosed. The occupants should be required to plant them, or a corresponding area. Whitewood is on the list, and I had supposed it the tulip tree till seeing a para- graph to the effect that it is proposed to substitute poplar. It surely could not be meant to exclude a tree which Downing declares to be the first of avenue trees, as indeed it is. Its clean, round tall stem, symmetrical branching, peculiarly shaped dark glossy leaves, and its flowers make it a " thing of beauty." The poplar should be on the list, as its close, compact upright growth, its towering and overtopping height, make it a striking object over level surroundings, and it is so easily raised. I had thought of writing further as to fences, but have given as much as you may be disposed to utilize. T. Holmes. 132 Mr. John Knowlson, of Lindsay, presented a paper, as follows, on FORESTRY, SORGHUM, GRAPES AND WINE. On the lines of horticulture and agriculture in this Canada of ours, I am impressed with the idea that there are three subjects worthy the special attention of philanthropists and all well-wishers of our country's progress, financially and socially : Forestry, Sorg- hum, and Grape Culture. Numerous have been the pleadings in our agricultural and horticultural journals for forest tree planting ; yet how little has hitherto been accom- plished. However, let us still hope that farmers and others will be aroused to its neces- sity. No people have more reason than wo Canadians to value and admire the " goodli- ness of trees ; " and yet in no country are they more rudely assailed as the enemies of civilization, and objects of extermination, by the ruthless axe and the consuming fire. Such semi-barbarism is discreditable to our national taste, our common sense, and our foresight in other matters of less moment. Even to confine our view to the environs of our country towns, with very few excep- tions, one of the most forbidding and desolate features about them is the mark of thia yearly devastation of forest trees, for which there is no necessity. Whereas, if properly ornamented with trees — some standing alone, some in groups — would be exceedingly attractive ; and a park, with convenient drives and by-walks for pedestrians, would be likely to draw summer residents, whose money would contribute to the permanent enrichment of its community. An essential part of the proper treatment of all wood lots is thinning. Farmers who cut all the wood from a lot, regardless of size or quality, whether for use or for sale, are managing as ill as can be imagined. They might thin in such a way as to get a large yearly profit, and get more for the remaining wood than for all they now cut off at once. Although, as I have remarked, so little has been done in the way of planting forest trees, let us hope that, through the continued labours of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association, and the influence of the public press, that the day is not far distant when forest culture will become popular. The boundless area of suitable lands in this country, the admirable adaptation of its soil and climate to the growth of magnificent trees, I trust, will lead to the diffusion of capital and labour in this department, and that it may soon become a favourite pursuit. In no other way can farmers so cheaply embellish their farms and add to their attrac- tiveness and value, as by improving their woods, groves and forests, and planting all the choice varieties of native trees on any spare ground not needed for cultivation. So numerous are the varieties of our deciduous trees that we can have but little difficulty in making a selection. There is the elm, the red and white oak, the maple, the black walnut, the ash, the hickory, the black and white birch, the linden (basswood), the butternut, chestnut, larch, etc. And to give greater beauty to these plantations, should be interspersed here and there irregular groups of different varieties, including an occasional evergreen, of which we have many indigenous species : the white and red pine, the spruce, white and red cedar, and what is justly termed the king of evergeens the graceful hemlock. In the planting of groups it is well first to study the outlines of all the best natural groups to be found, taking careful notice of the way in which the varieties are combined, how near the trees are to each other ; how often nature has planted them close together ; how often within a few feet of each other ; how often at the distance of twenty or thirty feet. Although a group thus imitated may not show much beauty in its incipiency, yet it will become more beautiful and picturesque, more and more like nature every succeeding year, and will give delight to everyone who can appreciate nature herself. However liberally we may introduce foreign trees let us retain a large number of our own. The many uses to which trees contribute prove their great value : for buildings, for fences, for various agricultural implements, for carriages, for ship and boat building, for furniture, for staves for casks, for fuel, and a thousand other uses for which they are invaluable. Besides, without trees, the world would become a desert ; with them 133 it can be made a paradise. They temper the heat and cold, prevent the injurious dry- ness of the atmosphere, and greatly promote the fall of genial showers and seasonable rains in spring, summer, and autumn. In almost every county of Ontario it is easy to find lands covered with wood of a second growth, which, within the memory of the present generation, have been cultivated for farm crops, till they were worn out — that is, so drained of those constituents which plants derive from the earth that no other crop could be got from them that would pay the cost of cultivation. These lands, upon being abandoned by man, soon began to grow up in wood ; and in ten or twenty yea rs the fields were covered ; and in forty a fair yield of wood got from them. The wood again being cut and the land ploughed and cultivated, good crops can again be had from them for some years. Air and water were the principal fertilizers that sustained their growth, but their leaves shed, from year to year, had fertilized the soil very muoh. It ocurs to me that very few of those who are desirous to plant out forest trees need be put to the necessity of raising them from seed, for in every section of Canada tracts are to be found where young trees of all sizes, suitable for transplanting, are to be had for the labour of digging ; and it should be borne in mind that in digging up trees some skill is required. Some have long tap roots that penetrate the ground deeply, while others spread widely near the surface. These different characters require different modes of proceeding : the roots should be taken out of the ground without the slightest bruise or mutilation, if possible, thus the necessity of curtailing the tops would be obviated. The less the roots are exposed to the air between the time they are taken out of the ground and the time they are planted the better. This should never be forgotten. If roots are of any value it can only be when they are sound and fresh. In less than fifty years hence the requiem of the stately pine, the oak, and the elm will have been sung ; but their state- liness and their value will be recorded as a thing of the past : do we not already regret th ) wholesale recklessness which has been employed for their destruction by the grasping hands of avarice. This scarcity in the older settlements is now felt as a severe loss ; but the next generation will in all probability have to deplore their absence as a loss of still greater magnitude. Plantations of a tree called the Catalpa speciosa are now being made on an extensive scale in many parts of the United States. It appears to be a native of the Mississippi valley. It appears to be hardy, and is represented as being a rapid grower and remark- ably durable. I procured ten of those three years ago, and planted on a dry, gravelly soil, which I am lead to believe was not the sort best adapted to their growth, although they are said to succeed on all descriptions of soil. The stems were about three-fourths of an inch in diameter and six or seven feet in length. From the fine growth they made and the healthy appearance they showed after two years planted, I was induced last spring to plant one hundred more, which I did upon less than an acre, on soil similar to the first. Every one grew and looked healthy the past fall. I intend planting another hundred or more on the same plot next spring, together with a few of our native forest trees interspersed. I next beg to offer a few remarks on Sorghum. It appears that this Chinese sugar cane was introduced into the United States nearly thirty years ago. Some years later the " Imphee," or African sugar cane found its way thither, including several varieties. These varieties being cultivated on the American plan — a number of varieties in the same field — the result has been the pro- duction of a number of hybrids, some of which have proved to be much superior to the original sorts for making sugar. Among those is the Early Amber, which matures early, and gives prospect ol succeeding further north than has generally been supposed it could be successfully grown ; the seed of this variety can be had cheap in many of our seed stores. There is also the Early Orange, a little later than the Amber ; and also a variety called the Honduras. Experiments with these and other varieties will no doubt be made to test their comparative values. If any of these varieties can be successfully grown in Minnesota and Wisconsin (and it is said they can in every State of the Union) why not in many parts of Ontario ? It is asserted that the time is approaching when 10 [f. a] 134 every State in the Union can produce its own sugar. It seems to be very desirable that this business should be fully developed. I planted a patch of the Amber towards the end of May in each of the two past years, which made satisfactory growth, although the soil on which it was planted was scarcely rich enough for a crop of Indian corn ; it made a growth of over nine feet, and matured its seed by the middle of September each year. One of my neighbours grew some, from which he made some nice syrup. The last crop I shall refer to is the Grape, the culture of which is clearly on the increase amongst us, both as a table fruit, and for the manufacture of wine. That portion of our Province best adapted for its growth, with reference to climatic influences, is on the northern border of Lake Erie, particularly in the county of Essex and on the islands in the lake ; yet it is clearly ascertained that in numerous localities throughout the country suitable places have been found where its culture has proved entirely successful. It has also been satisfactorily demonstrated that a really good wholesome wine can be made from it with suitable apparatus in skilful hands. I have myself three acres under vines in a very promising condition, one acre of wliich (being the portion that has yet fruited), has so far yielded satisfactory returns. I have several varieties, some suited for the table, and more better adapted for wine ; and next year, if spared, expect to make preparations for converting the greatest portion into wine, and also for planting more vines. Last fall my bearing vines matured their fruit and wood entirely to my satisfaction, although fully three weeks later than on any previous year. It has occurred to me that if some of our Canadian nurserymen would make the propagation of grape vines a specialty, so as to be able to sell them at reasonable rates, they would not have long to wait for a demand, as there is every prospect of vineyards of more or less extent being henceforth increased in numbers, and I cannot see why the young vines cannot be pro- duced as cheaply here as they are in the Dnited States. Great efforts are being made to produce new and valuable varieties, hoping to generate one or more that would prove equally valuable in all parts of the country. If such a one should be produced, it will prove an immense benefit. But do not propagators ask too much, and have set too great a stint for themselves. Our country affords very dissimilar soils and climate for the vine, and to expect that any one variety will thrive equally in all sections is, I think, an unreasonable demand. The grape that would be satisfactory in the western part of Ontario might not be able to contend with the climate of Ottawa, and vice versa. No one grape has ever been the favourite in Europe, where there are a great variety of wines of entirely different qualities, and made from very dissimilar grapes ; some of the best wine grapes prove very inferior for the table. About a year ago I hastily penned an article for the Horticulturist, describing my small vineyard, and in which I gave my views in regard to the desirability, as I then believed and still believe, of encouraging, not only the production of grapes but also of wine-making, claiming that if a pure cheap wine could be brought into common use as a substitute for the many strong alcoholic compounds which are now so freely indulged in, that intoxication would, to a very large extent, die out. Wine, as I then remarked, is the common beverage of the masses in France, and instances of intoxication throughout the country are rare indeed, the city of Paris perhaps an exception, but Paris is not France. Although I hold that the safest course for the extermination of intemperance in the use of spirituous liquors, total abstinence stands first ; yet as far as my experience has taught me during the last forty years, I am led to conclude that it will be a long time before a tithe of our population can be found with sufficient moral courage to adopt it, the whisky having a greater charm for them than the sermon pleadings of the moralist ; therefore, I advocate as a second plank, to save from the shipwreck of intoxication the larger portion of the com- munity, the substitute of cheap, pure wine of our own producing. Let every legitimate means be resorted to, even if the task seems hopeless, to banish these strong inebriating evil spirits from the land, and if small portions of alcohol shall be considered necessary in a medical point of view, let it be entirely confined to the drug shop, to be dealt out only on the prescription of an honest doctor. For near fifty years men of eminence and men of talent, writers and orators, have been trying to call the attention of the public to 135 the ruin that was being brought upon the community by the common use of strong drink, but the great bulk of the people are still deaf to their exhortations. Intemperance in the common use of intoxicating beverages has grown into gigantic proportions. Into countless homes it shoots its venom-laden fangs, and annually, nay, daily, it gathers into its deadly coils whole catacombs of victims ; its presence is felt throughout the entire land, and everywhere revels in sin and misery. Intemperance in the world is not of recent date, but the frequency and virulency of the evil which alarms so much to-day are traits peculiar to our own times ; the causes I will not discuss ; it may arise from climatic influences, or perhaps it is the result of feverish life into which social habits and complications throw our various populations. Prevalent as intemperance is, alas ! how many fail to observe its vast proportions ? Honest, experienced physicians assure us that alcohol, only in exceptional sanitary conditions, brings no positive benefit to the human system, and that a most limited supply suffices for all salutary effects. Notwith- standing this what do facts tell us ? Alcohol, ocean-like, floods the land ; mild dilutions, as wines, do not satisfy ; distillation is called into active service to provide it in more undiminished vigour, and whether it be wine, beer or whisky, the vile art of adulteration is employed to enhance its maddening power. With the immense consumption of alcohol, upon what a terrific volcano of evil and misery society rests. The direct expen- diture of hundreds of millions for little beyond mere momentary pleasurable excitement is the least deplorable result. Alcohol taken beyond the limited dose has the effect of incapacitating man for all the duties of life, and leaves him without protection, a prey to his vilest and untamed passions ; it directly inflames those passions ; it is oil poured upon the burning fire ; it fills the mouth with blasphemy and arms the hand for murder. It is the ready foe of purity ; it withers all generous impulses of the heart ; it turns man into worse than an animal. Thousands of premature graves tell of its ravages. All classes, high and low, offer holacausts upon the altar of intemperance. The brightest minds and the noblest hearts are numbered amongst its victims. Human wrecks, whose fortunes it has dissipated, whose intellects it has stifled, are strewn over the land thick as autumn leaves in the forest. Homes are devastated ; hearts of mothers broken ; child- ren scattered as waifs through a pitiless world. One week's perusal of a daily paper fills the mind with horror at the recital of the shocking accidents, the suicides, the mur- ders, the ruin of innocence, and the crimes of all kinds caused by intemperance. I am still persuaded that every effort made in the direction of providing good pure native wine, at a moderate cost, would prove a public boon, and as such, shall continue to hope, will receive a due share of encouragement from all well wishers of the temper- ance cause. I also hope to see the three branches of industry, the few features of which I have touched upon, fully developed. J. Knowlson. AN INVITATION. The Secretary announced that he had received from Mr. John Hoskin, of Toronto, barrister, a member of this Association, an invitation to the gentlemen attending the Convention to meet him socially at his residence on the morrow at two o'clock. TOTES OF THANKS. On motion of Mr. Denton, seconded by Mr. Hoy, a vote of thanks was passed to the Mayor and Corporation for the loan of the City Hall for the meeting of the Association. On motion of Mr. Dempsey, seconded by Mr. Reeve, a similar vote was passed to the press of Toronto for reports of the Convention ; and on motion of Mr. Dempsey, seconded by Mr. Hopkins, it was agreed that the thanks of the Association be tendered to the railway companies for reduced fares. The Convention then adjourned sine die. 136 SUMMER MEETING. The Summer Meeting of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario was held in the Court House, in St. Catharines, commencing on Wednesday, the 29th day of August. The President, Mr. Wm. Saunders, of London, took the chair at eleven o'clock, and called upon the Secretary, Mr. Beadle, who read the minutes of the last winter meeting. Mr. Beadle then announced that arrangements had been made for an excursion of the members to Niagara Falls on Friday, under the conduct of Mr. Morden, of Drum- mondville, who had volunteered to act as guide. He also invited the members to a fruit banquet, at the Welland House, after the close of the meeting on Thursday night. NEW VARIETIES OF RASPBERRIES. The first question for discussion on the programme, " What New Varieties of Rasp- berries promise well ? " was then entered upon. Mr. A. M. Smith, being requested to open the discussion, said : — I would rather listen to some other gentlemen first. I will merely mention a few of the newer varieties that promise well, taking the Blackcaps first. The Souhegan, a comparatively new variety, did very well with me last year. It is not particularly early, but is a good bearer. The Tyler is another new variety which, though I have not fruited it very extensively, gave a promising record of itself. There is not much difference between these two varieties. The Gregg has now become so well known that it has almost ceased to be entitled to be classed as new. If I were confined to growing only one variety of blackcaps I think I should adhere to the Gregg. The old Mammoth Cluster is almost equally good. In reds, the best new variety I have tested is the Cuthbert, which is also known as the Queen of the Market. That is the only one I have fruited at all exten- sively this year. Besides some seedlings of my own, I have experimented this year with a seedling of our departed friend and fellow-worker, Charles Arnold, which gives good promise. , I also tried what is called the Lost Rubies, and all I have to say of it is that it is a pity it was ever found. The Turner — which, however, is not new — is a hardy variety which will probably succeed over a larger area of Canada than any other. It is rather soft, however, for shipping over any long distance. The Caroline is a compara- tively new variety, which appears to be hardy and productive ; but its quality is not first-class. Mr. B. Gott, of Arkona. — I have not had a great deal of experience in raspberries ; but I may mention a few new varieties that Mr. Smith has omitted. The Thwack is a redberry that bears good promise. Another is Shaffer's Colossal, a sort of hybrid, which shows an exceedingly productive and vigorous growth. It is, indeed, one of the most successful of the new varieties introduced. The red Hansell, which is a great favourite across the line, is likely, I believe, to prove of great value1 to us in Canada as well. I join with Mr. Smith in his testimony to the excellent qualities of the Souhegan and the Tyler. Mr. W. H. Read, of Port Dalhousie. — I grow the Mammoth Cluster, the Gregg and the Doolittle, and I must say that I find the Doolittle the most profitable of any. I have a few seedlings of my own, which I am not in a position to say anything definite about at present. Mr. Thomas Beall, of Lindsay. — The only new variety I have tried this year is the Cuthbert, which I like very well, with the exception of its colour, which is a dark dull red. Mr. Gott. — Are you sure you have the Cuthbert? Mr. Beall. — I think so. Mr. President Saunders. — I was under the impression that the Cuthbert was one of the handsomest berries we have, with a fine bright colour. 137 Mr. A. M. Smith. — If allowed to stand for some time, its colour becomes rather dark. At the time of picking there is no objection to its colour. Mr. E. Morden, of Drummondville. — As the growing of raspberries for market is my business, perhaps I should say something on the subject. With regard to the new varieties, I have just this general remark to make — that they are nearly all worthless for our purpose. The very quality the nurserymen are boasting most loudly of in them is of no value at all — that is earliness. The Tyler, the Souhegan and the Hansell are all early enough, if we required them ; but we do not. By years of experience in growing raspberries for market, I have learned that while people can buy strawberries for five or six cents a quart, they will not give double the price for early raspberries ; and if any fruit growers invest largely in any of these early varieties in the expectation of securing an advantage on the market, they will find themselves greatly mistaken. Raspberries are in far better demand after the strawberries have passed away. With regard to the new varieties, one advantage of the Gregg is that it does not drop easily from the bush, but adheres for several days after becoming ripe, so that you may gather your crop in three pickings. It is a large berry, though rather poor in quality. Some of the older varieties are superior to it in this respect. In the reds, I regard the Cuthbert as very valuable. I wholesaled it a week ago last Monday at 18 cents a basket. The Cuthbert possesses this sterling quality — that, though at any one picking it will not produce a very large crop, yet it will continue to bear picking for weeks after the ordinary red rasp- berries have gone, and taking the whole season together, it produces an abundant crop. The berry is large, of a rather dark colour, and it bears shipping so well that it may be carried for a long distance without showing any loss of bulk. One fault of many fine varieties of raspberries is their tendency to settle during shipment. This is the case with a new variety I have tried this season, called the Pride of the Hudson ; it is so soft that it will settle before it is carried off the field. The Cuthbert, on the other hand, will show no sign of loss of bulk for a day after it is picked. Mr. A. M. Smith. — I do not agree with Mr. Morden as to the valuelessness of the early varieties of raspberries. I find that they bring me double the price of the later varieties. This year I got fifteen cents a pint for my Highland Hardys before the straw- berries were gone. Mr. Gott. — I would differ from Mr. Morden also on that point. It is too much to wait until the strawberries are gone. We want something to fill up the interval, and that is where the value of the early raspberries comes in. The early Doolittle is very useful on that account. Mr. Beadle. — I notice Mr. Hoag, of Lockport, N. Y., here. He used to grow rasp- berries somewhat extensively, and perhaps he would give us his views on this subject. Mr. C. L. Hoag, of Lockport, N. Y. — I have not had much experience in raspberries for many years. When I did grow them, that old yellow variety, Brinckle's Orange, was a favourite with me. In reds, I grew the Franconia ; but I found it to winter-kill so badly that it was not profitable. Still it was the most successful variety I had. My soil was too heavy for profitable raspberry culture. My friend, Mr. Smith, had six or seven acres of them on light sandy soil, where they did better. A friend and myself recently spent some time near Philadelphia, where our attention was called to the Queen of the Market, or, as you call it, the Cuthbert. There it overtopped all others — it grew so thick and strong. The Hansell has also a reputation there. Mr. E. Ashley Smith, of Lockport. — I have had no experience in the new varieties of raspberries. The Franconia I have dealt in most largely, and with me it was a most valuable berry, although I did find it, as Mr. Hoag states, liable to winter-killing. Mr. Saunders. — As the discussion is widening, and as we have on the papers other questions relating to raspberries, such as the manures best suited to them, and the cul- tivation of them, perhaps it would be well to take up the whole subject of raspberries. Mr. Smith. — My experience was confined almost entirely to the Franconia, and I went out of the growing of raspberries simply because at the time of the financial revul- sion on our side I could scarcely find a commission man whom I could trust to make returns for my shipments. The fertilizer I used for the raspberry and found to be of great service was wood ashes, which I used quite liberally. I found mulching to be of 138 good value in the case of vines liable to winter killing. The ground on which my rasp- berries grew was rolling, and in those places where the snow drifted and remained all winter my raspberries came through safely, and invariably yielded large crops ; but the plants suffered more or less on the high and exposed parts. Mr. Morden. — Could any gentleman give me any light with regard to an apparent blight that has attacked the red raspberries. The younger plants only come up a few inches when it appears, causing the growth to stop and the leaves to curl in a peculiar manner. I know there is rust on the Blackcaps, but that is another matter. The Brandy wines will bear with the blight upon them, but the younger growth will not. Mr. President Saunders. — Did you examine the leaves to see if there were any lice upon them ? Mr. Morden. — I must confess that I did not examine them very closely, I am, however, familiar with the action of lice on raspberry bushes, and I think that is not the cause. The trouble does not seem to spread, but is local. Mr. P. C. Dempsey, of Trenton. — We have tried several new varieties of raspberries. Although not many of them have given satisfaction, the Cuthbert has turned out to be one of the best we have. I have no objection to its colour, which some gentlemen have taken exception to. The Gregg with us has been rather tender and liable to freeze. The Cuthbert, although growing side by side with the Gregg, I have not known to freeze. I prefer the Mammoth Cluster to the Gregg. In growing for market, we find that the early varieties pay us best. We send most of our fruit to the Montreal market, where large quantities of wild berries are offered for sale and come into competition with our late berries. It is the worst competition we have. With respect to the local markets, I agree with Mr. Morden that more money is to be made out of the later varieties. I have nothing to offer with regard to the culture of the raspberry. My experience, however, coincides with that of Mr. Hoag, that varieties which are tender on clay soil are perfectly hardy on light sandy soil. It is quite possible that the Gregg, which we grow on clay soil, might be sufficiently hardy on light soil. Mr. Morden. — I have my doubts whether the Gregg will succeed even on sandy soil. It seems to die out from some other cause. Mr. Dempsey — With regard to picking, our pickers object to picking the Gregg raspberry, because they cannot get it off the skene before it is ripe. A great many of them turn black before they are ripe ; but when they are ripe in reality, they pick quite readily. Mr. E. Morris, of Fonthill. — I have a few samples of the Hansell (showing them) which I have been very much pleased with so far. It is a fair grower, and I am led to believe that it will be very productive ; I think, too, that it will be sufficiently hardy. My experience and observation of the Gregg have been quite different from Mr. Demp- sey's. I think it is even hardier than the Cuthbert, for I have seen it stand and thrive in winter close to where the Cuthbert has been winter-killed. The Souhegan is another valuable variety. For early I believe these two kinds are very valuable, and for late, I don't think we have anything to excel the Gregg. There is this to be said, however, that it does not seem to do so well on light as on heavy soil. For quality, size and pro- ductiveness the Cuthbert, as a late berry, is hard to beat. I have grown the Lost Rubies. The berry is not quite so good as the Cuthbert, but I think the plant is hardier. Mr. E. Ashley Smith. — 1 would like to inquire what is meant by a light soil. Mr. E. B. Lewis, of Lockport, has a field of the Gregg raspberry on what I call a sandy loam. A little distance from that he has another field of what I call a sandy soil. His berries made a very fine showing indeed — no trouble with winter-killing at all. Mr. President Saunders. — I suppose that what is generally understood by light soil is a light sandy soil with little or no admixture of clay. Sandy loam has more or less of clay mixed with it, and in proportion as the clay predominates the soil becomes stronger. In some sections of Ontario we have whole districts where the soil is so light and sandy that it will almost blow away. The soil approaching that character is, I think, what we generally understand by light soil — containing very little nourishment for vegetable growth. Mr. Morden. — In the remarks I made before, I tried to speak of the new varieties. 139 I would now like to say a word or two with regard to some of the older ones. A few years ago, in this place, I remarked that the Philadelphia holds the same relation to raspberries that Wilson's Albany does to strawberries. I am still of that opinion. The Philadelphia has one fault — it is a little dark ; but that is the only fault it has. Most of the varieties mentioned to-day, even the Cuthbert, sprout very freely. The Phila- delphia keeps to the hill ; it sprouts very little, and is cultivated almost as easily as a hill of corn. This makes it highly acceptable to that class of people who are in the habit of neglecting their gardens. It yields well. It is not quite so firm as some others, but it is fairly firm. If I were to be confined to two varieties, I should select the Philadelphia and the Cuthbert. Another variety I have tried somewhat extensively, which, I think, will have to pass away, is the Brandywine. It produces a very small, bright berry, that will ship easily from this city to Montreal ; but the quality is so bad that the public will soon discover the fact, and refuse to take it. I think, therefore, that it ought to pass out of cultivation. I have made up my mind next year to dig up my Brandywine plantation and put the Cuthbert in its place. Mr. A. Wright, of Renfrew. — The main quality we in our district look for in raspberries is hardiness, and without exception the hardiest raspberry I have yet seen is Saunders' No. 70. It is never winter-killed with me, and always bears a large growth. Of course it is not a first-class berry. The Cuthbert with me last winter did not winter kill, because we had a very heavy fall of snow, and of course snow is the best protection we have for plants of any kind. It has consequently given me a good growth of the very finest berries. I have been very unfortunate with my Greggs — I do not know from what cause. They came through the winter very well, but this spring some sort of wire worm ate them up. The Mammoth Cluster has done well enough where protected beside the fences ; but when planted out in the open field it is almost sure to be winter-killed. These are the only varieties we have tried so far. Mr. Wm. Roy, of Owen Sound. — I fully agree with Mr. Morden with regard to the Philadelphia. It is very easy of cultivation, and is one of the most productive berries for the market that one can grow. I have had experience with the Philadelphia, the Clark, Brinckle's Orange, and the Franconia. The Franconia I found very tender. Brinckle's Orange succeed very well. I have tried some of the new varieties, but without success. Mr. Morris.— The great objection to the Philadelphia is that it crumbles, besides which it is lacking in quality, and has a bad colour. One of the most profitable of the new varieties I forgot to mention — that is, Shaffer's Colossal. It comes very early and continnes to one of the latest. Mr. Beadle. — What is its quality 1 Mr. Morris. — It is a little sour ; but for canning and for home use I think it would sell well. Mr. Beadle. — Have you tried cooking? Mr. Morris. — No. Mr. Beadle. — Well, try that ; it will bring out its good qualities. Mr. John Croil, of Aultsville. — Is the Philadelphia grown in Mr. Wright's district ? Mr. Wright. — 1 believe Mr. Smallfield, of Renfrew, who is here, has it in his garden. Mr. Smallfield. — I thought I had it, but after this discussion I am doubtful. I bought it from a neighbour as the Philadelphia, and have been growing it as such. It is dark coloured and pretty solid. In former years it has not done well. This year it has done very well. Mr. President Saunders. — Perhaps climate may have something to do with it. I know that about London the Philadelphia suffers considerably, and perhaps as we go farther north, where there is a greater struggle for existence, we may find that it has ceased to grow very largely. Mr. A. M. Smith. — I wish to say, with reference to Shaffer's Colossal, that it is not only a colossal bearer, but a colossal grower. I have some bushes this year which I think are nearly six feet high. In quality, the berry much resembles Mr. Saunders' Hybrid. Mr. Beadle. — The Souhegan, the Tyler, and the Hopkins, three of the blackcaps 140 that have recently been introduced, are supposed to be valuable on account of their ripening early. I have them growing near each other, and I cannot see any material difference in them as to the time of ripening. Nor have I been able to see any advantage in one over another with respect to quality. They seem very much alike in productive- ness, quality, and time of ripening. Perhaps different soils or climate may reveal some superior feature in one variety over another for particular localities. I would suggest that anyone wishing to experiment should try these three kinds, and then decide which of the three is best adapted to his particular locality. I heard the Thwack mentioned to- day. It is an objection to the Philadelphia that it lacks quality, there is a double objection to the Thwack on the same ground. It is a good bearer ; but for amateur use, or for the market, which can be supplied by some of these other varieties which are finer in quality, I don't think we need grow the Thwack. For my part, I think less of it than of any other variety of raspberries — even less than I d ) of the Highland Handy. Then the Lost Rubies — Mr. Smith hit the point with respect to them. Any one growing them must grow them where there is plenty of pollen from some of the other varities of raspberries, or he will get no fruit. If we have to do that, I see no reason why the Lost Rubies should not be left lost. Another objection to this variety is that it suckers badly. This year and last year the berries were very poorly formed for the reason, I ascertained, that it had not sufficient pollen. Shaffer's Colossal is growing not far from my new plants of Lost Rubies, and as Mr. Smith has said, it is colossal. If his has attained the height of six feet, I think mine has gone twelve feet. It was about ten feet high the last time I saw it, and I fancy it has grown two feet since. It continues to bear its fruit for a long time, and the berries are the largest cap berries I know of. My impression is that they are too soft to bear shipping any great distance, though I have not tried shipping them. Their maroon colour prevents them from becoming popular in the market. They have a peculiar bloom on them, which will leadjany person, not familiar with that kind of fruit, to think they are mouldy. Their flavour is poor, but cooking and the addition of a little sugar will show you a surprising improvement. . I intend to grow some of them, and can them for my own winter use. In this form I think they are equal to any. The Hansell fruited a little with me this year. I believe it be closely related to the wild raspberry. It has both the flavour and the look of the wild raspberry. I think it is a hardy variety, but I do not know how far north it will grow. A man who tried it in Manitoba told me it was doing very well there, after having passed through last winter. I have tried the Superb, and I would call it superb in every sense of the word. It is a good bearer, has a good colour, and has a high flavour. I shall be surprised if it does not turn out well. Mr. Gott. — I was surprised to hear the height of some of the raspberry canes in this district. We look to this garden of Canada to set a good example to all fruit growers. We ought to measure our canes, not by their height, but by their breadth, and we think this effort after a towering height is hardly a good example to set before the people. Several varieties of blackcaps have been mentioned. There are two or three, however, which have yet been omitted — we speak of the Bristol, the Highland Hardy, and the Herstein. We think they are more valuable for market purposes, to satisfy the refined taste of our people, than almost any that have been mentioned. Although they will not tower to the enormous height of ten or twelve feet, they will grow four or five feet, and will bear an enormous growth, and the fruit ripens very regularly. The Bristol, a red berry, I consider a variety of sterling value, being very solid, a fine shipper, and answering our purposes in every respect. Mr. Morden. — The Herstein and the Highland Hardy I am glad to kick out of my plantation. The former, I believe, succeeds in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia and in some other places. The same may be said of the Highland Hardy. It succeeds locally, not generally. Mr. Dempsey. — The Herstein and the Highland Hardy have succeeded very well with us. The Herstein looks very nice on the bushes. It is a little soft for shipping long distances, but we have found it enormously productive. I fruited the Hansell this year ; it was planted a year ago. I must confess that I was considerably disappointed in it. I went into a wild patch of raspberries and was able to pick Hansells there as 141 well as in my garden. I could see no difference between the two, either in time of ripening, in quality, or in appearance. The Philadelphia has given us a great deal of satisfaction — it is enormously productive, attains a good size, and ships very well. On my own ground this year we had a magnificent growth. It is a clay loam, rather heavy, underdrained at a depth of four feet. On a lighter soil, we find that the Philadelphia grows smaller and crumbles sometimes. At this point the Association adjourned for an hour for dinner. On resuming, Mr. Gott read the following paper : — RASPBERRIES. Gentlemen of the Fruit Growers1 Association : Having been for the past month or more very considerably among the raspberries, one of our most beautiful and savory summer fruits, you will not wonder that I feel my- self to be pretty thoroughly saturated with their odorous flavours. We have felt that in the timely and properly gathering and successfully marketing a crop of raspberries, even on a small scale, there is much of care and skilled labour to be expended. But in the ex- perience of this season we are happy to say that the readiness, and apparent pleasure with which the fruit was invariably received in the market, not only give us the deepest satisfaction in our work as fruit growers, but made us also to feel that we were amply re- warded for all our toil and care in its culture. Have we not now reached the period when the honest cultivator of good fruit will most assuredly be well rewarded in every department of his industry 1 In hastily discussing upon raspberries for a short space at the present, 'we do not do so because we feel that we can add anything to the brilliant array of writers, and the large amount of most excellent matter on the subject that has already appeared in our publications, but rather simply to add my humble testimony as a practical man to the excellences of our POPULAR CANADIAN FRUIT. In taking this position, I do not do so to assert, or even insinuate, that it is an ex- clusively Canadian fruit, but that it is as popular and acceptable in Canada as in any other country under the sun. We are pleased with its wide and extended production, but we are much more pleased with its Canadian production, because it fills the bill here in a way that nothing else can. Again, in taking this position we have not the slighest wish or intention in doing so to throw over at one full sweep the whole list of luscious straw- berries that have just preceded us. No, by no means ! We maintain that we must have the strawberries, and in all their richness, variety and productiveness, placed upon the market for as many consecutive weeks as possible. But with respect to the raspberry, we hold and teach that it is filling a great popular want in its season that nothing else can supply, and a want that must be supplied, situated as we are with regard to country and climate. It is essentially the people's fruit, and it is our duty and our business to produce it in all its wealth of variety from as early in the season to as late as we possible can, and to fill the season with it in all its fulness and plentiousness. It is not merely the rich man's fruit, although during the season just past it looked something very like it, by its scarcity and price, but it is as well the poor man's fruit, any man's fruit, and the poor but lovely child of the peasant will relish it with equal keenness and pleasure to that of the pampered heir of the mansion. Oh, how many times have we seen the eye of the bright little boy or girl as it was sent on an errand by its mother for a box of raspberries, glisten with the most intense delight as it took the rich treasure of fruit in its hands and scampered away. Surely we cannot but feel that we are doing essentially a good work for the grow- ing population of our country in trying to supply them with the health and pleasure- giving fruits of the season in their purity and abundance. 142 THE INCREASING DEMANDS. On account of the general scarcity of fruit this season, the demand for our cultivated and beautiful raspberries was exceedingly large and keen, so much so indeed, that the the crop was by no means sufficient to supply it, though far greater than we had ever before known it. Again for obvious reasons, the general cry against the cultiva- tion of the raspberry, viz., the cheapness and abundance of the wild crop, was scarcely felt this season to injure our sale, and every year this outcry and objection will be felt less and less, until it will eventually cease altogether. The land is annually becoming too valuable for other purposes, to allow it to be in neglect or covered over with logs, brush, and briars, simply for the few raspberries it may produce, and the owner gets a very small share of these for himself. Those places where we used always to go for our supply of raspberries (and many a hard fall and bad scratch we got into the bargain), are now, by the careful industry of our people, almost entirely disappearing from the fair face of our country landscape. If, therefore, the people want raspberries, (and they do) from this time forward they must depend upon their own individual efforts, or those of the pro- fessional fruit grower for their supply. What is to be done 1 Shall we neglect our duty and let them languish for the want of a luxury that it was no doubt designed they should have, and have in the greatest abundance for themselves and their families ? Those of us who were acquainted with this country in its virginity know, that as soon as the splendid growth of noble forest trees was removed, the whole country was immediately covered with cane, LIKE A NATURAL RASPBERRY PATCH. Who can doubt, as Dr. Wilde would say, that there was a design in this ? Does not our heated and intense climate cause the relish for these cooling and refreshing fruits 1 And under these circumstances ought we not most assuredly to have them for our health and refreshment 1 Might it not be readily argued from this position, that Providence, foreseeing that this condition in our circumstances would exist, and so produce these demands for these fruits, caused in His infinite wisdom this natural product to appear just where it would be most useful and would be most needed1? I leave these enquiries for your serious consideration, my brethren. The questions of importance now with us as professional men are, how shall we best supply the increasing demand for raspberries 1 And why are not our markets better supplied with them 1 These are queries that con- cern us as an association of fruit growers, and we should earnestly apply ourselves to their solution. If raspberries have been scarce in our markets, so they have ruled high in price the past season. In our parts of this fair Ontario these fruits have sold at wholesale for $4.50 per crate of three dozen boxes, and the retail price to the consumer, as high as eighteen to twenty-five cents per box. I take it and am bold to affirm, that this is a great crying shame on us as a people in a country like this. Under no circum- stances, for every day use, should this fruit average more than ten or twelve cents per box to the consumer. To have the fruit plentifully supplied to the tables of our people, these high prices must be reduced, and the fruit must be more generally cultivated amongst us. Shall we be less industrious and careful of our privilege than our neighbours across the lines, who are ever foremost to supply themselves with the delicacies of the season 1 Shall we not by honest efforts seek to supply our markets with any needful delicacies, or shall we compel our people to seek their supply from others. We will leave these enquiries, and for a moment consider the raspberry in its EASE OF CULTURE AND PRODUCTIVENESS. As to the soil we find that any of our good productive wheat lands are just the thing for the successful production of fine raspberries, fit to grace the table of a prince. So long as the soil is high, warm and dry, it matters but little whether it be sandy loam or clay loam, but we would prefer a soil that is mild and not extreme in either of these. They may be planted in the spring and in rows in any direction ; but preference is given to north and south, and worked by horse-power and hoes from year to year. A planta- 143 tion well located and well attended to is supposed to continue in good bearing condition for eight or ten years, but it is better to put out a new plantation every five or six years, for the second and third crops are the best. The products will be most satisfying to the careful cultivator, and will range from 2,000 to 3,000 quarts per acre, according to the circumstances of soil, location, variety and attention. The outlay for labour and gather- ing does not amount to much on the whole crop, and for ordinary family use does not amount to anything, as it is incidentally done, and the abundant rewards richly repay for all care and labour bestowed upon them. I will attempt to give you a more definite idea of my meaning by a notice of this season's work in OUR PATCH. This we do, not merely in a spirit of self righteous boasting, or to hold ourselves up to be wondered at, for we believe that many cultivators have been enabled to do as well, or even much better than we have done. But example is the best kind of teaching, and practical experience in these matters, as well as many others, is most to be relied upon. It is better than fine spun theories, and is frequently very hard to successfully confute. Our raspberries are located on a rich piece of clay loam, gently sloping to the north and fringed on the south side by a piece of forest, or woods, if you prefer it. This position we liked very much and thought it the most desirable for successful culture and for the following reasons : — First. The position sloping to the north and having a good shading from the belt of woods, would be most effectually screened from the intense summer sun, which is invarably the great cause of much damage to the fruit when it is ripening, or just before, by being scorched and utterly dried up. Secondly. This location so situated, was pretty well supplied with moisture in summer, but not wet, a consideration which we know would be invaluable for the crop, to secure it against the intensely drying influence of our July and August months. In these particulars we hit it right on the mark and our crop of raspberries was this year one of the prettiest sights of the kind that ever greeted the sight of an expectant cultivator. We suffered from no adverse influence with the slight exception of one. The forepart of the season was very wet and showery, just at the time of the opening of the blossoms. The wet from the passing showers lodged in the tender expanding blossoms, and the sunshine coming hot upon it just afterwards, had the effect of scalding the blossoms and killing them, and we lost a third or more of our crop from this cause. But still the result in the end was grand. The patch contains 37,440 square feet of surface or seven-eighths of an acre, and has 2,080 plants upon it, planted six by three feet, which are cultivated by horse power and hoe. We keep down all side shoots and suckers, and prune back the young canes to three feet. We com- menced picking for market this year July 18th, and continued on every other day or so until Aug. 21st, or a little over a month. During the time we picked 1,520 quart boxes of fruit, and as they sold at wholesale for twelve cents per box, realized us $182.40 in cash or nearly nine cents per plant on the average, although some of them must have nearly doubled this result. This we thought a very good showing for the second crop off" the plantation. The varieties we had in cultivation were for blacks : Davidson's Thornless, Seneca, Gregg, Mammoth Cluster and Doolittle. For reds : Naomi, Highland Hardy, Brandywine, Turner, Bristol, Herstine, Belle de Fontany, Clarke, Philadelphia, Cuth- bert and Niagara. For yellow : Arnold's Orange King. These were a dozen very inter- esting varieties, and I can assure you, gentlemen, they were a most interesting lesson for study for any and all who had a taste for these fruits in their finest forms. NOTICE OF VARIETIES. Among the blacks the Davidson is the earliest and the Doolittle and Seneca immedi- ately following. These are profitable fruits when well grown on suitable soil and location, but if otherwise they are almost worthless. For a general crop for the market we have nothing on the list that will surpass the Mammoth Cluster, either in plenty or in beauty of fruit. It too has good internal qualities, is a good shipper, and is on the whole a boon to the lover of good fruit. The Gregg is recognized the best for a late crop, and the best 144 of its class. One of the salient points in the Blacks that makes them a great favourite with the fruit growers, is their admirable shipping qualities. They are so solid and compact in their composition that they can be shipped to almost any distance in perfect safety. Again, they are very popular, and almost everybody wants them, excepting merely the newly arrived Englishman, who will persist that they are "hold brambles.''7 For all culinary purposes they never come amiss, and for preserving, either by themselves or mixed in equal parts with the Reds, they are very good and exactly fill the bill. These fine fruits have a fair future before them in this country. Amongst the Reds the High- land Hardy, Brandywine and Bristol are the earliest on the list, followed closely by Herstine, Turner and Naomi. These are again followed by Clarke and Philadelphia and lastly by Niagara and Cuthbert. Philadelphia is the most wonderfully prolific bearer on the list, and will fill more quart boxes than almost double the quantity of bushes of any others. Its great fault is, it overbears, and either the berries are small or they crumble. Some objections have been made to its colour and its quality, but we ignore these in our market and are much pleased with it. Naomi is a remarkable berry and is the best shipper we have in the Reds. The berries and grains are large and a fine colour, and very solid, but it also is apt to crumble. It is hardy and very prolific. Belle de Fontenay is an ever-bearer, and will continue to ripen its large and beautiful fruit right up to frost. We make good use of this variety for the fall shows. Turner and Herstine are the great favourites with all raspberry growers, both east and west, and for a main crop, near a good market, they certainly are admirable. Turner is very prolific and is a great favourite with the pickers as it is thornless. Cuthbert is the best late berry that has yet come to hand, anf good quality ; very sweet but of small size. In addition to the above a most creditable and excellent display of fruits, flowers and ornamental shrubs, was made by Messrs. Beadle & Dunlop, of St. Catharines. The varieties of pears included Sarah, Doyenne du Cornice, Doyenne Boussock, Josephine de Malines, Butter, Souvenir du Congres, and Stevens' Genesee. Of apples there wem fine specimens of Mother, Waupaca, Sutton's Early, and another variety much resembling Falla water. There were also two varieties of Egg Plant, viz., the New Yoik Improved and fearly Purple, both remarkably fine specimens. The display of shrubs included, Yucca filamentosa or Adams' Needle, Tamarix Indica, Salsiburia or Maiden Hair Tree, the Purple-leaved Plum, Althaea or Bose of Sharon, variegated Althasa, the Hydrangea aniculata, the purple Peach, purple Birch, purple Maple, purple Berberry and purple Hazel, the variegated Wigela, the variegated Sycamore, Fern-leaved Sumac, the Curl-leaved Willow, Mohonia-aqua- folia, Imperial cut-leaved Alder, Catalpa and the Amorphophallus Bivieri. In climbers there were the Clematis, Jackmani and Coccinea. There was also an excellent display of Gladioli, which embraced almost every variety of shade and colour. Their display of Dahlias was remarkably fine, embracing about fifty varieties. There was as well a very fine display of these flowers from the grounds of Messrs. Webster Brothers, of Hamilton, it embraced also about fifty varieties, some a? large as even Oscar Wild would desire, and others no larger than a penny. All of which are respectfully submitted, C. M. HONSBERGER. The report was referred to the Committee on Printing. GOOSEBEBRIES. " Are Gooseberries a Profitable Fruit to Cultivate ?" was the next question discussed* Mr. Ball. — I do not raise gooseberries, but a good many are raised in my neigh- bourhood, and the impression there is that they are not a profitable fruit. They were sold at fifty cents the twelve-quart basket in Toronto, and did not pay at that price. Mr. Boy. — Are they subject to mildew ? Mr. Ball. — Not much ; some. We live near the lake, and I think that has some influence on them. Mr. Bead. — I find very little mildew on gooseberries. I have some growing very successfully this year, but I have none to sell, though, from the prospects, I should say they would be profitable, as they bear heavily. Mr. Dempsey. — I am satisfied that gooseberry culture can be made profitable, it actually is made profitable by some persons in our Province. A gentleman told me since I came here — I am sorry that I do not see him present — that he had sold his gooseberries this year at twelve and a-half cents a quart in the district. He also told me that his plants produced half a bushel each, and that they were planted six feet by four. You have only to make a little calculation to see that that would pay pretty well% it would beat strawberries a long way, without costing half the time to care for them. He managed to get these high prices by leaving his gooseberries until the strawberries and raspberries were nearly over, when he was only about a week selling them. This summer they have been selling at various prices up to twenty cents a basket. The way they were prepared for market was to separate the large ones from the small ones, by means of a perforated zinc, the former being sold at a higher rate than the latter. I fancy that we could so improve the varieties of gooseberries, both in size and flavour, as to make them a very profitable fruit to grow. 185 Mr. Croil. — I cannot say that gooseberries in our neighbourhood have been profitable, but I do not see why they should not be profitable. The great difficulty with us has been mildew. A gooseberry bush will not occupy more space than a cabbage, and I do not think Mr. Dempsey has overstated the fact when he says that one bush will yield half a bushel. The price this year in Montreal was, I think, on the average, ten cents a quart. We grow the Houghton. We had no mildew this year. The Downing is an excellent berry, a heavy bearer, very fine for eating, but not for cooking ; it is too sweet for that. One advantage the gooseberry possesses over the other fruit is the advantage with which it is gathered. If you cannot pick the berries to-day, you can do so the next day or the following. On the whole, I think gooseberries are a very profitable fruit to cultivate. Mr. Dempsey. — In Montreal, where we ship all our goosebeeries, this year the Houghtons averaged about six cents a basket, Smith's Improved averaged about eight cents a basket, and the Downing averaged about ten cents. That is, for the season through. Mr. Croil. — One kind I did not mention is the Red Captain, which is spoken of very highly as a very large berry, a good bearer, and free from mildew. Mr. Hoy. — Had you any mildew this year, Mr. Dempsey? Mr. Dempsey. — Yes, we had abundance of it. Houghton's Seedling and Smith'g Improved mildewed, but thp Downing did not mildew at all. On those varieties which were attacked by mildew, however, there was still some fruit to be obtained. We treat the bushes attacked by mildew with sulphur, but this year the sulphur has not apparently had any effect. We have not had sunshine enough to cause the sulphurous acid to rise from the sulphur, and consequently it has had no effect on the mildew. Mr. Goodwin. — I think we can grow gooseberriss profitably. About twelve or four- teen quarts is the largest quantity I have ever received from a single bush. This year I realized six cents a quart for that quantity. I have four varieties growing in my grounds — the Downing, the Houghton Seedling, Smith's Improved, and another whose name I forget. I have never been troubled with mildew. Even at the low price of six cents a quart, gooseberries can be raised at a considerable profit to the grower — in fact, I would aay at considerably less than that. Mr. Roy. — What kind of manure do you use 1 Mr. Goodwin. — My orchard is young. I have manured it simply with good barn- yard manure, well rotted ; but the principal fertilizer is ashes. I give the bushes a very small amount in the spring. Mr. Roy. — Do you throw any salt on the bush ? Mr. Goodwin. — I never use salt. Mr. Williams. — Are you troubled with the worm! Mr. Goodwin. — Yes, I have been this year. I use white hellebore successfully to get rid of it. I just shake a little of it dry on the bushes in the morning. M^r. Wright. — We do not grow the gooseberry very extensively in our neighbour- hood The Houghton and the Downing are the two principal varieties I have grown — for my own use. Mr. Armstrong. — I think the only trouble with regard to the gooseberry is the picking of them. If the grower lives near a city or village where he can obtain help, I believe they may be made a profitable crop ; but not otherwise. BLACKBERRIES. " Can any varieties of Blackberry be Profitably Grown for market 1 " was then opened for discussion. Mr. Gott. — I would most decidedly answer, Yes. We believe they can be profit- ably grown for market — indeed, the market is very anxious to get them. Amongst all the berries on the list, this is one of the most delusive in texture and flavour. There are a number of varieties that we think can be made profitable, among which we would name the Dorchester, the Lawton, and the Kittatinny. Mr. Roy. — What do you think of Wilson's Early 1 186 Mr. Gott. — It is not profitable, inasmuch as it is very tender and a poor bearer. One of the best varieties on the list is the Snyder. It is a very fine fruit, and will yield an enormous number of quarts or bushels to the acre. In our markets, blackberries will command twenty-five cents per box. It is a high price, but people will pay it, and the supply is inadequate to the demand. Mr. Morris. — I think the Snyder and the Taylor's Prolific are the only two I can rely upon. The Lawton, the Dorchester, and the Kittatinny are tender. In the Niagara district I do not think we can depend on more than one crop in three. When the black- berries do bear, they bear wonderfully, and are very fine and very profitable. But, on the whole, from my experience — which has been considerable — I can hardly think they pay. One objection to the Snyder is in its size ; but it is so extremely hardy that when planted in rich soil and well cultivated it will produce abundantly. I would recommend it in preference to the others. Mr. Gott. — We know that blackberries are indigenous to this country, and to pre- vent tenderness the practice of pinching is adopted. When the cane comes up three feet or so it is pinched off, and that causes an enormous growth. A number of shoots start out from the stalk, forming a bush, or almost a tree. When these come up a little above the former growth, they are also pinched ; and so this pinching process goes on. The bush then goes into winter quarters, perfectly hardened ; the frost has little or no effect on it : and even the Kittatinny, which has been complained of as tender, will come through the winter with sureness and success. When this practice is followed, com- plaints about tenderness in such hardy fruits as blackberries are not applicable to our country. We do not like to hear them. Mr. Morris. — The training spoken of by Mr. Gott is not common in the Niagara district, but I deny that it makes the blackberries any hardier. I cannot see why it should j the varieties 1 referred to are naturally tender, and there is no way in which you can make them hardy unless !t is by growing them in rather dry and warm soil, where they do not get much growth. But in that way you would get very little fruit. Mr. Hilborn. — I find that the success of any variety depends a good deal on the location and soil. What will do in one locality will not do as well in another, either as to hardiness or productiveness. Taylor's Prolific has been mentioned as hardy. We have had it for two years without its giving any indication of bearing. We have not gathered one quart of fruit from Taylor's Prolific, while we have gathered hundreds from the Snyder, and a few from the Kittatinny. The soil is a clay loam. Mr. Honsberger. — In this country there is scarcely any variety of blackberries for which we fear winter-killing. At least, on my place the only variety which appears to be at all tender is Wilson's Early ; I have no difficulty in growing the Kittatinny, the Lawton, or the Dorchester to perfection. If allowed to grow as they would, they would grow to a colossal size. I think blackberries have paid me better than any fruit I have grown in an equal space of ground, yielding large crops of fruit, not only one year in three, but every year ; and always bringing good prices in the market, frequently aver- aging fourteen or fifteen cents a box. Mr. Gregory. — I think there is a great deal in the locality and the soil. The Early Wilson has been standing on my place for thirteen years, and not more than a bush or two .at a time has been winter-killed. I believe that on sandy soil near Lake Ontario all the varieties spoken of — the Kittatinny, Wilson's Early, and the Lawton — are hardy enough ; and I believe trimming does make them a little more hardy. As for profit, I am certain they will produce a great deal more than our wheat fields have done this year. Mr. Roy. — The Kittatinny and Wilson's Early I find very tender. I have pitched on the native berry that I get out of the woods, and it bears every year. There is nothing tender about it. Mr. Goodwin. — I think the soil has a great deal to do with successful blackberry culture. Taylor's Prolific, even with rough treatment, has never failed to give me a good fair crop, and this year the bushes are loaded down almost to the ground. The Lawton and the Kittatinny have utterly failed with me in the winter, but Taylor's Pro- lific seems to have stood every winter, and I am so well pleased with it that I intend to increase the growth. 187 Mr. Coots. — I have got this blackberry fever a little. Our friend, Mr. Gott, says they bring twenty-five cents a basket ; and in the last number of the Fruit Recorder, page 146, I find a statement by a gentleman that on a piece of ground eleven rods by ten, he has picked this present year from a patch planted in 1878, no less than 5,643 boxes of Snyder's, which at twenty-five cents a box, would produce in the neighbourhood of $1400. I think that is ahead of black currants. I intend to take up my black currant bushes and plant Snyder's, or Taylor's Prolific, or Dorchester, or something else in blackberries. Mr. Hilborn. — There are some localities where Taylor's Prolific does very well, but I think on the whole the Snyder is the hardiest and most prolific we have, and it is likely to be planted most generally for market purposes and for canning. Mr. Goodwin. — There is a new variety called the Gainer Seedling, which is one of the finest blackberries that ever came under my notice. My neighbours have brought it successfully through several winters, and it bears exceedingly well. BLACK KNOT AND THE CANADA THISTLE. Mr. Drury. — I desire, with your leave, to bring before this meeting a matter which I consider to be of great importance to us as fruit growers. It has reference to the existing laws relating to black knot and the Canada thistle. We do not want to change the laws, but we want some better machinery than we have for carrying them into effect. I think you will all bear testimony to the truth of what I say when I assert that although the law on the subject of black knot is a good one, it is virtually a dead letter. I have brought up this matter because the Agricultural and Arts Association, of which I am a member, propose discussing the question of better machinery for putting into force the Canada Thistle Act, and I hold that it is the duty of this Association to co-operate with the Agricultural and Arts Association to have the laws against this and other pests, carried out. Anyone going over the country at this time of the year, as most of us have done, will be impressed with the lamentable fact that the Act relating to Canada thistles is an utter failure. There is no pretence to carry it into effect. Even in our public high- ways the Canada thistle thrives. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, I believe the overseers of highways neglect to have it cut down. One reason why the Agricultural and Arts Association purpose to bring this matter before the country is, that in many parts of the Province new weeds are making their appearance. In the northern parts of the Province, the Ox-eye Daisy has shown itself. Many like it because it is a pretty flower, and the ladies sometimes wear it ; but few are aware of the danger of that little flower. Some say that it is even worse than the Canada thistle. So far as the Canada thistle is concerned, I am sorry to have to make the admission that to put in force the law against it would be, I believe, to destroy a great portion of the crops of the Province. But now is the time to put into operation the machinery of the law against the Ox-eye Daisy, the Wild Mustard, and other weeds, which are just beginning to appear, and from which many parts of the Province are as yet free. We want the law extended so as to cover all these destructive weeds. I hold that it is the duty of this Association to place their views before the Legislature on questions of this kind. We have not so large or so special an interest in these weeds as we have in black knot, and with regard to that we should give the Legislature the benefit of our advice. We purpose, if possible, to have this matter brought before the public during the next session of the Legislature, with the view of having some better machinery adopted. The trouble at present is that a man does not like to inform upon his neighbour, and it appears to me that the only method by which the law can be carried out is to appoint township inspectors. At present, if I see my neighbour allowing thistles to go to seed, I, as a good citizen, am expected to see that the law is put in force ; but if I do not wish to be an informer, the result is that the Canada thistle goes on extending, and the trouble grows worse. I hold that the time has come when we should take some more practical steps to cope with this evil ; and in con- nection with this, our special duty as a fruit association is to see that the law against 188 black knot is made equally effective. The gentleman who originated that law — a very good one — lives at Owen Sound, and yet even there it is a dead letter. Why ? Simply because there is no one to put it into force. I desire that this meeting should give expression to the opinion, if it so thinks, that public officials should be appointed to see that these laws are put in force. Mr. Roy. — This is a very important subject which Mr. Drury has brought before us, and I hope that all who feel an interest in it will give an expression of opinion on the subject. I did a good deal in order to get the Black Knot Act passed, and I am sorry to say it has not succeeded as I anticipated. I do not think the black knot can be exter- minated by cutting it out. I tried to cut it out for four or five years, but year after year it reappeared in the same branches, until 1880, when it came out worse than ever. In the spring of 1881, again there was scarcely a branch in my orchard that was not affected with black knot. In the fall of 1882, I was so vexed that I had nearly thirty trees chopped down. I saw that there was no help for it, as there was not a sound branch in them. If you pass a stringent law, I very much fear that it will necessitate the destruc- tion of many plum orchards. As to the Canada thistle, I have passed scores of fields more thickly grown with it than with oats. No farmer is able to keep down Canada thistles on his farm. On the public highways, too, I never saw the thistles so thick as they are now, and the overseers of highways pay no attention to them. Mr. Gott. — I am very glad Mr. Drury has brought this important matter before tis, and if anything can be done to render these laws more effective, I think most decidedly it ought to be done. In the western part of the Province the black knot is sweeping the orchards. There is scarcely a plum tree to be found that is unaffected by it ; and that is not the worst. It is extending to our cherry trees, so that in the course of time they will fare as badly as the plum trees. If anything can be done to stay this progressive destruc- tion we would like to have it done. Mr. Drury. — Being a matter that requires research, I think it would be desirable to place this subject in the hands of a committee. I, therefore, move that the President, Vice-President and the Secretary, be a committee to enquire into the present law respect- ing black knot, as well as the Canada Thistle Act, and to report to the annual meeting any suggestion to improve the carrying out the intent of these laws. Mr. Dempsey seconded the motion. Mr. Drury. — I may say that the Legislature naturally look to thia and kindred associations for direction in these matters, about which they cannot be expected to have the same knowledge as men who are specially interested in them. The motion was carried. After passing votes of thanks to the Warden and County Council of Lincoln for the use of the Court House for this meeting, and to the various railways for reduced fares the meeting adjourned. The following Papers were handed in for publication in the Annual Report : — REPORT ON FRUIT FOR 1883 FOR THE COUNTY OF LAMBTON, Gentlemen of the Fruit Growers' Association : The year that we are now living — 1883 — has been, up to the present, a very peculiar one, and memorable in the annals of fruit, as well as those of storms and accidents. During the whole of the months of May, June, and July we had one continued succession of unsettled weather and furious storms. Our lands became so thoroughly saturated with water and washed that all degrees of plant life were almost surfeited, and much injury ensued. During the whole of this period, too, the temperature was unusually low and depres- sing— the lowest we have remembered for years, and we almost despaired of ever having our usual summer heat to dry up the ground or to warm up languishing nature. We grew tired of the monotony, for the wet and cold, cold and wet, continued up into our harvest 189 time, and despair was filling the hearts of the community. But, now that a change has taken place, we are likely to suffer from the other extreme ; for the ground was beat and soddened to such a state of hardness that all surface crops will be speedily dried up. Birds have been very plentiful, and so also have the insects of all usual, and some unusual, kinds ; and many leaf-eaters seem to be much on the increase amongst us. The spring was late and backward, and early vegetation moved late and slowly. But, when the fruit-blossoms did appear, the show was very fine indeed, especially of peaches, which was the best we have had for three years, and promised an abundant harvest. But, after the gay scenery was over, the sad effects of continued cold and wet became painfully and seriously apparent. Much of our tender small fruit was badly damaged, as strawberries and raspberries ; and the injury was still worse upon our grapes. Fungus and mildew are very apparent upon the leaves and upon the fruit of not only grapes, but also upon many other fruits, our wheat not escaping. Our early foliage was the most singularly beautiful that I ever saw : the largest, the finest, and the healthiest. But this pleasant state of things soon changed, and the tender leaves of our apples, peaches, plums, and cherries soon became curled and fungus-smitten. The strawberry crop was medium, but suffered much from wet and weeds, as the cultivators could not be got on the ground, and in many cases we could barely pick them ; and when they were picked the fruit was almost worthless from wet and dirt. We began to feel the force of a truth, we are fast learning, " that fruit growing, on the whole, is A PRECARIOUS BUSINESS." The raspberry crop was much injured, even to a third or one-half the crop. This was done by the showery weather filling the opening tender blossoms with wet, and just afterwards the hot sunshine heating the water, scalded the tender germs, and they died. We picked our first ripe raspberries July 10th. The gooseberry and currant crops were very light indeed, and the fruit of the currant was not good ; but that of the gooseberry was rather improved, a wet season suiting it best. Grapes bloomed July 1st, but the setting is the poorest one we have had for years — indeed scarcely a good full bunch is to be found on the trellises. Rot and mildew is now feeding upon them, and our share will be " poor indeed." With the single exception of Clintons, our crop of grapes will be the lightest we have had for many years. Peaches, especially seedlings bloomed most abundantly, and have set well ; but tha best yellow varieties will be very scarce. Of the very early sorts, we picked our first Alex- ander and early Canada August 14th, and early Louise August 22nd. This class was very fine and the crop was good, and met a ready market. Crawford's early or late will scarcely amount to much ; but early Barnards will be good, and the trees will be loaded. This promising variety is likely to attract much attention, from the fact that its fruit-buds are found to be much hardier and will stand the winter better than Crawfords. Cherries and plums are a total failure, and scarcely any can appear on our markets. Ths black-knot on the plum trees is a seriously growing evil and a public calamity ; as it will certainly sweep in a few years every plum tree from our county. The show for apples was very fine, but the set is not good, although a medium crop will be harvested. The early apples are now being gathered, but in many cases the samples are not fine, with the single exception of the Duchess. The fall and winter apples will be a light crop, and w» think we have never seen so many damaged by the Codlin moth worm, especially so ou clay soils. Our insect enemies are more than our vigilance. Pears are a light crop, and the samples are not well or handsomely formed. Yours, B. Gorr. Arkona Nurseries, August 25th, 188,3, 1M ASPARAGUS. By A. McD. Allan. Glancing one day at the catalogue of a prominent seedsman, I observed, among other directions given for the cultivation of asparagus, to plant two-year-old roots in a richly prepared bed, in rows one foot apart, and the plants eight inches apart in the rows. Upon further reference, I found that the catalogues of other seedsmen varied very little from the one quoted from. Growers rely largely upon instructions given in these cata- logues for growing the various seeds and roots or bulbs successfully, and it is therefore important that the information contained in such catalogues should be accurate. Those who have grown this delicious esculent for market and have devoted more than ordinary attention to its cultivation, will readily agree with me when I say that the instructions quoted as to space, both between rows and plants, are far astray. In grow- ing the plants from seed for sale these distances may suit very well, or even smaller space may suffice. But when the plants have been removed from the grounds of the plant pro- ducer into the beds of the grower for market, it will L3 found that more room must be given if a continued crop, combining both size and quality, is desired. One would think, from the usual instructions given for planting, that the roots do not extend far from the crown of the plant. This is not so. Let any grower examine the bed, even under the most ordinary cultivation, and he will find the roots extending from two to three feet from the crown, according to soil and cultivation. I would rather err on the other side by giving more room than is actually required than crowd the plants, as commonly done. It will pay to give room. In planting a bed for permanent value, I would place the rows five feet apart, and plants three feet apart in the rows. It is an error also to suppose that by digging deep and filling down a quantity of rich loam and manure the roots can be profitably induced downwards, as the natural tendency is more spreading. Those who have made a decided success of asparagus culture will, I feel sure, testify that cultivation of a foot in depth is quite enough. It has been the custom to trench deep with a spade in preparing the soil. This is not necessary. A plough with subsoiler will work the soil deep enough to suit all purposes. In preparing the soil the first requisite is thorough drainage • and, although a light, friable soil, is, upon the whole, the best, there should be enough subsoil clay to retain the strength of manures. But a cold, stiff clay subsoil would be injurious. Plants should be one, or not more than two season's growth when set out, as these are easier lifted without injury than the older ones. If the plants are set in fall they should be put nine to twelve inches deep. But in spring, where a furrow is opened for field planting a cover at first of about three inches will suit, and when the plants have taken fairly to the soil the furrow can be covered back on the plants. It is really an advantage to plant so that the crown is a foot under soil, as in the fall, when the stalks are all removed, the plough can be used and a furrow opened directly over the crown of the plants. This furrow should be filled with good manure, and by another turn of the plough return the soil over the manure, which forms an excellent winter cover. Each stool thus planted and cultivated with give 150 to 250 shoots in a season. A liberal dressing of salt of about thirty to forty bushels to the acre should be given in the spring, and during the cropping season occasional sprinklings of lime, refuse of fish barrels or liquid maiiure may be used with profit. Asparagus should not be cut much below the surface of the soil, as the part below is hard and fibrous. Many gardeners cut all the stalks for a few weeks and then allow all to grow and strengthen the weakened roots. If the large stalks only were cut and the smaller ones allowed to grow it would considerably prevent exhaustion of the plants. Some growers claim it pays to cut only every alternate year, while others prefer planting two beds or plots, which they cut alternate years, and thus keep a strong set of plants, giving the best results as to size and quality. It is better not to cut a crop the first year after planting — indeed, excepting under extraordinary circumstances, it is better to give the bed two years to gather root strength. If a bed seems strong the second year it may 191 be cut for two weeks. Crop cutting should cease with the month of June — indeed in early, warm soils it should cease by the middle of the month. When the tops have completed their growth in the fall, and the seed ripened they should be cut and burned. When left too late the seed will fall and scatter over the grounds, so that in a year or two it will be found growing all over the garden like a weed. An asparagus bed can be obtained by sowing the seed in the same way that young plants are placed, only not so deep. One seed can be placed at each point where a plant is wanted. In doing this it is best to open trenches so as to have the plants when grown with crowns about a foot from the surface, when these trenches are levelled. This levelling should be done gradually, as the plants gain in strength. BONES. Scattered about almost every kitchen yard we see bones, large and small, left i& bleach in the sun, unsightly and useless. If only for the sake of neatness and taste about our dwellings, surely such things should not be thrown out at random. They have a use, however, and if a little trouble be expended they will be found of great value to every kitchen gardener or fruit grower. Bones contain many of the ingredients which enter into the growth of plants. But they do not act as a manure until thoroughly decomposed. To accomplish this we need moisture and heat. It is always better to have the bones ground fine, as decomposition is more easily accomplished in this state. We often read reports of bone dust giving best results on moist soil ; this is simply on account of its decomposing more readily in such soil. It is an excellent fertilizer for grass which has become weak, or in bringing forward newly sown grass seed. To use it in such cases sow broadcast about six hundred pounds to the acre. Even double this quantity may be put on, as its effects can be seen often for years. After sowing, the topsoil should be gone over with a fine harrow. Frequently we do not find the expected effect of such an application the first year ; but in after years it becomes quite evident. Many think it best when used in connection with well-rotted barnyard manure, mixing both together before applying. An excellent compost for the garden can be made by mixing bones with fresh wood ashes and keeping this wet. The proper way is to prepare a large, strong vessel that will hold a full season's ashes ; cover the bottom with a thick layer of ashes ; upon this place a layer of bones, not too close together ; and then a good covering of ashes, and so on through the season, alternating ashes and bone until the vessel is filled. The ashes should be kept moist, all large bones should be broken small before putting in, so that they may reduce easier. Beginning the first of summer, and following these directions through the summer and winter, we will find when digging out the compost for use" the following spring that the bones have been entirely reduced. But if the bones are ground any gardener or farmer can prepare a compost that will give as good results as the most expensive superphosphates, by taking moist, well-pulverized soil and bone dust in equal quantities, mix together in a heap, and then leave till heated and cooled off ; then turn over with a spade until it heats again, and so on until the bone is completely decomposed. The compost is then ready for use, and quite equal to the best fertilizer in the market. This method of preparing bone is probably the best, as all the good qualities are preserved ; whereas in reducing bone by ashes, as already described, a good deal of amonia is necessarily lost. It is well to apply bone dust in the fall on meadow lands and grass plots, as the action of fall and spring rains and winter frosts assist decomposition and mixing with the soil. But, if no other use is made of bones, it will pay to gather them up, and when plant- ing trees throw half a bushel of them in the bottom of the hole, cover well with soil, and place the tree upon this foundation. The roots will soon find their way to the bones and feed upon them for many years. A. McD. Allan. Qoderich. 192 FRUITS FOR THE COLD NORTH. So many of our members who reside in the valley of the Ottawa, the Algoma Dis- trict, Nipissing, Haliburton, Muskoka, and Manitoba are asking for fruits that will thrive in their extremely cold regions ; that any information upon this, to them very interesting subject, will be most acceptable. It happens that Mr. Charles Gibb, of Abbotsford, in the Province of Quebec, travelled through a large part of Russia, in company with Pro- fessor Budd, of the Iowa Agricultural College, in quest of the most hardy fruits that would endure the extremes of heat in summer and cold in winter. He made his visit during the summer of 1882, and has given the results of his investigations in a paper on Russian Fruits, published in the Eighth Report of the Montreal Horticultural Society, which is now copied from that report, with notes kindly supplied by Mr. Gibb, for the benefit of those who are seeking the information so fully given by him. RUSSIAN FRUITS. By Charles Gibb, Abbotsford, Quebec. With Notes on the Russian Apples imported in 1870 by the U.S. Department oj Agriculture. It may seem strange that the fruits of Russia are so little known in this country, scarcely known even in Germany, that the fruits of one part of Russia are often but little known in another. Our fruits came to us, as it were, by chance. In the days of the old French colony, the peasants of Normandy and Brittany brought with them the seeds, and perhaps the scions of the apples they loved most in their native land. Later, the Englishman intro- duced his favourite fruits, and the Scotchman his ; in time the matter became commercial, and we soon had under trial in Canada and in the Eastern States all the best fruits of the mild humid portion of western Europe. That not until 1882 we should have begun to explore our own like climates in the «ld world seems strange indeed ! The fruits of western Europe and their pure offspring, born on this continent, as a rule, are not long-lived upon the western prairies above latitude 43|°, not a success above 45 \° in this Province, and, that only in exceptionally favourable localities. In eastern Russia we find fruit growing a profitable industry in climates decidedly more severe than that of the city of Quebec. Hence we may expect to increase the area of fruit culture northward upon this continent very largely. The uncertainty of these fruit trees of western Europe in the severer climates, had led to large importations by the State Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa. (See 7th Report Montreal Hort. Soc, p. 151.) Prof. Budd had gathered there the largest collection of fruits for severe climates, which I know to exist ; but such was the uncertainty of nomenclature, such the difficulty of getting exact information as to their probable value, that the work of sorting out the best seemed a work of many years. Northern hor- ticulturists were looking with great hope to the Russian fruits. The work could not be allowed to rest. Some one had to go to Russia. Mr. Budd and I went. Those acquainted with Mr. Budd's work on the College farm at Ames, will readily see that several valuable lines of thought in this report are not mine but his. MAP OF PART OF RUSSIA. NOTE THE DOTTED LINE SHOWS THE ROUTE TAKEN. & THE PLACES UNDERLINED ARE THOSE VISITED. 193 To our Provincial and Canadian Governments I am indebted for the kind and hearty way in which they seconded my efforts by giving me such introductions to the Imperial Government as enabled me to follow up my work in Russia. To the Department of Public Domains, and the Department of the Interior of the Imperial Government at St. Petersburg, I am indebted for the kind way in which they afforded us every assistance possible. To our botanical and forestry friends my best thanks are due. In fact, one of the chief retrospective pleasures of my journey in Russia, was the kindness of my Russian friends, the kindness of my Polish friends. Our work created some interest in Russia. Often, when speaking to people we- happened to meet, we found that they knew all about our visit through notices in the Russian press. At St. Petersburg it was intimated that a commissioner would, most probably, be sent next year to Canada and to the United States, to do work similar to that which we- had done in Russia. Our fruits he will find pretty well catalogued, pretty well looked up. As soon as we know of his coming, means must be taken to insure his obtaining all- possible information, and that in as short a time as possible. Nomenclature in Russia is hopelessly confused. Different names are given to the same apple in different localities, the same name to different apples growing in adjacent districts. So many names, however formidable they may sound in Russian, mean merely round white, white sweet, white transparent, etc., names without individuality. For- tunately, a few names have been fixed by commercial demand, and are known by the, »ame names throughout Russia. Note. — The catalogue of apple trees imported by the U. S. Department of Agricul- ture from Dr. Regel, of St. Petersburg, in 1870, gives a fair, if not an exaggerated idea of the confusion in Russian nomenclature. Apples of Blue Pearmain, Anis, and Greening type turn out to be Duchess ; even Red Astrachan seems to be Duchess. So that the same apple appears under many different names. Many, too, of the apples of eastern Russia, apples long and widely known, are not what tjheir names represent them to be. The rendering of the Russian names into English sounds has been done from a Russian,, not an English point of view. We must render these names ewphonimlly^ and thus retain the true music of the Russian language. The translation of these names unfortunately is bad, in some cases wrong, as in 355, where Aport is translated Orange. In 339 Krimskaja Selonka is rightly translated Green Crimean ; but in 439 K. Beel is White Krim, and in 563 Krimskoo is rendered Krimtarter. Then again in 200 and in 466, Repka is translated Turnip, whereas in 410 it is translated Seedling, which must be nearly correct, for apples of fine quality are known as Repka. The translation was done at the Russian Embassy in Washington, but unfortunately the Russian who dictated this translation was not an apple grower, and did not know that he was disintegrating the foundation stones of Russian nomencla- ture in this country. Printers' errors are innumerable. In the Russian columns the printer seems to have had it all his Qwn way. We have naliw, naliv, nalin, naleiv, which is rendered juicy or transparent. The Russian word for yellow is scholti, schotoi, schaltui, solatoi, scholtoe. Green is rendered, schlenka, sclenka, selonka, sclonnoe, and selennoe. The Province of Lievland is rendered Tierland. In 351 we have Cuadkaja for Sladkaja j and in 477 Ranette Kiluski is translated Queen of Kiew, or Kiev, as we would say j but who would suspect Kiluski of being Kievski : hence the Russian names have been dreaded. The 194 Russian language is as musical as Italian, and when the Russian names are properly •rendered into English sounds it will divest them of half their difficulty. This matter must command the attention of the American Pomological Society at its next session. A serious drawback to the fair trial of the Russian apple has been the habit of top- grafting it upon the crab. The Prussian apple is not allied to the Siberian crab ; and some varieties, especially the transparents, when top worked, seem to live under protest. Their fruit is smaller, and this gives an unfavourable idea of the Russian fruit. Such is the opinion of Mr. Tuttle, of Baraboo, Wis., and of Mr. Webster, of South Northfield, Vt., and others ; and such is my own, after visiting a number of orchards in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Root grafted on crabs they do better, but the best stock for the Russian apple seems the hardy apple, not crab. One great difficulty in Russian nomenclature arises from the strong family likeness ■of seedlings of like parentage. A hardy race of the apple, seemingly more nearly allied to the wild form than the cultivated apples of western Europe, has been grown for many centuries by seedling production, and has been reproducing itself from seed. Yet this is not strange news to us. Some families of apples, even when surrounded by apples of other types, have a strong tendency to reproduce themselves in their seedlings. The Gilpin or Little Romanite, Mr. Budd tells me, has been producing seedlings like itself in the West. The Calville family, too, is a striking example. Our Fameuse has a large pro- geny of strong parental likeness, and many think that two or more distinct varieties are commonly propagated under this name. In Russia there is no standard of nomenclature, no authority that answers to the American Pomological Society or Downing, yet fruits received from that country must be propagated on this continent, as far as possible, under fixed, unchangeable names. The collections of apples on the farm of the State Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa, already number over 400 varieties, inclusive, no doubt, of many duplicates ; additions, too, are being made from different parts of Russia. The collections received a year or two ago embraced most, not all, yet most, of the best varieties grown in Russia. We must have, on this continent, one fixed standard of nomenclature, and it would seem best that it should emanate from Ames. The converting of the Russian names into English needs some thought. We have not the sounds in English to render them exactly. In this matter our aim must be simplicity. We need names our farmers can spell and pronounce rather than a laboured but more accurate rendering of the Russian sound. We have usually fallen in with the spelling in the list published by the Department of Agriculture at Washington, especially where varieties sent out by them have become known. However, the sound "ov" or "off" positively must not be spelled "ou" or "ow" as in Antonouka,Titowka, and for convenience we have used "ov" as in Antonovka, Titovka. But one book, I believe, has been written on Russian Pomology, that by Dr. Edward Regel, Director of the Imperial Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg, and published in 1868. This book was criticized severely, at the time of its issue, by some of the European journals ; but I cannot help feeling that the critics did not take a full view of the situation. Dr. Regel, in the fickle climate of St. Petersburg, was unable to test very many of the varieties he described, able only to describe them as received, and under such lames as they were received by. The fact is, Dr. Regel did his full fair share towards the doing of a great 195 work, and as Mr. Budd observed, had this been followed up by the organization of a National Pomological Society, Russian nomenclature would now be in a very different state. Mr. Shroeder, of the Agricultural College at Petrovskoe Rasumovskoe at Moscow, has very complete notes, compiled from specimens and information received from different parts of Russia. These apples were, for the most part, received for trial on the College Farm, but I regret to say, that the unusual cold of the winter of 1877 and the cold clay soil upon which they are planted, has been against them. This collection was very large and contained the greater part of the best apples of the steppe climates. It is much to be regretted that these notes of Mr. Shroeder's have not been published. Mr. Shroeder has not visited the orchards from whence the grafts and fruits were obtained, yet his notes we found singularly exact. Such was the opinion we gradually formed as we continued our work in the Russian orchards. Pomology is a neglected science in Russia. What has been done seems to be local individual work, not united work. Strange this neglect on the part of a Government which has founded such botanic gardens, a Government which has done such noble work for future generations in its forestry department. ON CLIMATES. The true index to a climate is the flora of its botanic gardens ; faulty only from the fact that these gardens are usually situated under the sheltering influence of some large town, and, therefore, not a true record of what might be grown in bleak exposures in the same latitude. The same is true of the meteorological stations. They, too often, like our McGill College Observatory, record the temperature and winds of a sheltered city rather than that of the open country. We frequently heard of very low temperatures in Russia, which do not seem verified by the Government records. Thermometers often differ at very low temperatures, especially when below forty. Yet the statements I quote in my report were made by careful observers, usually men on the forestry staff, and I therefore, with this caution, state the temperatures as given to me. In this part of Canada we suffer from drought but not from diminished rainfall. I must explain this apparent contradiction. England is a land of verdure, the lawns are like velvet, the trees and thatched roofs covered with moss. What a contrast to our dry climate, and yet the annual rainfall of London is nearly thirteen inches less than that of Montreal. It is from aridity of air, and consequent rapid evaporation that we suffer. In Russia we find fruit cultivated largely in climates where the conditions of extreme cold, dryness of air, and scanty rainfall are greatly intensified. In the Government of Kasan, above latitude fifty-five, where the winter temperature is five degrees lower than in the city of Quebec, the rainfall a good deal less than one- half, the evaporation as great, we find apple growing a great commercial industry, the industry, in fact, in twelve peasant villages. This is the coldest profitable orchard region of the world, and the conditions of growth deserve study. The soil upon these exposed bluffs is a fine comminuted dusty clay, like a "loess." For retaining moisture, 196 for absorbing it, for holding frost without injury to the roots, there is no better. The dry fall here causes perfect maturity of growth ; the thick, fine textured leaf does not suffer from the dryness of the air. It was Mr. Budd, whose microscopic study of the leaves of these climates first showed their peculiar cell structure. Thus we see that the apple tree of Kasan is a tree thoroughly adapted to the climate it lives in. However, the cold of Kasan seems more uniform than ours. In this Province we suffer from the warmth of the sun in late winter and early spring, warmth followed by sudden cold. This results in " bark-bursting " and " sun-scalding " of the trunk and the lower branches, Such injury is rare in eastern and middle Russia ; but how much this is owing to climate, how much to the character of their hardy race of trees I cannot say. In Kasan, too, we find the cherry and the plum grown in fair quantity — that is, nearly all the peasants have some. In the Government of Vladimir, a climate scarcely different from that of Kasan, the cherry is grown in vast quantity and shipped by the car load. Upon what kind of soil I cannot say. At Simbirsk, on the Volga, in lat. 54°, a climate just like Kasan, a degree less cold, and about one inch less rainfall, we find the pear grown in fair quantity though only of second-rate quality. These trees, too, are thoroughly adapted to that climate, trees of terminate growth, with very thick, close- textured, dark glossy foliage, just like the pears of northern China. Simbirsk and Toula seem to be the northern limits of pear culture •ast of the Baltic Provinces. At Saratoff, on the Volga, in lat. 51°, where the winter temperature is but one degree milder than the city of Quebec, we find very large orchards, one of 12,000 trees. A pear orchard, too, of 500 trees, and most of the varieties in good health. Yet here we were told that the mercury at times became solid. So near is Saratoff to the desert steppes, so light the rainfall, that irrigation is necessary for profitable orcharding. Kursk and Voronesh, in lat. 51°, are the most southern of the points of special interest in middle Russia. I fancy their climate to be rather colder than that of sheltered city gardens in Montreal, about as cold, I should say, as our exposed mountain, slope at Abbotsford. Kiev is decidedly milder ; more like Toronto. St. Petersburg is in lat. 60°, so far north that the stars cease to be visible during two months in summer; the sun is too short a distance below the horizon. A cold coast climate ; a Gaspe or Anticosti climate, one would suppose. A cool, short summer, a long, changeable winter, not colder on an average than Montreal, but subject to greater •xtremes of sudden cold. Early terminate growth is the special characteristic needed here. Warsaw is a cold north German, rather than a Russian steppe climate. I have to tender my thanks to Mr. Robert P. Scott, Secretary of the Meteorological Office in London, for his kindness in having prepared for me a table of the temperatures, humidity, etc., of certain points in Russia and Germany, and by way of contrast, of Canada also. These tables are a great help towards our forming a correct idea of those climates from which we may expect so many of our future fruits. 197 Mean Temperature. Lowest Temp. in last Six Years. Fahr. Lowest Temp. Average Moisture. in the Air. j Average Annual Wint'r. Sum'r. Years. Dc-Fb- Ju.-Ag. in 1867. Rainfall. Authorities. ( 1743-1800 ) t 1805-1875 | Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. % Inches. St. Pefcersb'g o 17-2 o 61*2 0 —357 xii. 76 -27-0 1.31 82 28 20-5 11 1 Riga ( 1795-1831 ) 1 1840-1875 | 24-0 62-6 -26-5 1.76 -12-8 xii.31 80 19 221 9 Moscow .... ( 1779-1792 \ t 1810-1875 ( 14'5 63-6 —38-4 xn.76 -36-4 ii. 1 80 11 23-4 11 1 & s- O £ jo Kasan j 1812-1820 ) t 1827-1875 J 9-0 64-5 —26'7 xii. 75 77 9 17-3 8 Simbirsk . . . 1855-1864 9'9 64*8 ?-22 0 j n.77 t 1.78 77 4 187 4 | §* | s* ^ ® Saratof ( 1836-1857 ) t 1872-1875 i 15*3 68-6 ?-267 xii. 75 72 4 181 3 Zj CD Tula 1846-1847 15-4 64'9 § 1 g. Orel ( 1838-1845 ) t 1851-1863 J (1833-1837) 15-8 65'6 24-66 4 Kursk ..... < 1840-1859 \ 17*2 65*0 16-81 B * 5" • CD { 1865-1868) 18 ( 1862-1865 ) Voronesh . . . < 1867-1869 V (1873-1875 j 16-2 65-2 —34-2 1.80 78 11 27*7 7 Kief 1812-1875 (1760-1763) 22-6 65-1 —23*6 H.80 77 11 22*9 11 Warsaw < 1779-1799 I (1803-1875 J 25-7 64-2 -16-8 xn.79 80 11 22-2 11 J Doves Klimatolo- Berlin 16 years ? to 1868 31'3 65'0 —2*2 1.81 73 3 22-9 6 ?ische Beitrage & Deutsche Seewarte abs'ns, 1876-81. Vienna .... 1775-1874 30*9 67-5 . -^4-4 xn.79 7*9 xii.IO 72 211 34 Vienna obsn's. 1880 returns.) Reutlingen . 2 years. 34*5 65-0 Klimatologische Beitrage. Montreal . . . 1870-1880 18-4 67*4 —25-2 xn.79 #73.97 8 38-53 11 1 . Canadian Ann, j Reports. Quebec 1870-1880 14-2 63'9 —26*5 39-81 1.78 11 J Toronto 1841-1881 23"8 65*3 —15-1 —12-8 77 34-75 Toronto General n.81 xii. 13 41 41 : Register, 1881. London .... 81 25*17 Greenwich obser- vations. i ! 17 30 i The figures entered under the Relative Humidity and Rainfall are the number of years from which the means have been obtained, The spaces left blank indicate that no information is available. * This item kindly filled in by Prof. McLeod, McGill College. The Roman numerals in lowest temperature column indicate the month, and the figures the year in which it occured, as xn.76 means in December '76, 1.76 means January 76 ; in the column of lowest tern- perature for 1867, the figures indicate the day of the month, as 1.31 means January 31st. 14 [F. G.] 198 APPLES. ,4nw.--This is the leading apple of the Volga, the apple tree most highly prized, most largely grown. To the enquiry, which are your most profitable varieties? the reply invariably was Anis,— I think, invariably, my notes show no exception nor do I remember one. Such was the verdict in all the orchards of the different towns and villages between Kazan and Saratof. We first met with it in that curious semi-oriental bazaar, the Nijni Novgorod fair. Here we find the Russian peasant orchardist bringing large quantities of it to the bazaar in dark boxes, usually willow bark boxes, holding about three bushels. In the southern part of the Government of Kazan, in latitude 55°, the same latitude as Moscow, 430 miles to the east of it, in a continental climate, a climate of extremes, and yet 600 miles nearer the North Pole than the city of Quebec, there are twelve villages where the peasant proprietors are apple growers, the chief industry in fact is apple growing. When we were there the little trees were loaded with fruit, yet the ther- mometer had been down to forty below zero the winter previous. Five years before, during one day, the temperature on these exposed loess bluffs was - 40 Reaumur, or 58 below zero by Fahrenheit's thermometer. These low temperatures, however, do not seem verified by the meteorological records of the city of Kazan. Hearing of these low temperatures I looked for winter injury to the trees, but did not find any traces of it. In answer to the query, which is the hardiest apple tree you have, the tree that has stood best the most trying winters 1 the answer, I believe, always was Anis. The genera! idea there is that it is of all kinds known, the apple tree that can be grown the farthest north, except what they call the Chinese apple, or as we would say, the Siberian crab, and these crabs, which are not common, are true Siberian Prunifolias, and not less hardy hy- brids. In these villages the apple is grown, in a good season, certainly to the value of $50,000. In this, the coldest profitable orchard region in the world, the Anis is noted as their hardiest tree. Many species of trees become dwarfed towards the northern limit of their growth. The most northern pines and spruces, birches and poplars, are but little shrubs ; in the same way we find this Anis in Kazan, especially when growing on thin soil and without cultivation, loaded with fine fruit, and this, evidently, not one of their first crops, and yet the tree is not more than six feet high. We find little trees planted two, three, and even four together in a clump like stalks of corn, three or four to a hill, and these clumps ten feet apart each way. This is strictly true of some orchards, not so of others ; for upon richer and moister soil, the trees grew somewhat larger, and as we went southwards, at each town we stayed at, we found the Anis larger, until, at Saratof, we saw Anis thirty- five years planted which had attained a diameter of trunk of ten inches. In nursery it is a slow and crooked grower such as nurserymen hate to grow and hate to sell after they have grown them. In orchards a slow grower. Trees in different places, pointed out as thirty years planted, seemed very small. In old orchards at Khvalinsk and elsewhere, it was considered the most long-lived tree. We saw there trees seventy years at the very least. These were fourteen inches in diamater of trunk, branched low as the Anis usually 199 is, and, though some large limbs had been removed some years ago, yet the trees were sound in trunk and top. The Volga is a very old apple growing region. I am told that old poems, written about the time when Rurik was upon the throne of Kiev, about 850, alluded to this. The maiden whose neck was like a swan, and whose lips were like cherries, had cheeks like a Volga apple. The high colour of the apples of this dry reigon is very striking. A wild rugged race of apple trees have been grown here for many centuries from seedling production, until we have a number of seedlings much alike in tree and fruit, and hence it is that the name Anis is but a family name. As we used to gallop past these peasant orchards in our Tarantass — a basket on wheels without springs, usually drawn by three horses abreast — we were always struck by the beauty, even when some distance off, of one variety of the Anis. This is the Anis Alui or Pink Anis, and, I suppose, the same as the Anis Rosovoi or Rose Anis spoken of at Simbirsk and other places on the Volga. It is an oblate of full medium size, or about the size of the Fameuse, the colour of our Decarie, mostly a deep pink with a light blue bloom. In these dry climates we may expect high colour. When we were on the Volga it was too early to taste it in good condition, and besides this, it is often picked too early, perhaps, to reach distant markets by a certain time. Whether it will colour and ripen on its way to market, like a Duchess, or whether, like our St. Lawrence, it will almost cease to mature after it is picked from the tree, I cannot say. The grain is fine, the flesh white and firm. It is really a dessert apple of fine quality. It often sells at two roubles per pood, that is one dollar per thirty-six pounds, when poorer fruit is selling at thirty cents, and under Russian care it keeps till late winter or spring. On account of its beauty and hence its salableness this Pink Anis is the most valuable of the family, and, therefore, when importing let us be sure to get it. It would seem to be the Anis of Mr. Shroeder, at Pebrovskoe, but would appear not to be the Anis Alui of Kazan, of Dr. Regel, which is described as acid, and valuable only for cooking, unless this is Dr. Regel's verdict of its quality when grown in the cooler and moister summer of St. Petersburg. There are other varieties of the Anis which differ but little in tree, yet differ more widely in texture of flesh, but they are not so pretty. At Simbirsk the Blue Anis is spoken of as the best for shipping very long distances as Perm and Siberia. The Anis Belui, of Kazan, is not an Anis, but is an early autumn yellow apple of small size and fine quality. It is not a keeper, and yet is often gathered from the tree into a barrel of buckwheat hulls and put at once into a cold place, and thus kept till mid- winter and even later. As Mr. Budd suggests, this possibly is the Anis Koritschnevoe of Mr. Shroeder. Note. — In the catalogue of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, No. 985, Red Anisette and Yellow Anisette, 987, are true varieties of the Anis. I saw them in fruiting in the orchard of A. W. Sias, Rochester, Minn., about 20th August last. The latter is partially red, the former perhaps a little more so. Also 382, Russian Green is a true Anis, but more of the Blue Anis type. 413, Skrischapfel, is more like Red Anis. I saw it in the orchard of Mr. Underwood, at Lake City, Minn. 225, Getman's Bean, has the angularity, flatness and conicness of Anis, but with increased size. The habit of top- 200 grafting these varieties on crab stocks causes them to lose much of their individuality both in tree and fruit. 403, Sweet Anisette, and 425, Pointed Anisette, I know nothing of. 984, Koursk Anisette, as I saw it at Mr. Underwood's, is a small green fruit with scarcely any basin and with wrinkled calyx, not an Anis at all. Anisovka, — Under this name Mr. Shroeder tells us of a medium-sized flat, yellowish green apple, with bright red side, grown a good deal about Moscow, and said to be a very good dessert fruit, that keeps a long time, in fact all winter. Further south it would not keep so long. Mr. Goegginger, at Riga, gives us a minute description of it, evidently the same apple, which he says is grown a good deal at Moscow, and to the south, and which proves hardy in these severe climates. However, he states its season to be from Novem" ber to December. Its value to us would depend much upon its keeping qualities. The Anisovka, so named on the Volga near Kazan, is a sweet apple ; that at Orel, Voronesh, etc., was thought to be the same as Anis or same as Vosnikovka, a small sweet apple said to be grown there in quantity. Such is the uncertain state of nomenclature. Note. — 185, Anisowka, of the Department of Agriculture Catalogue, as fruited by A. G. Tuttle, of Baraboo, Wis., is Duchess. Antonovka. — This is the leading apple of the Russian steppes, the king apple of that vast prairie region from Tula to the south of Kharkof, from Kozlof to Kiev, avast prairie region unsurpassed in fertility by any region on this continent. It is the leading apple ANTONOVKA. over a larger section of country than any other in Europe, than any other apple I know of. No apple holds so high a rank above others in any large section of this continent ; and yet if the Baldwin were equally hardy I would much prefer it. We first meet with Antonovka in the cold climate of Tenki, in Kazan, where it is 201 looked upoti as the best of the " introduced " apple trees, and certainly the young trees we saw there were quite promising. In all the towns on the Volga we find the Antonovka noted as hardy as far as tried, and in some places tried long enough to be thoroughly relied upon. It is, however, in central Russia that we find the Antonovka so highly prized. In the cold climate of Toula, in latitude 54°, about 120 miles south of Moscow, yet 480 miles further to the north than the city of Quebec, we find it considered their hardiest and most productive apple tree. A young tree, twelve years planted, is pointed out as having pro- duced its eight poods, or we might say bushels ; and old trees, long past their prime, twenty-five poods. In one peasant orchard we find the few scattered survivors of a previous orchard, nearly all of these were Antonovka ; strange that this had stood while other kinds alongside of it, intermingled with it, had been killed — killed by a cold winter, I think in 1867. In the Government of Tambof, half-way between Moscow and Saratof, there was a large orchard of 2,700 trees, only 730 of which survived the winter of 1867, when mild warm rainy weather was followed by sudden cold. Antonovka, though injured, was not killed ; it and Anis stood the best. That winter, at Orel, in February, the thermometer went down to - 35 Rea. — that is, -46 Fahrenheit — and in exposed places, -37 Rea., or - 51 Fahrenheit, and yet Antonovka there is, above all others, their leading apple, and the old trees we saw there were, as far as I can remember, in fine health. At Voronesh we hear the same opinion, and hear of trees that have produced twenty- seven poods, or 972 pounds, nearly half a ton, and are told that, although " other apples have their faults, this has none." It has its fault3, but I quote this to show the widely spread opinion of those who grow it. At Kursk we still find it their leading market fruit, and on the BogdanofF estates, find it being planted in quantity, as about the best investment the proprietors know of. Such investments scatter broadcast innumerable little dividends in the form of food and labour. What a blessing to a country is a horticultural aristocracy — it begets a horticul- tural peasantry — a home-loving, peace-loving, law-abiding peasantry. In horticulture we •find the safest anchorage for a peasant population. We asked, at the BogdanofF estates why they specially chose Antonovka, and were planting it so largely, and were told it was because it was always a cash article, wanted in quantity for the northern market, for -confections, for drying, for bottling in water, etc., and a tree, in good soil, and in good seasons, can produce its twenty-five poods. At the Forestry Convention in Moscow, Mr. Budd asked one of the members, who was from Kiev, what were their best commercial apples. He called three others, also from the Government of Kiev, and after consulting together, named Antonovka first ; the second upon the list was the winter Citronenapfel, a German apple of good quality •but not hardy further north. At Warsaw, where the climate is a cold north German, rather than a steppe climate, we find the Antonovka one of their leading apples, but not their best, and there not a late keeper. Throughout this vast steppe region, the Antonovka is " the " commercial apple, noted for its average annual bearing, its hardiness in extreme climate, its length of life, /and fruitfulness in old age in these climates. It is also a first-rate nursery tree, a good 202 straight grower. In nurseries, when we found a number of rows of straight-growing, healthy trees, all of the same kind, it was sure to be Antonovka. Hence it has " a nursery run," just as the Ben Davis had in Wisconsin a few years ago, and likely thus to be over-rated ; but in central Russia it has been a century on trial — perhaps several centuries — and the quantities of it to be found in the Russian nurseries are grown to meet a known demand. It is a prairie apple suited to rich prairie soils it would seem. It does well on clayey soils, and likes moisture. On dry sandy soil the fruit is said to fall from the tree, and to be small in size. The fruit is large, sometimes very large, yellowish oblong, somewhat conic, acid, or subacid, with slight sweetness, rather coarse in texture. When left upon the tree till fully ripe it is said to have a fine melon flavour, but then it ceases to be a long keeper. In quality it is not quite like any apple I know. It may, certainly, be rated as second quality for eating and, I hope, first for cooking. But few of the best commercial apples of this continent are of first quality as dessert apples. Its great fault is its colour, though this does not prevent its being in active demand in all the Russian markets ; it is the colour to show bruises, yet it has the name of being a good shipping apple. At Warsaw it rarely keeps past Christmas. At Moscow, Mr. Shroeder cautiously says, till January or February. In central Russia it was often said till March, and, I think, even April was mentioned. I doubt if it will prove a much better keeper than our Fameuse. How long an apple keeps depends very largely upon how it is kept. The Russians handle their fruit, pack it and keep it, with more care than we do. They seem to look upon an apple as a living thing to be kept alive as long as possible. If allowed to ripen on the tree it has a rich melon flavour, but then it will not keep. All apples in Russia picked for a distant market are picked rather earlier than we should pick them. When we arrived at Saratof, on September 11th, the apples were all picked and shipped to Moscow. At Tula, on September 18th, Antonovka was in huge piles in the orchards five feet wide, covered with basswood bark matting. At Orel, we find what has not been shipped, in an open shed in layers with straw between them. This tree, on account of its good name and its good growth in nursery, is sure to become largely planted in this country. Its success will depend partly upon its suitability to our soil ; but, and mainly, perhaps, to the length of time it keeps under our method of picking, packing, and shipping. Note. — Mr. Budd has received the Antonovka from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Riga ; they all seem alike, judging from their leaf and growth, and would seem to be true to name. The fruit shown to me by Ellwanger and Barry, at Rochester, is Antonovka with- out doubt, but this was received by them from Moscow. Mr. Tuttle showed me trees in a neighbour's orchard, which the year before had borne fruit exactly like the Antonovka described by me. I have strong hope that 236, the Antonovka of the Department Catalogue, is true to name. Has the Antonovka run into varieties like so many other apples by seedling produc- tion ? The answer to this question was usually in the negative, yet with one or two exceptions ; and at Tula an apple was shown to us as the Doukavoya, which seemed to be none other than Antonovka \ yet three fruit growers there each declared it to be distinct, and said it was as hardy and as productive. 203 Possart's Nalivia is said, at the Pomological School at Warsaw, to be a synonyme. Dr. Lucas, in one edition of his Pomology, held this view, and, in another edition, thought not ; and this latter opinion is shared at Proskau and Riga. Goegginger, of Riga, after a good deal of correspondence, rather thought they were not identical. Mr. Fritz Lucas now inserts it in his catalogue as a synonyme. Note. — I would be very loath to assume that Nalivia, or Possart's Moskauer Nalivia, described by Andre Leroy in his Dictionnaire de Pomologie is the same as Antonovka. Mr. Budd also has a Possart's Nalivia, from Warsaw, which he does not think to be Antonovka. Aport. — This is the family of which our Alexander is a member ; a large and widely scattered family, and often of strong family type. No accurate notes seem to have been taken of the places where they live and thrive. We cannot in this country expect to do such work ; the most we can do is to find out what is good there, import and propagate it here. It is named Aport because imported long ago from Oporto, in Portugal, just as another Russian apple which long ago found its way into Virginia, comes back to Russia via Germany, under the name of Virginischer Rother. Some of the apples we find under this name show by their features that they are near relations of the Emperor Alexander, many others show no likeness whatever. Some- times under other names we find typical apples, like the Borodovka Belui, of Orel, which is just like Alexander, but white. At Kursk, too, we find, under the name of Sklianka, a fruit of aport form, but almost without colour. I am not sure that we saw the Alexander in Russia, though I believe it to be grown there. At Volsk we found a fruit very like it, only wanting in that slight flatness of the base which our Alexander has. In the Kozlof market we find an apple just like it, though perhaps slightly larger in calyx, but it proved somewhat tough in texture, a sharp acid mingled with sweet ; a fine apple, and it would seem a pretty good keeper. At Orel we find another, alike in look, but sweet ; not as good as that in Kozlof or Voronesh markets. Mr. Shroeder describes Aport as a very large, flat, conic apple with a red side, of aromatic flavour, not productive ; too heavy, and liable to be blown from the tree, yet grown a good deal to the south of Moscow, at Orel, Tula, etc., the best of the Aports. This, I suppose, is our Alexander, but I cannot be certain. In the report of the Royal Horticultural Society of London for 1822 the Alexander is mentioned as having been received from Riga, and is stated to be a native of southern Russia. It was most probably received from the late M. Wagner, grandfather of M. Chs. Henri Wagner. The Aport osennie or autumn Aport, Mr. Fischer, at Veronesh, says, is like Titovka, —in fact often difficult to tell apart, although the one is a summer and the other a winter fruit. This seems like the apple we saw under this name on the Volga at Tenki, at Prince Gagarine's, and very like the coloured print of the Aport osennie given by Dr. Regel. It is a large, oblong, handsome winter apple. It, and what we saw in Kozlof market, I should think the most valuable of the apples known there as Aport. Of the summer Aports I seem to know nothing. On the Volga we saw several kinds, always large, 204 usually well coloured, and of fair quality, but none that specially struck me as of special value to us. I do not know that they have any just right to the name Aport, yeb that name seems to be thought applicable to large apples. Note. — I regret that I know but little of the Aports in the Department list. No. 166, Summer Aport has been fruited by Mr. A. Webster, South Northfield, Vt., an apple of no special merit, and not at all of Alexander family. 279, Winter Aport. Has been fruited by Mr. Sias, and is not an apple of Aport type. 252, Aport. 261, Aporto Turnip, and 355, Aport Herbst (unfortunately translatedautumn orange), I know nothing about. The Riabinouka has been fruited by Dr. Hoskins, and is a fruit very, very closely resembling Alexander, but this was received by him from D. W. Adams, of Waukon, Iowa, and may not be 455, of the Dept. Catalogue. The Grand Duke Con- stantine, of Ellwanger and Barry fruited upon my own trees during my absence. Mr. J. M. Fisk, my neighbour, who watched it carefully, says it is just like Alexander in tree and in appearance of fruit, but that the flesh is different, and ratherbetter than Alexander. 178, Barloff, as I saw it in Mr. Tuttle's orchard, has the size, form, colour, and dis- tinctive features of Alexander, just like the one we saw and tasted at Orel in Russia; but that grown by Mr. Webster under this name and number is quite different. Those importing from Russia should include winter Aports and Kaiser Alexander, in their orders. Several large late keepers are known as Kaiser Alexander, and Dr. Regel, in his Russian Pomology, gives that name as a synonym to several apples of its type. Arabka (Arabskoe). — Under this name there are one or more apples of decided promise. At Moscow, Mr. Shroeder tells us of a large conic apple of very deep colour, which is a long keeper. The tree he finds a little tender at Moscow, but says that it is grown a good deal in central Russia. In the market at Kozlof, we find what would appear to be this apple, in fair quantity, and known as Arabka, and specimens taken to Voronesh were recognized by Mr. Fischer, Director of the Botanic Gardens, who considers it a valuable cooking apple, that keeps till May ; but he added that that which he had received from Riga, under that name, had proved to be Gros Mogul. At Volsk, on the Volga, in latitude 52°, we found in an orchard, about twelve trees in profuse bearing, of an apple known there as Tchougounka, which means cast iron ; the fruit was roundish, of a dark purplish red, covered with a light bloom, much like the Blue Pearmain, It was above medium in size, although the trees were so overloaded ; a firm, solid, acid fruit, said there to keep two years. It also has the merit of holding on to the tree so firmly that I could hardly find a windfall. It and Steklianka were the only varieties in this orchard not yet picked, on the 8th Sept. At Saratof, on the Volga, we visited an orchard of 12,000 trees, where a week or two before they were employing 300 pickers and eighty- five packers to ship to Moscow 25,000 poods of apples. In a good year they either did (or could — I am not sure that I understood correctly) produce 85,000 poods, which is equal to 1,530 tons. From our description of the Tchougounka at Volsk they supposed it to be the Arabskoe — which apple they thought highly of, and placed upon their list as third for profit. This Arabskoe has been long known at Saratof. The query is whether the trees I have spoken of as growing at Volsk and Saratof, are the same as the Arabka of Kozlof and of Mr. Shroeder ; if so, the Arabka is likely to prove a valuable late keeper. A specimen picked at Volsk on the eighth Sept. was eaten by us at Warsaw on Oct. 4th ; a crude, juicy, sharp acid. It had been carried for nearly four weeks in a 205 leather bag, which was usually full of books and apples — a bag which had its full share of rough usage, except when used for my pillow, and yet this apple had received no injury. This Volsk Arabka is really a remarkable keeper. On the Bogdanoff estates, near Kursk, we were shown a Tchougounka, a large round apple not quSte as dark as that at Volsk, and looking rather more like what we saw at Kozlof. This is found there to be a good cooking fruit, and a good keeper ; but the tree is only fairly hardy — not ironclad, as we would say. The Arabka, and Arabka Polasatoe of Regel are altogether different apples ; so, too, is that shown to us at Nijni Novgorod, an egg shaped, fair sized, hard, long keeper. Note. — No. 184, Arabskoe, of the Department of Agriculture Catalogue has been fruited by Mr. Tuttle, also by Mr. Budd, at Ames, Iowa, and is pronounced by them to be either Duchess or something very closely resembling it. The Arabskoe, however, of Ellwanger and Barry, is a large flattish fruit of deep pink colour, very beautiful, though only of fair quality. It is not the long keeper of the Arabskoe we saw at Volsk, and is more like that which we saw at Kursk, and yet probably not it. 315, Herrenapfel, has been fruited by Mr. Tuttle, and is described by him as an apple the size of Blue Pearmain, with much the same colour and bloom ; a clear, strong, pleasant acid ; a fruit that hangs well on to the tree, and keeps longer than Longfield. The Herrenapfels of the Riga catalogues are also of Arabskoe type. Mr. Goegginger described to me the Polnischer Herrenapfel as a medium-sized fruit, red all over, and of first quality. A good marxet market apple from October till December. A hardy tree and good bearer. Arcad. — I am not sure that there is any apple in this family of special value. They are a family of early apples, sweetish, and of medium size ; but the trees have proved very hardy. In Moscow, in 1877, during one week the thermometer ranged from - 32 to - 34 R. — that is, from - 40 to - 44 Fahr ; and one day it fell to - 35 R., — that is, to - 46} Fahr. This was the register on the college farm at Petrovskoe, and caused sad injury to the young orchard, for here Mr. Shroeder had a heavy soil, which tended to produce late growth, as well as a severe climate to contend with. Of all the varieties in the orchard which stood the best 1 The Koritschnovoes and the Arcads ; and of the Arcads the Dlennuii, or long Arcad seemed about the best. At Voronezh Mr. Fischer tells us of six kinds of Arcad, all much alike, early and sweet ; but he says that the tree, though apparently hardy, does not live anything like as long as the Antonovka, of which latter he shows fine healthy trees forty years planted ; whereas the Arcads usually die at twenty j that is, they die by degrees, branch by branch — one might suppose like our Canada Bald- win, on warm soils from sunscald, caused by early flow of sap, so that perhaps it needs heavier soil. Dr. Regel, in his work, describes a Red Arcad, which is an apple of first quality that keeps all winter. The coloured print of it is perhaps the most strikingly beautiful in the book. I enquired in many places about this apple, but could get no information about it. An apple of such beauty is worth looking after. Note. — In the Dep. Agri. list Yellow Arcadian appears under Nos. 188, 327, 231. One, or more of them — I do not know which — is noted as an early apple of from fair to inferior quality. No. 476 Red Arcade, has not fruited to my knowledge. 453, Beautiful Arcade, is a firm, white, somewhat juicy, sweet apple, which Mr. Tuttle thinks very 206 favourably of. 592, long Arcade, a small or medium sized, flat fruit, with fine grained white flesh. Very pretty, and tree very hardy and productive. Season, late fall or early winter. So says Mr. Tuttle. 203, Arcade, 430, round waxen Arcade, and 864, smoky Arcade, I know nothing about. Beresinskoe. — Mr. Shroeder speaks of this as a large whitish apple with j^llow side, flesh firm, but breaking ; not able to bear carriage well, but a very fine autumn dessert fruit. Beriosovka. — This we met and took a great fancy to in the Kozlof market. As we saw it there, it was a fruit of full medium size, oblate, red on one side in splashes and specks ; very firm, yet breaking j very juicy, with a fine mingling of subacid and sweet- ness. The seeds were black on 13th Sept., yet it seemed likely to keep two months. At Voronesh we showed a specimen to Mr. Fischer, who pronounced it true to name, and, moreover, said it was a good, hardy, and productive tree, and a fine fruit. Season late autumn. Blackwood (Tchernoe Derevo) is a tree long known upon the Volga. At Khvalinsk we saw trees of it at least seventy years old, and at Kazan trees thirty years of age. It is a heavy bearer, but not a tree of extra hardiness. It does not sunscald, but its upper branches are sometimes killed, and this, no doubt, sometimes owing to exhaustion from heavy bearing. On the Volga it is the favourite late-keep- ing apple for home use. Were the tree hardy enough to be grown at Quebec it probably would prove valuable as a long keeper. Mr. A. Webster, of East Roxbury, Ver- mont, who has kindly given us, in the last report of the Montreal Horticultural Society, his opinion upon thirty- eight varieties of Russian apples, tested by him, says of the Tchernoe Derevo : " Fruit good, but not of special value — fall." Grown at the north, it is a fruit of very fine quality, and a pretty good keeper ; such was our opinion as we tasted it on the Volga. It is one of those mild apples which seem specially to please the Russian palate. In the Volga region and in central Russia its quality is first-rate, and thus it is that, although of small size and unattractive colour, it sells at extra prices, and becomes very profitable. At Saratof, in the two largest orchards we visited, one of 12,000 and the other of 4,000 trees, the Blackwood was named second on their list for- profit, second only to Anis. In Russia it sells at one and a-half roubles per pood, seventy- five cents per thirty -six lbs., when other apples are selling at forty kop., or twenty cents per pood, and it even has been sold up to five roubles per pood. Only, if picked early and kept in cool place would be a keeping apple with us, and if so, possibly a valuable apple for home use. Note. — The Blackwood, fruited by Mr. Webster, is No. 407 of Department of Agriculture Catalogue, and from the description of tree and fruit I believe it to be true to name. Bogdanoff. — This is an apple which has been grown upon the Bogdanoif estates, near Kursk, probably for two centuries. Hitherto it has been known under the name of Repka. There were about 300 trees of it in the orchard we visited. It is a stout, upright grower. Taking an average of years, the Antonovka produces more fruit per tree, but it does not keep so long. A large number of varieties have been tried, yet, next to Antonovka^ 207 they consider it their most profitable winter apple. As a late keeping apple for home use they much prefer it to any other. The fruit is large, and in form, size, and striping, much like our St. Lawrence. The flesh, when tasted on 21st Sept., was whitish, firm, juicy, crude, unripe, rather fine grained, a mixture of sweet and crude sharp acid. As a long keeping apple of fine quality, I have every hope of this being a very valuable variety. BOGDANOFF. A good, late keeping apple would be a perfect God-send to our Province and its like climates. BogdanofF is a most promising variety, well-worthy of its name, which means God-given. Bohemian Girl ( Tsiganka, Zuiganka). — We saw this beautiful apple in the Voro- nesh market, a medium-sized semi-oblate fruit, blushed all over with deep pink. The flesh is white, but quite past season when we tasted it. It is a great beauty, and Mr. Fis- cher says a hardy tree. A summer apple well-worthy of trial. Borovinka (Borovitski) must be looked upon as a family name. It was a member of this family that, long ago, migrated to this country and became known everywhere as the Duchess of Oldenburg. This apple we did not see in Russia. At Tenki, in the Government of Kazan, in a peasant orchard, we saw trees in full bearing of a fruit which both Mr. Budd and I looking carefully at it thought to be Duchess ; but on tasting it we found it so fine in grain and so mildly acid, that we felt that no such difference in texture and flavour could result from change of soil and climate. At Prince Gagarine's, Borovinka, perhaps this one, is looked upon as one of the varities long known, not like Arabka and Antonovka introduced of late years. In another village near there we found another apple just like Duchess but sweet, or to say the least sweetish. The cut of Bogdanoff was taken from a rather large specimen. The other cuts are of fair average size, Antonovka, Titovka and Sapieganka, are copied from the "Sad i Ogrod"by Prof. Jankowski, of Warsaw. The others I traced from specimens. 208 Mr. Shroeder, at Petrovskoe, describes the Borovinka as a large, round, pretty, striped apple, good for dessert or cooking, and says it is grown a good deal in middle Russia. We did not see the Duchess there or any apple like it. We find apples grown at Tula, Orel, Voronesh, etc., called Borovinka, which are not of Duchess type at all, more like white Koroshavka. At Orel, however, we find a Borovinka somewhat like Duchess, acid and in season till December or January, and said to be valuable and grown fehere in some quantity — so say my notes, though the apple has gone out of mind. On the Volga is grown a flat autumn striped apple which finds its way in quantity into the Kazan and Nijni markets also called Borovinka, an apple, I think, worthy of being intro- duced. Note. — The Duchess appears under many different names in the Department of Agriculture Catalogue. No. 1, Red Astrahan, as fruited in the old Moulton orchard, now owned by Mr. Spaulding, at Minneapolis, would seem to be Duchess. No. 184, Arabian, fruited by Mr. Tuttle, is also Duchess. No. 187, Glass Green, as fruited both by Mr. Tuttle and Mr. Spaulding is either Duchess or an apple only to be known from it by its being two or three weeks later in ripening. 185, Anisowka Anisette, is another, also fruited by Mr. Tuttle. 490, Clay apple, Mr. Spaulding says, is like Duchess, but more juicy and less acid, and rather finer in the grain, and seems to colour later. Another in Mr. Spaulding's orchard, whose number was lost, though in appearance like Duchess, was sweetish, reminding me very much of the sweet Duchess which we came across in the Government of Kazan. 579, summer Lowland, Mr. Tuttle finds like Duchess in appearance, but a pleasant subacid of excellent quality. It ripens a month later than Duchess. Of apples less decidedly Duchess in character there are many in the Department Catalogue. However, of those named Borovinka, Nos. 278, 548, and 874, I know nothing. No. 245 fruited by Mr. Budd is like Duchess but later. Charlamovskoe. — Mr. Shroeder speaks of this as a large, flat cooking apple with a red side, a variety he thinks highly of. Whether this may be that grown by Mr. Webster, in Vermont, and described in the Montreal Horticultural Report, page 53, I cannot say. Mr. A. G. Tuttle, Baraboo, Wisconsin, has an apple received by him under this name, which Mr. Tuttle says, "has the beauty of Duchess and quality of Domine and keeps through winter. " Mr. Tuttle, I believe, has got hold of a valuable fruit. Crimean Apple (Krimskoe). — This is the name under which we find, in different places, apples believed to have been brought from that region. On the Bogdanoff estates, near Kursk, we find an oblong, egg-shaped, red apple below medium in size, firm in flesh, and sharp acid, mingled with sweet ; the tree is pretty hardy there, and, if I remember rightly, the fruit is a long keeper. At Volsk, the Krim- skoe, though good in colour, keeping and quality, was too small and conic to be valuable. At Kluchiche, near Kazan, at Marquise Paulucci's, we saw a large roundish striped apple, something like Duchess, not ripe ; the tree was said to be fairly hardy in that extreme, climate, and further south noted for its immense fruit. Good Peasant (Dobryi Krestianin). — This apple is highly prized by the Russian people, and sells well in their market in spite of its unattractive colour and small size. Our Pomme Grise, though long valued for its fine quality, does not sell at extra prices in the Montreal market, and, I fear, this Good Peasant would fetch but small prices when placed alongside better looking fruit. The tree, both in leaf and bud, is crab like ; its leaf is prunifolia in form, yet slightly pubescent. Near Kazan we saw trees of it more than thirty 209 years old. At Yolsk, Khvalinsk, Tula, Voronesh, everywhere almost we went, either on the Volga or in middle Russia we found it a great favourite. People seemed to go into ecstacies over its delicious flavour. Mr. Shroeder, at Petrovskoe, does not find it quite hardy, though at Tula 120 miles further south, we saw a few fine old trees of it. Let us look upon it as a crab, a large sized green crab of fine quality, for it certainly is as hardy as some of our hybrid Siberians, and I think we shall find it a useful crab for home use for rather severe climates. Grand Mother ( Baboushkino) is described by Mr. Shroeder as a beautiful bright red medium sized oblate apple of fine quality. At Voronesh, Mr. Fischer says it is a good and productive tree, and an excellent large sized apple that keeps till March. Mr. Hegel describes it as an apple of first quality that keeps till May. What we saw under this name were about medium size, flat rather, with a large thick stalk ; flesh white, firm, breaking, juicy, find grained, unripe, but showing every sign of fine quality, and of being a long keeper. Its appearance is against it, yet these hardy long keepers deserve thorough trial. Grushevka, or pear apple tree is probably so called from its pear like pyramidal form of tree. It is spoken of by Mr. Shroeder, as a hardy and productive tree, planted a good deal for market in central Russia and bearing a small early white fruit. On the Bogdanoff estates we see trees of it, with their pubescent leaves of prunifolia form like the Good Peasant. Here it is spoken of as their earliest apple, white, sweet, of medium size, and good quality. At Tula we are told it is their earliest apple. Evidently from all we hear rather a favourite. The German Grushevka Mr. Shroeder says is much like it, but a little better in quality, and a week later. That called Grushevka at Kazan was a hard, yellow, fall fruit ; neither must we confound it with the Gusevka of Hegel which is described as a large winter cooking apple, but it is without doubt the Grushevka Moskovka of Dr. Regel. Kalamas. — Under this name we saw in one of the peasant villages, in the Government of Kazan, an apple of medum or large size, deep red, with a light bloom, the beautiful colour of the pink An is, but larger, and marked with little dots. The flesh was greenish white, crude and unripe. Such a beautiful fruit, thriving in so cold a climate should not be lost sight of. Koritschnovoie Ananasnoe (literally the Cinnamon Pineapple). — This Mr. Fischer says is a small flat fruit of dark brownish red colour, and very fine flavour. The tree, too, has proved very hardy at Voronesh. Mr. Shroeder speaks of its hardiness, its earliness, and aromatic flavour. At Orel, too, we hear it well spoken of. A fine flavoured early apple it would seem. The Kor. Anan. of Kegel seems very different. Koritschnovoie Polasatoe. — This is the tree that stood the extreme cold of 1877, at Petrovskoe, when the thermometer went down to 44° below zero. Mr. Shroeder saye that it is much like Ananasnoe but striped, and ripens a month later, and keeps longer. This apple we saw to some extent in central Russia. In the markets, when piled in pyramidal form, stalks upwards, they look like small Duchess. However, the basin ie more shallow, the form more conic. It has a peculiar flavour and is quite good. A fall fruit which has proved quite profitable in cold climates. 210 Lead apple (Svinsovka). — Mr. Shroeder says is a- small, hard green cooking apple that keeps till the new year, or till new apples — I am not sure which. We hear of it at Orel and at Voronesh, and as Mr. Fischer says, it is much like Zelonka. Note. — Longfield (Langerfeldskoe, English Pippin). — At Mr. C. H. Wagner's, at Riga, Mr. Bndd was told that this apple was a seedling which had been grown by an Englishman on the Volga, and had become known as the Englishman's Pippin (Englischer Pepping), and is said to have been grown a good deal in the Livonian Provinces of Russia. It is an apple which has always come to us true to name. Mr. Budd received it from Moscow, also from the Department of Agriculture as 161, Longfield, and 587, English Pippin. Tn tree and fruit they are without any doubt alike. The tree is hardy, but not as hardy as Duchess. It is an early winter fruit of fine quality and bright attractive colour. Its fault is its size, which is often below medium. Mr. Tuttle con- siders that the finding of this tree alone has repaid his trouble in testing such a large number of the Russian apples, and says that on account of its regular annual bearing, good quality, and bright attractive colour, he would not hesitate to plant it largely for market purposes. Malite (Malt). — This name has been given to a number of apples on the Volga, grown in quantity from Kazan to Saratof. In the Government of Kazan, a little red Malite is one of their favourite market apples. It is medium or small in size, flat and often ribbed. The flesh is white, crisp, tender and juicy. Many of the peasants in the villages near Kazan, place it among their five best for profit, and grow it in quantity. At Simbirsk a Malite has the same bright dark colour, but with a bloom like pink Anis and yellowish flesh ; a fine grained, juicy apple, with firm but breaking flesh and sprightly flavour. At Saratof, Malite, I know not what kind, is named among their few best apples, and is one of the kinds growing there for a very long time. We find other apples, too, more or less of this type. At Simbirsk we find a large fall fruit somewhat resembling Duchess, and of good quality, quite unlike other apples named Malite, and perhaps worthy of trial. Red Koroshavka ( Koroshavka Alui) is one of those strikingly beautiful apples one cannot forget. It has the colour of our Victoria, a bright deep pink, and any part not so coloured is as nearly as possible pure white. It is usually of medium size, often above, regular in outline, and never ribbed like pink Anis. Like Victoria, its flesh is a pure white, and on 29th August, firm, crude acid, not ripe enough to fairly judge. This tree, like the Anis, when grown in the north is dwarf in habit, and where broken down by weight of snow, sound at the heart, and evidently a young and abundant bearer. At Tenki it was said to keep till January. At Simbirsk we hear of a Koroshavka Alui which may be this. The Koroshavka of Regel is a long stalked little fruit very different from this or white Koroshavka. Reinette Kurski. — Mr. Shroeder describes this as a medium-sized, flat, irregular, ribbed, yellow apple, named from the town of Kursk. Not hardy at Moscow, but a good tree further south, and a really good dessert fruit that keeps till spring. The query to my mind is whether this may not be the Reinette Russki which we saw at Kursk, but which they would not admit to be the Reinette Kurski. It is a five-sided apple of the size of our Fameuse, with red on one side. A fruit of fine quality, apparently a keeper, and perhaps valuable. Roshdestvenskoe. — I can only quote Mr. Shroeder's opinion that it is a medium-sized or largish apple of high conic form, much like a gilliflower ; a dark, dull green with a 211 dark red side. A good table and cooking apple, and a pretty good keeper. The tree is not hardy at Moscow, but does well further south. Bomnenskoe, named from the town of Romna. — This Mr. Shroeder says is a round, solid olive-green fruit, with dark red side. Not hardy at Moscow, but valuable further south. It is pretty enough to sell, and is a fair dessert and good cooking apple that keeps till spring. Serinkia (Sierianka). — This is said to be the Lehmapfel (or grey apple), of Germany, and is a very popular apple in the Baltic provinces, where it has been grown some say for a century or two. In Livonia, Courland and Poland, it has been planted in large quantity and evidently is a favourite fruit. It has been propagated in quantity by the nurseries in Riga. It is a stout, straight and moderately vigorous grower. The fruit is of medium size, yellow with a little red, and is said by everyone to be of excellent quality. Unfor- tunately we did not see the fruit. In middle Russia, too, at Orel and Voronesh, we hear it spoken of as a good hardy tree, and an excellent dessert fruit. Skrischapfel. — Dr. Regel speaks of this as an excellent table apple that keeps until the following summer, and says that the tree endures the coldest winters at St. Peters- burg, and has been grown at Moscow, Tula, etc. Mr. Shroeder says it is a medium or small-sized apple, striped (but perhaps this only on one side, I am not sure), a very hardy tree, an apple of really good quality ; good for dessert and cooking, that keeps sometimes till August. The tree has branches like a Scott's Winter, which cannot easily be torn out. The fruit, as we saw it, green, with a little dull red beginning to appear on one side, and very heavy. Flesh greenish, juicy, rather tender, crude, and but very mildly acid, when ripe lacking acid one would think, otherwise quite good. A good late keeper for cold climates. Note. — This is not the Skrischapfel of the Department of Agriculture which I have noted under the head of Anis. Skrute (Beel Skrute) is a profitable apple on the Upper Volga. A good-sized white apple, with red marblings, showy and very popular, but so variable in quality that I have thought there must be more than one apple in the markets under this name. Often its cavity is very shallow, and the stem like a peg that has been driven in, but this is not always so. Though fine-grained and juicy, it is sometimes woolly and flavourless, so that I cannot recommend it, in spite of its wide popularity in those cold climates. Sklianka (Steklanka Zelonka). — In this family there are some apples of the Rhode Island Greening type which promise to be very valuable. Mr. Shroeder describes the S. Ostrovkaya, as a small conic green apple with a dull red side, long stalk and corrugated basin ; good for cooking and dessert. It keeps till summer, and is a good hardy Russian tree, grown more in the south-west, a variety con- sidered valuable by Mr. Shroeder. The S. pesochnoe, or Sandy Sklianka, Mr. Shroeder says is a sour cooking fruit of medium size ; greenish yellow, with some red, that keeps till or into winter. We probably met with both these apples, and yet we cannot be sure. At Volsk we saw trees of this Sklianka type, bearing profusely, and yet full medium n size ; surely the fruit would be large when bearing in moderation. It was green, rarely with some red on one side ; very firm, crude, acid, with some slight sweetness 212 The tree seemed quite hardy at Volsk, and there seemed no doubt as to its bearing or keeping qualities. I believe we saw this same fruit in the Saratof market. The Zelenka Moldavka of Voronesh is an apple I wish to draw special attention to. The specimen we had was large and oblong ; a solid apple with a texture somewhat like a Rhode Island Greening ; firm, acid, with very little sweetness. We got it at Voronesh on 13th Sept., and this description was made when it was tasted at Warsaw on Oct. 4th. It had been kept in our apple bag, but had not suffered. Mr. Fischer showed us trees which seemed hardy and healthy ; the fruit has the points of a first-rate cooking apple, and is a fair eating apple ; a variety of great promise. Dr. Regel describes several varieties of Sklianka, among other the Sklianka Revelskaya, a yellowish fruit with a little red on one side, grown at Pskov, Peters- burg, and other places ; usually hardy, but sometimes injured in severe winters, The S. Zelonka, a small, green, very productive cooking apple, grown near Dorpat and the Baltic provinces, generally. S. Medovka (or Reinette Voronesh), received from Voronesh, green and later a greenish yellow ; an excellent table apple, roundish, and of full medium size. It keeps all winter, and the tree is hardy at St. Petersburg in severe winters. At Tula, Orel, Voronesh, etc., we see or hear of long keeping Greenings, under the name of Sklianka and Zelonka, which are considered valuable in these cold climates. Of those we saw the Zelonka Moldavka of Voronesh, and the Sklianka of Volsk would seem the most promising. Note — 472, Ostrokofls, of the Department of Agriculture, a small green apple, very conic, very wrinkled towards the calyx, and without basin, which I saw at Mr. Under- wood's, is probably true to name. No. 597, the Sandy Glass, is also perhaps true to name. Titovka (Titus apple). — A large, handsome fruit, to be seen in quantity in all the markets of the Volga, and of middle Russia. It looks like a large, ribbed, elongated Duchess, and on account of its large size and attractive colour, very salable, and there- fore valuable. At Simbirsk it is considered one of the most profitable. At Tenki, near Kazan, it is a success, both in nursery and orchard, and from what we saw would seem to have been grown there for many years. At Tula we saw one very old tree of it, a sur- vivor of an ancient orchard, killed by a severe winter many years ago. It is therefore a tree that thrives in the severest climates. It would not be safe to assume it to be quite as hardy as Anis or Antonovka, yet it is not very far from it. The flesh is coarse, but juicy and mildly acid ; quite good ; not at all disappointing ; rather better than Duchess, because less acid. In season it is one of the earliest, yet is a summer or late summer fruit. We might reasonably expect this to become one of the great commercial apples of our country. Note. — No. 230, Titovka (Titus Apple), of Department of Agriculture is not the fruit above described, but seems to be that described and pictured by Dr. Regel in his work : the same as that sent by Mr. H. Goegginger from Riga to Mr. Wm. Evans, of Montreal, this last October ; the same, too, as that sent out by Ellwangerand Barry, and which they describe as a large apple, resembling Twenty Ounce, and which they say is the most showy 213 of tke new Russians tested by them so far. This Titovka is in appearance more like Zolotoreff, No. 275 of Department of Agriculture Catalogue, but not it. Mr. Budd and T basted and compared them last August. TITOVKA. (Jkrainshoe. — I was very much struck by a young tree I saw at Vilna, in full bear- ing. It looked as if bearing a crop of uncoloured Northern Spy. At Orel we hear of it as a hardy tree, and a good apple, but not as productive as some other kinds. Mr. Shroeder also notes it as a light bearer, but says the tree is hardy, and that it is a good cooking and second quality eating apple, which ships and keeps well. At Saratof we are told of an apple under this name that has been grown there for a very long time, said to be quite hardy in that climate, and to keep till March, and it is noted there as one of their profitable market fruits. In the milder climate of Warsaw, our friends say, Why grow Ukrainskoe, a green apple, when you might as well grow a red one. Colour in an apple is a very good point, yet I feel that any good late keeping apple that thrives upon the Russian steppes is worthy of trial. Note. — No. 290, Ukrainskoe, of Department of Agriculture, as I saw it fruiting at Mr. Underwood's, seemed true to name. Vargul. — A firm, flatish, conic apple of yellowish colour, with some red on one side, of extra quality, and keeps till May or June, — so says Mr. Shroeder. I do not think we saw it, yet we heard of it often in middle Russia. At Tula an amateur friend puts it among his five best varieties. At Orel, at Voronesh, and Kursk, we hear an apple well spoken of under this name. Vargulok (or little Vargul) is often confounded with Vargul, and said by some to 15 [F. G.J 214 be the same. Mr. Shroeder has both, and describes this as a medium sized yellowish green apple, good for cooking or table ; a long keeper, and tree hardy at Moscow. Virginischer Roserbapfel. — It is strange how a fruit may wander to distant lands, and: generations after, return to its native land unrecognized. We first saw this in the nursery of the Pomological School at Proskau, and Mr. Budd declared that it must be the " 'Fourth of July." We then looked up the cast of the fruit in the museum, and so it seemed ie be. Why should it have the name Virginia unless it had been there, and how in those early days get there except via England. Yes, we may suppose it to have been included in those importations from Russia, made during the lifetime of the late Andrew Knaight and thence found its way to Virginia. Its name becoming lost, it was grown westward and northward in America as the Fourth of July, and returns to Russia, the land of its ancestors — even if not the land of its birth — as the Virginischer Rosenapfel. White Koroshavka. — This is a favourite apple in the markets at Nijni Novgorod and Kazan, and is grown in fair quantity along the Volga for market purposes. It is an early apple, yet not one of the earliest ; a fair sized white fruit with little marblings and stripes of red ; tender, rather juicy, and so mildly acid as to incline to be almost sweet, but nice and pleasant, invariably good, and therefore better in quality than Skrut*^ though perhaps hardly grown in as great quantity. We find it grown largely in the villages in Kazan, and apparently quite hardy there, so that its hardiness one need not have doubts about ; yet a friend at Simbirsk in a trying soil and situation finds in the long run that neither the white nor red Koroshavka are equal in hardiness to the Amis and Antonovka, yet for all that a hardy tree, and, I would say, a good summer apple, lacking neither in beauty nor in good quality. Of the coast apples in Russia I seem to know very little. We had no opportunity of seeing them in bearing. The climate is not our climate, yet their experience is valuable. Dr. Regel selected out of a long list, forty-one kinds which he recommended, and out of these he marked ten kinds with double stars. These ten kinds are Antonovka, Aport (autumn), Borovinka, Belui Naliv, Red Summer Calville, Koritschnevoe (Zimmetapfel), Koritschnevoe Ananasnoe, Polosatoe Novgorodskoe, Skvosnoe Naliv, Skrischapfel, Titovka. Note. — There are many other apples in the United States Department Catalogue which deserve special mention. The Early Transparent family are very numerous. There are the white, yellow, and green Transparents, Red Duck, Sweet Pear, Charlottenthaler, and others. The yellow Transparent, 334, has been taking the place of Tetofsky, and sow 342, Charlottenthaler for size and earliness, rather bears the palm. Count Orloff, of Ellwanger and Barry (whether received from Department of Agri- culture or from Moscow I cannot say), is white Astrachan, and Grand Sultan very like it ; so also is 333 red Transparent, as fruited by Mr. Sias, but sweeter and with more colour. Another family, and a very important one, is that to which 177 Green Streaked, 285 Turnipy Juicy, 971 Vassilis Largest, and 275 Zolotoreff, belong. They are all large and showy, often as large as Alexander; a little coarse in texture, but good, salable, fall market apples. No. 230 Titovka, of the Department Catalogue, seems to belong to this family. Also 378 Hibernal, which is rather later in season. The tree, too, in the opinion of Mr. Tuttle, is unusually hardy, as well as a very vigorous grower. Gf sweet apples, No. 164 Heidorn's Streaked, 178 Barloff, and 453 Beautiful Arcad, are spoken very favourably of by Mr. Tuttle. Heidorn's is a good sized, striped, hand- some fruit, with a slight aromatic flavour ; very good. Mr. Webster and Dr. Hoskins- 215 think highly of 351 Prolific Sweeting, a yellow fall fruit of medium size. Tree of Tetofsky type, and a very heavy bearer. Of dessert apples 372 St. Peter, and 304 Sweitzer are among the best. Later in season Borsdorf, Longfield, etc. One of the latest keepers is No. 410 Little Seedling. The tree is of Duchess type and an abundant bearer of fruit said to keep well till warm weather, when it becomes tender, juicy, and of fair flavour. It lacks size, owing to its habit of overbearing. ON FRUITS IN CENTRAL EUROPE. Our work in Russia was an endeavour to find out what fruits had stood the test of •limates as severe as our own. In central Europe another field of work presented itself, viz., what varieties, valuable in these milder climates, are worthy of trial here 1 Our journey from London onwards was a constant succession of visits to horticul- tural and botanic gardens, pomological and forest schools, steady, rapid work, without time even to arrange our notes. At Verrieres, near Paris, in the gardens of M. Henri de Vilmorin, gardens full of botanic rarities, we specially noticed that the apple trees which had been selected for «ordon training, included many kinds whose leaf and early terminate growth betokened northern ancestry. We noticed this, too, in the nurserses of M. Simon Louis, at Metz. At the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, we had a grand opportunity to study the different races of the pear, — a large collection, botanical as well as horticultural, including differ- ent races from China, from Japan, India and different parts of Europe, and their hybrids. Mr. Budd is the one man who has taken up this botanic question of races, and applied it practically to northern horticulture. By noting certain characteristics of race one might collect in the milder parts of Europe, varieties of the apple and the pear, with the assurance that a large part of them would prove hardy in severe climates. At Reutlingen, in Wurtemburg, we visited the pomological school of the late Dr. Lucas, so well-known to pomologists by his works and his life-long labours. At the time of our visit he was fast declining, and on our arrival at Proskau we heard of his death. From Mr. Fritz Lucas, his son and successor, we received lists and notes of those fruits which had stood uninjured during their late trying winters. At the late Pomological School at Kosteneuberg, near Vienna, we met Prof. Stoll, who has also a thorough knowledge of the fruits best adapted to the colder and more elevated parts of Silesia and Transylvania. At the Pomological School at Troy a, near Prague, in Bohemia, we found a very large collection of fruits adapted to mild climates. At Proskau, near Oppeln, in Silesia, is the pomological school of eastern Prussia. The climate here is more severe, its elevation is 720 feet, its soil is cold, its south winds passing over the Carpathians are cold, and, I believe, dry. Most of the tender plants we had found further south are wanting. Director Stoll finds it necessary to study the question of hardiness, and hence we find his opinion very valuable for north Germany. At Warsaw, the pomological school under Prof. Jankouski, is doing a gran 1, good 216 work ; in fact the best pomological work we saw in Russia. The climate, however, of the city gardens is but very slightly more severe than at Proskau. After leaving Warsaw, we scarcely found any tree or shrub which would be likely to prove tender in Montreal or even at Abbottsford, until, on our return westwards, we reached Kiev. For the present, I will merely describe a few of the best late-keeping apples of Germany. Batullenapf el Bother. — This belongs to a family almost new to us. We saw it, for the first time, at the pomological school of Dr. Lucas at Reutlingen, and were at once struck with its small, thick, plicated leaf. A singular fact, too, in regard to it, is that it grows readily from cuttings. We saw cuttings of it treated just as currant cuttings usually are, growing well at Reutlingen. At the Kosteneuberg Pomological School, near Vienna, Prof. Stoll draws our special attention to it, and says it has been grown for at least one hundred years in Transylvania. It is of medium size, often largish, whitish or yellowish, with red sides, pretty good quality, a very healthy, hardy tree in those climates, and a very abundant bearer. At Proskau we hear further good opinions of it. Its keeping qualities are variously stated. At Proskau they say till February. At Kosteneuberg till April. At Traja they say till June. The Weisser Batullen is said to be just like this except that it has less colour, and some think they are the same. Baumanris Beinette. — At Warsaw, Proskau and Reutlingen we hear high opinions of this fruit. Mr. Lauche, of Potsdam, Berlin, in his Deutche Pomologie, says that its bearing, beauty and quality makes it deserving of very extensive cultivation, and says further that it is a fine grained, crisp, juicy apple, of characteristic, acidulated, spicy flavour A valuable apple for family use, in season from January till March or May, but too small for market. Bohnapfel Grosser. — This has been long grown by the peasants of the Rhine and in Wurtemberg, yet Mr. Lucas does not mention it among his favourite kinds, probably from its lack of fine quality. It has the same thick, plicated, pubescent leaf as the Batullen, and would seem of the same race, and like it unusually productive. It is valued for dry- ing, baking, and cider. It is a medium-sized apple with a red side, harsh and sour until spring, when it becomes sweeter, bui without aroma. Its long keeping and heavy bearing alone merit its extensive cultivation. Boikenapfel has been long known in the neighbourhood of Bremen, long grown and highly esteemed, and has been well recommended for general cultivation in Germany. It has a snow white, firm, fine grained flesh, good fair size, though mostly green in •colour. An excellent table apple for family use, in season from January till June. Ghampagner Beinette. — A little dessert apple of rather fine quality which has been planted rather largely, says Mr. Lauche, in Germany since 1857, when it was recommended for general cultivation. It keeps till June. Dr. Stoll, at Proskau, gave us a specimen on J uly 28th. The tree, I fear, is not quite as hardy as some others. At Riga, not at all hardy. This, therefore, cannot be the Champagnskaya Pipka we heard of as hardy and 217 valuable at Orel and other places in central Russia. Mr. Shroeder described a Champ- anskoe as a rather large, flat conic, greenish yellow apple somewhat striped. A winter fruit of very fine quality and a hardy, though a crooked growing tree. Danziger Kantapfel has been growing, says Mr. Lauche, in Germany and Holland under many names. "A fine-fleshed juicy apple of aromatic, acidulated sugary flavour." A valuable home-use table fruit that keeps till January. Gulderling Langer Grilner. — A largish green apple tinged with red, grown in. quantity in Silesia. It keeps till May and is then a fairly good eating apple. Earlier in the season it is too acid. Gritner Fiirstenapfel, (Green Princes' Apple), is grown largely about Hanover and Berlin, in Pomerania, and on the Rhine near Coblenz, and in cold districts among the Car- pathian mountains ; a small or medium-sized green apple that keeps till May or June, and, though lacking beauty, yet very productive and, therefore, largely grown. The tree seems hardier than some others. Landsburger Reinette. — A rather large yellowish fruit with dull red sides, second quality or almost first, some say, for table ; it bears abundantly, and keeps till January or, some say till March. Mr. Goegginger says not hardy at Riga. Muscat Reinette. — This is one of the best of the German apples. It is highly prized and largely cultivated in Germany, Holland and France. It is a medium-sized yellow fruit, splashed with red, distinguished by its strong aromatic and sugary flavour. It keeps till spring. The tree is hardy in north Germany, but, Mr. Goegginger tells me, not at Riga. Purpurrother Cusinot. — Prof. Stoll, of Kosteneuberg, tells me that this tree is growm in very large quantity in Bohemia and Silesia, and is said to prove very hardy and pro- ductive in the colder parts of these districts. Oberdick called attention to its wonderful productiveness, says Mr. Lauche, and since then it has been recommended in Germany for general cultivation. A dull red fruit of medium size, of a slightly cinnamon, sugary flavour. It is in season from December to May, and is said to be "the " apple of its season in some of the German markets. I regret to say that Mr. Goegginger has found it not hardy at Riga. Stettiner Gelber. — This is said to be a finer and preferable apple to the Stettiner Rother. It is a medium-sized, sometimes largish apple of good quality that keeps till spring and is grown largely for markets in some districts in north Germany. A specimen of it was given to us to taste, by Dr. Stoll, at Proskau, on July 28th ; of course at that late date it had lost flavour. Stettinger Rother has been grown somewhat at Warsaw, and in great quantity in the north-eastern Baltic provinces of Germany, whence it is shipped up the Vistula, and is the commonest apple in the Warsaw market in March and April. Winter Citronenapfel (Citronat). — At Kiev, where it is slightly celder in winter, and where the winter changes are more extreme than at Warsaw, this is considered their best winter apple, next to Antonovka. Such was the decision of four members of the Forestry Association, residents of the Government of Kiev, who consulted together and gave this as their decision to Mr. Budd at the Forestry Convention at Moscow. It is a large red apple, yellow only in the shade, a fruit of high quality, that keeps 218 till March. It was not mentioned at Proskau among their best winter apples, but is a great favourite at Warsaw, especially for home use, for its tender flesh does not bear distant carriage. It did not seem hardy at Kursk, yet, like many of these German apples* valuable where the climate is not too extreme. PEARS. It may be a cause of surprise when I say that a pear is the best tree I know of for maintaining a dark, glossy, healthy foliage when planted on dry soil, in a climate where the summer sun is hot, the nights cool, the air excessively dry, and the winters very cold. Vet such is the case. In the public square at Simbirsk, in latitude 54°, on the Volga, a climate as severe as the city of Quebec, the wild pear is a fine ornamental tree, and seems the tree which suffers least from dryness of air and diminished rainfall. I must add, too, that the one tree of largest diameter of trunk which I happened to see during a journey of nearly 1,000 miles on the Volga, was this wild form of pear ; a tree at Saratof, nearly three and a-half feet in diameter of trunk, measured near the ground. At Simbirsk it was that we first met with extensive pear culture in extreme climates. Here there must be in orchard, I should think, 10,000 trees, and those mainly of two wild forms — one a Bergamot, usually about the size of the cut, or somewhat smaller, usually sweetish, perhaps with slight acid, usually lacking in juice, sometimes very slightly astringent and fair for cooking ; sometimes very rough and quite unfit for cooking. The tree is a good upright grower, and its dark glossy foliage is very ornamental. Mr. Budd picked a leaf off thirty trees, and really could not distinguish one from another. The leaf is smooth-edged, with scarcely a trace of crena- tion. The other wild form of pear found on the Volga, bears a small pyriform fruit, which it yields in quantity. Some- times it is fit for cooking, but usually too astringent. It also is a fine tree. Its leaves are serrated. These two wild forms promise to be of great value to us, as the stocks upon which to graft our future pear orchards. These pears should be grown, if for nothing else, to produce seeds for growing hardy stocks, for it is an undoubted fact that a hardy stock increases the hardiness and early maturity of growth of that which is grafted upon it. In Poland we find another wild form of pear, a com- mon tree and a tree of large size. The leaf is fine in tex- ture, though not very thick, and sharply serrated upon its edges. Its foliage is not as well adapted to a very dry climate as that of the Volga pears ; nor is the tree as hardy, yet hardy enough for a good stock for our climate, and, for this purpose, it should be imported into this country in large quantity from the Warsaw nurseries. We saw the wild pear growing in quantity between Kharkof and Kiev, but whether this same race or not I cannot say. WJSID BERGAMOT OF THE TOLOA. 219 Note. — Mr. A. Faller, of Minneapolis, who lived some years on the Amur, described to me a pear, grown in that region, just like this wild Volga Bergamot. He also men- tioned a large green pear the size of the Bartlett, quite uneatable when picked, but after being kept three months very juicy and very nice. This must be a form of the Pyrus Ussuriensis, the wild pear of the Ussuri branch of the Amur. At Reutlingen, in Wurtemburg, we find the perry and cooking pears to be of a different race from these of western France, whence American nurserymen have obtained their pear roots. Reutlingen is a fruit-growing neighbourhood, and, on account of its elevation, cold above its latitude. The orchards, here, have suffered severely during the last unfavourable winters, but these pubescent-leaved pear trees have stood the test much better than the apple. Tonkovietka. — This I will speak of first, as it is the hardiest pear tree I know which bears an edible fruit. In Moscow the severe winter of 1877 killed all the pear trees in the college grounds to the snow line. This, however, seemed about the hardiest — hardier, even, than Bessemianka. We find trees of what is said to be it in some peasant orchards in the cold climate of Tula, 120 miles south of Moscow. We again hear of it at Simbirsk as a pretty good pear that bears well. Mr. Shroeder, who looks at fruits from a high standard of quality, says it is a fairly good eating pear, but not equal to Bessemi- anka. The Tonkovietka shown to us at Saratof was not the same ; a larger and better fruit, but tree not hardy there.. The name means slender stalk — a name which possibly may be applied to more than one pear. Bessemianka is known also by the German name of Kernlose, which means without seeds. It is by far the best pear grown in the severer parts of Russia. At Moscow it sufte»s duriag winters of extra severity, yet, in sheltered places, it sometimes does pretty well At Tula they say it stands their usual winters ; now and then they have a winter when it is not injured. There we saw a num- ber of trees looking quite healthy. It is " the " pear tree there, and yet they say not as produc- tive there as it is fifty miles further south. At Simbirsk it is considered not quite hardy. It grows for about ten years, bears fairly, and is injured or killed by some severe winter. At /\ Saratof, we find trees seven or eight inches in diameter of trunk, which appeared quite hardy, and said to bear good crops. We find an orchard here of 500 large pear trees, all but one variety in good healthy condition, and this in a climate as cold as the city of Quebec, and so dry that irrigation is necessary for profitable orcharding. Here the Bessemianka was con- sidered one of their best. Again, in central Russia, at Orel we find a great many trees, both young and old, and find it considered the best because the most reliable 220 The same story at Voronesh. At Kursk, in the peasant gardens and nurseries near the town, we see large old trees of it ; we see large numbers of young trees, and a large supply of it in their little nurseries. It is the most widely known, and the most largely grown pear in central Russia. The tree is an upright grower, has large, dark, thick leaves, but very slightly crenated, almost smooth-edged, a leaf that stands aridity of air well. One fault this tree has, its branches easily break off from weight of snow, and thus often leave large scars upon the trunk. The fruit is green, with some russetty brown, tender, rather juicy, gritty at the core, with few or no seeds, quite free from astringency, mild and pleasant, though not to say buttery. Season, I should think, early October. Bergamot. — Of this family I will speak next. In the markets on the Volga below Simbirsk, we find a small, round, early Bergamot, but it rots at the core so badly that I cannot recommend it. There is, however, a large winter, or rather fall Bergamot, worthy AUTUMN BERGAMOT OF THE TOLftt. of trial, and perhaps this may be the Bergamotte Osenii of Regel. At Simbirsk we eight or ten trees of it, about four inches in diameter. At Khvalinsk and Saratof we also saw healthy old trees. The fruit is green, with tendency to a little colour on one side, and on an average it is about the size of our Fameuse apple. The flesh is sweet, rather lacking in juicey but quite free from astringency. It has a tendency, though slight, to rot at the core ; but if picked carefully and early, it may be kept into winter. At Warsaw, we find in the market in fair quantity, a small, round pear, which, ©b 221 enquiry, we are told, is the common Bergamot, and that there are large old trees of it in exposed situations near there. We also saw large healthy trees of it in the Warsaw gardens. It is an autumn pear of very much finer quality than that grown on the Volga, although the tree has not been tested in as severe climates, nor does it show the same hardy, wild character. Note. — Whether any of the Bergamots I describe are the same as those sent out by Dr. Regel I cannot say. The St. Petersburg and Moscow collections are growing side by side at Ames, and light will be thrown upon their identity or otherwise. Bessemianka, if I remember correctly, appeared true to name, from several different sources. Tonkovietka is apt to be true to name. Eothe Bergamotte and Bergamotte Rouge, from different parties in Warsaw, proved not alike at Ames. Also the Russian pears fruiting in the Pomological Gardens at Warsaw, do not altogether agree with my notes from Moscow. I fear a good deal of confusion in this matter. Sapieganka. — This is the Bergamotte ronde d'ete, introduced, I believe, from Italy, about the 15th century, and named after a Polish nobleman. There are a good many trees of it about Warsaw. I am told that in one garden not far from the city, there are 185 old trees, of which tb# largest are two feet in diameter of trunk. At Vilna, where the climate is more severe than Warsaw, we saw ten or twelve old trees about one foot in diameter and one two feet. At Riga, some say " as hardy as an oak," others say pretty hardy. At Voronesh, Mr. Fischer spoke strongly of its hardiness there, although I have forgotten if we saw any trees there. At Orel it has not proved hardy. The verdict generally is a hardy tree and a long-lived healthy tree and a good fruit, but not capable of bearing quite as low temperatures as Bessemianka. Red Bergamot (Rothe Bergamotte, Bergamotte d'automne, Leroy). — From the engravings of this pear given in Lauche's Deutsche Pomologie, it is a query in my mind whether this may not be the common Bergamot I have spoken of above,. as growing about Warsaw. At any rate I saw one fine old tree pointed out as this Ber- gamotte Rouge, and was told there were many more like it in the neighbourhood. Our attention was first directed to it by Mr. Stoll at Vienna, and we learn that it has been grown largely in Silesia, and somewhat in Sweden. It is spoken highly of at Proskau and Riga, and is a pear of fine quality, recommended for all kinds of soil. It ripes in September and October, and is well worthy of trial. Moskovka probably deserves mention, a small pyriform pear, jucy, mild and non- astringent. We saw a good many trees of it at Simbirsk, large old trees, some of theim somewhat injured, yet some thought it hardier even than Tonkovietka. A good, little,, early, cooking fruit. SAPIEGANKA. 222 Of pears without names I will next speak. If the fruit is long in shape it is called Doula, if small Grusha. Another is named Dolgostebelka, which means long stalk, but as all the Russian pears except the Bergamot have long stalks, such names have no individuality. Under the name of Gliva, which is akin to Doula, we find great variety ; one which I tasted at Moscow, and which I was assured was grown there, was as rich and buttery as a Barfclett. At Orel, under the name of Doula Doukavoya, we find good healthy trees bearing a large, but uneven-sided, very sweet pear, juicy, and very nice. The same tree we saw at Simbirsk ; the same unmistakable fruit again on the Bogdanoff estates, near Kursk. A valuable pear for cold climates. Bezi de la Motte ( Wildiiig Von Motle). — In Iowa, it has been stated by Swedes, that this pear grew far north in their native land. At Burlington, Iowa, Mr. Avery has been very successful in growing what he called the Orassane Bergamotte, a pear known at Warsaw and in the Baltic Provinces, but said there not to be very hardy. It would now seem that Mr. Avery's trees are, as Mr. Downing has positively affirmed, the true Bezi de la Motte. The fruit is medium, sometimes large and tolerably round, buttery, melting, and of delicate sweet flavour. Mr. Goeschke, of Proskau, in his book, " Der Obstbau," says, a delicate dessert pear, but needs good soil, sheltered position and favourable weather to bear well. It ripens about 18th October, and keeps a long time. At Bur- lington, Iowa, this variety is promising, yet must not be ranked among the ironclads. Delices de Jodoine. — In the Pomological Garden at Warsaw, we find one tree of this variety, erect in growth, leaves very dark in colour, thick, pubescent, and in fact just like some inferior, but hardy Doulas and Glivas planted along side of it. The fruit, says Dr. Hogg, of London, in the " Fruit Manual," is three inches long, and the flesh is '" half-melting, sweet, sugary and aromatic." All authors agree that the fruit is good. The foliage of this tree will not suffer from aridity of air ; if of early maturity of growth, then a tree of decided hardiness. This tree is well worthy of a trial in the north. Confessels Birne is a tree with a large, close-textured leaf, grown in quantity in the colder parts of Silesia where the thermometer goes down to 20° and 22°. The quality of the fruit I do not know. I only know that it is grown chiefly for drying. Fondante de Bois ( Holzfarbige Butterbirne ). — This pear we saw bearing heavily in the garden of the Pomological School at Warsaw, and in other gardens in the neighbour- hood ; also in the colder climate of Wilna. At Warsaw it is one of the few that have stood the test of trying winters, and one of the best for planting in open exposure. Fondante de Bois is a synonym of the Belle de Flandres, or Flemish Beauty. In the catalogue of the Royal Horticultural Society of London, published in 1842, it proved so. Another pear, however, introduced from the continent, proved different, and yet the description of it is not like this. Different climates work wide differences in the appearance and quality of fruits. Still, Mr. Budd says, surely not Flemish Beauty or anything like it. I, too, have known the Flemish Beauty in different climates, have grown it in quantity in southern Pennsylvania in a garden I once owned there, hare eaten some bushels of it in my lifetime, and cannot believe it to be the same as thk Fondante de Bois. Considering the value of this pear in Poland it ought to be introduced. Grumkower Winterbvrne. — This pear has been long known in eastern Prussia, and about eighty years ago was sent westward, and in 1857 was recommended for general cultivation. It is spoken well of at Warsaw as a tree that has stood the test of trying winters, not merely in the sheltered city gardens, but in exposed places. It is a long pyriform pear, green, and mottled light and dark, with but slight colour j the flesh is tender, buttery, but somewhat lacking in sweetness, not equal to Flemish Beauty I would say. It is in season in October and November, and the tree requires moist soil. LiegeVs Winterbirne. — This, I am told, has been planted very largely in the colder parts of Bohemia, among the mountains, where it has become a large export product. It is sent in large quantity to Berlin as a winter dessert pear. It is, said Mr. Lauche probably of Bohemian origin, and in 1853, at Naumberg, it was recommended for general planting. It has fine-grained, melting flesh, of agreeable, and somewhat spicy flavour, and is in season from November to January. It has not yet been planted outside Bohemia as largely as it deserves. Leon Gregoire is another of about equal hardiness. It is hardier than Zepherin Gregoire, which is one of the hardiest of its class. Mr. Lauche says it was grown in Belgium by Xavier Gregoire from seeds of Napoleon, and says it is melting, rich in juice, and of an acidulated, sweet and slightly spiced flavour. A good sized pear of fair quality which keeps till November, or later. Pasovka is one of the hardy Polish pears, long known and planted to a fair, or rather, large extent. The fruit is long and narrow, yellow, often with a red side, of fair size, very pretty, pretty good quality, and very good for cooking. It ripens in August. Pound Pear ( Pfundbirne. Funtovka). — There are many pears of this class. At Riga, the nurseries speak of the Pfundbirne as a hardy and productive tree, which bears a large, green cooking fruit, in season in September and October. Salzburg. — We were struck with the healthy growth and thick leaf of this tree when we first saw it in the Pomological Gardens near Prague, in Bohemia. At Prosk*u, Director Stoll kindly drove us to where it had been planted as a roadside tree ; large, healthy, upright trees. However, as we follow northward, we find this tree is not as hardy as others. At Riga, it is somewhat tender ; at Warsaw, it has been grown a good deal, yet it suffers at times. It is a pear of medium size and rather fine quality. The tree is possibly hardy enough for a sheltered city garden in Montreal, but is more likely to be of use in climates like Brockville, Kingston and Toronto. It is said to be a pear of fine quality. Sugar Pear ( Zuc1herbirney Zaharna, Saharnaya). — Under these names, which mean the same, we find many varieties of a healthy, hardy race, well worthy of trial. Wurtem- berg, Warsaw, Riga, Orel, etc., all have their sugar pears. They are usually productive, fair quality for eating, good for cooking, and would be very salable upon our markets. 2*4 CHERRIES. The cherries of northern Europe best adapted to severe climates belong to a family which is scarcely known upon this continent. I will describe a few of those that hare been found of greatest value at the north. Vladimir. — First in importance are the cherries known all over Russia under this name. Like the Ostheim and the Brune de Bruxelles, they are usually bushes rather than trees, and have narrow, small, but finely textured thick foliage. It has been named Vladimir, I suppose, because in that government its culture has attained such vast pro- portions. The fruit we saw not only in the markets, but sold in the streets in all the larger towns, where the consumption of this cherry is very large. We did not visit the cherry districts in Vladimir, as the crop had been already picked and marketed when we arrived there. We tried, however, to get some estimate of the extent of its culture there. Are there 10,000 trees'? I ask. More than 100 men have 15,000 each, and such was the tenor of other statements from those who know the country well. What is the amount shipped 1 I ask. In reply I am told that entire cars, and in some special instances, entire trains have been loaded with this one product. At the village of Viazniki the chief industry of the neighbourhood is cherry culture. We find it in all the northern markets in great quantity. It seems to be cut off the tree with scissors, leaving about an inch or less of stalk attached to the fruit, and thus picked it stands carriage well, and then keeps for some little time after arrival. In the peasant villages in the government of Kazan, and in all the towns we stayed! at on the Volga, wherever a peasant had any apple trees, he was sure to have also a patch of this Vladimir cherry, sometimes carefully thinned, seldom in a high state of culture, and often grown into a thicket • everywhere it was grown in fair quantity, and in all the markets, though past its season, a few were still to be found. Again in central Russia, everywhere it is the most largely grown variety, the popular market variety, although at Voronesh and Kursk, we find fruits more of the Guigne type, not quite hardy, yet bear- ing finer fruit. As far south even as Kharkof and Kiev it is the popular kind, and in the more southern climate of Kiev, still retains its dwarf habit of growth. In one garden there we saw it planted under plum trees, just as currant bushes in city gardens often are with us. The tree, if I may so speak, is of bush form, and when it becomes too old to bear profitably, the older parts are cut away, and new sprouts take their place. It is usually grown in sod, and under such lack of culture brings good returns, hence its great value to us as a tree for careless cultivators. It can be grown from seed, as it often is, but as it varies somewhat, it is better to propagate from the best by sprouts. Sometimes, though rarely, it is grafted. Some trees are erect in growth, others weeping ; both forms are widely scattered. The weeping is usually considered the best, but not invariably so. Some have red flesh, but as a rule the flesh is deep, purplish red ; the skin, when fully ripe, a reddish black, and when fully ripe, almost over-ripe, a rich mingling of acid and sweet- ness. When quite over- ripe it loses its acidity, and combines with its sweetness some- what of the peculiar but pleasant bitter of the commoner kinds of Guigne. If the cultivation of this Vladimir cherry proves such a profitable industry to large 225 numbers of people in Russia, in a climate as severe as the city of Quebec, why might it not prove equally profitable in like climates here 1 It certainly should be introduced, and that in quantity for immediate trial ; and if successful there is no reason why we should not have several Canadian Vladimirs, with their millions of cherry bushes, and their canning establishments, and good cheap cherries in all our markets. Ostheim (Ostheimer Weichel). — I am told by Director Stoll, of Proskau, that this is a native of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain, where it was found at elevations of 5,000 and 6,000 feet, and that it was brought to Germany in 1687 by a German Pro- fessor, whose name is known, though I cannot give it, and who grew it in the neighbour- hood of the town of Ostheim, whence its present name. Those who assign to the cherry an oriental origin, and cite Pliny that it did not appear in Italy until after the defeat of Mithridates, King of Pontus, in B.C. 65, hold that it must have come to Spain from the East, but this is mere conjecture. In foliage, and in habit of growth, it is much like the Vladimir, and must be nearly related to it. In Germany it has been largely grown in some places for the manufacture of cherry wine, or cherry brandy, and it seems strange that a cherry, so largely grown there, should be almost unknown on our continent. In bhe catalogues of Canadian or United States nurserymen, it is not to be found. How- ever, Mr. E. Myer, a German colonist, who settled in Minnesota, at St. Peter, about iifty miles south-west of St. Paul, brought with him the sprouts of this cherry, which have been fruiting in that severe climate. (See Iowa Horticultural Society's Report 1881, p. 371.) In colour the Ostheim is like Vladimir, a dark red, becoming, when very ripe, a dark purplish red. When we tasted it at Warsaw, we found it but mildly acid and rather rich. Dr. Hogg says ; " Flesh very dark, tender, juicy, with a pleasant, sweet and subacid flavour." M. Goeschke, in Der Obstbau, says : "An excellent, agreeable, sweetish-sour flavour. A first-class dessert fruit, and particulary in demand for preserves." M. Simon- Louis, in his Guide Pratique, says : " De premiere qualite a perfaite maturite," and " extra - ordinairement fertile." There seems no doubt as to its hardiness, productiveness or quality, and like the Vladimir it is worthy of extensive trial. Brune de Bruxelles ( Brusseller Braune. Ratafia of Hogg). — This is another of dwarf habit of tree, and like foliage. The fruit is large, what we saw, I might say, very large, but it was upon a young tree bearing one of its first crops. It is dark brownish red in colour, and a rich acid, which tones down but little except when over ripe. On account of its large size and good colour it sells in the Warsaw markets at one-fourth more than Ostheim. The tree is hardy, but not as hardy as Vladimir or Ostheim. Double Natte (Doppelte Natte) is another often recommended to us. It is, I think, of similar foliage, but not quite as hardy as some others, and yet reported hardy at Orel. Usually not a heavy bearer, but very delicate in flavour, and a great favourite with many. In central Russia we find many varieties superior in fruit, though not so hardy nor .such reliable bearers. At Tula, varieties known as the rose, white rose, dark rose, black and white Spanish are recommended ; and yet the query suggests itself whether they may .not have been planted on an incline and bent down as the Reine Claude plums are. At 226 Voronesh, many hav« been selected, but not under known names. Among them the Proseratchnaya Rosenia, a rosy cherry of transparent type, propagated by grafting. At Simbirsk we hear of a cherry almost black, and larger than Vladimir, known as Rodit- elskaya. At Khvalinsk, a cherry known as the Turkish, seemed hardy, and said to bear rery large fruit. Among the cherries grown in Russia, at Kursk and Voronesh, and southwards, we find trees whose foliage would appear to be crosses between the Griotte or sour cherry, and the Guigne or sweet cherry, of heart or bigarreau type. As a class they are not •qual in hardiness to Vladimir or Ostheim ; yet most valuable in climates of moderate severity. Of other German cherries, I would mention Szklanki, or Giaskische'doppette, a Polish seedling, said to be a hardy and good bearer, of fruit the size of Ostheim, and much like it in flavour, but red in colour, and with yellowish flesh. Leigel's Friih Weichel, a fair- sized tree of Ostheim foliage, dark purplish skin and flesh, and much of Ostheim character. The Kleparovska, another Polish cherry, from Gallicia, near Lemberg, has proved very hardy at Warsaw. Shatten Amarel, a large dark red cherry of mild flavour, and of Ostheim foliage. A short stalked Amarel, of which I cannot give the proper name, which is coming into great favour about Berlin and other places. Amarel Tardive, a weeping tree of Ostheim leaf, dark purplish red, and somewhat acid. Rose Oharmeux, a large, red, delicate, watery, mild flavoured fruit. Lutovka, a large, good, yellow fleshed, red cherry, and a hardy tree. In the German or Amana colonies on the Iowa River, in Johnson county, Iowa, colonies which moved to their present place from the State of New York, Mr. Budd tells me that there is grown in quantity, in each of their seven villages, a variety of the bird cherry, which bears young and abundantly a fruit which they value for cooking. It has thick, dark foliage, and pendulous branches, and does not sprout after it commences to bear heavily. The fruit is about as large as a good-sized black currant, with a stone no larger than an ordinary bird cherry. It is a pleasant acid, rather too acid to eat raw, but so valued for pies as to be grown largely. Dr. Hogg, also, mentions a variety of the native Cerasus vulgaris, under the name of Peramdam, which has been grown in one place in Lincolnshire for two hundred years or more. Dr. Hogg has himself a tree of it one hundred years old, and yet not more than seven feet high. A small round fruit, half an inch in diameter, pale red, and of agree- able lively acidity. Its hardiness, of course, I know nothing of. Our wild red cherry, or pigeon cherry (Primus Pennsylvania) , has been recommended as a stock for the cultivated cherry. If suitable, certainly no stock could be hardier or more readily procurable. Botanically, it is said, of all our native species, to be that most nearly related to the European cherry. We are greatly in need of a hardy, cheap stock. The experience of Mr. W. G. Waring, of Tyrone, Pa., as given in Report of Iowa Horticultural Society, 1880, is very encouraging. What I would urge in this matter is the introduction in quantity of the Vladimir and Ostheim into this country for extensive trial. 227 PLUMS. In all our most northern rambles in central Russia, we find the plum grown in fair- quantity, and supplying a certain amount to the local markets. In the severe climates of Moscow, Vladimir and Kazan, we find plums, and some of them are of really fine quality ; and we are told that in the village of Gorbatovka, forty miles from Nijni Novgorod, they are grown in large quantity for the Nijni and Moscow markets. These plums belong to a family more or less nearly related to the Quetche or Prune plums of Germany and Hungary. Like the Vladimir cherry, these northern forms of the plum are dwarf in habit of tree, often bushes, and this seems to be a provision of nature ; for, in these cold climates, if a plum bush is killed to the ground new shoots soon grow and bear. Of these plums there is great variety ; some are red, others yellow, but mostly blue ; they differ widely in flavour, some I would say, equal to Lombard, some are early, some late ; they are usually without any astringency of skin, and usually free stone. I was not pre- pared to find such plums in the cold climates of Eussia. The improved varieties of the wild plum of the north-western States, I had expected to be the future plums of the Province of Quebec. I have some of them, heavy and reliable bearers, but of medium quality only. There are much better varieties than those I have, for instance, the Desoto and others ; yet, these non-astringent, fleshy, free stone Russians, have a combination of good qualities which entitle them to extensive trial in our cold country. I would say, however, that they will prove as easy a prey to the curculio as other European kind^ while the North-West Chickasaw, though not too thick-skinned to prevent puncture, is, as Mr. Budd observes, so juicy, as usually to prevent the inserted eggs from hatching. These Russian plums are grown, no doubt, sometimes from stones, but usually from suckers. Most of the horticultural gardens or nurserymen have made small collections of the best they have found. By thus obtaining roots of tne best, from a number of points, we may, more or less, get the best of these Russian seedlings. One of the commonest in the northern markets is a long, dark, dull red, prune-shaped plum, tapering toward the stock, not rich, but non-astringent, and a really good cooking fruit. The Skorospelkaya Krasnaya, at Petrovskoe, is said to be about the best of these red kinds, and the tree one of the hardiest, but season a little later than some other red. Mr. Shroeder has six kinds he recommends, three of which we saw in fruit, but before they were ripe. The Volga valley, too, has its plentiful supply of plums. Especially at. Simbirsk, we find them in great quantity and variety. At Voronesh, Mr. Fischer specially recommends the Moldavka, a large violet plum, not to say juicy, but of medium quality, rather a large tree, grown from suckers, and found to be very productive ; I counted 150 plums on one branch. Here, too, we find the Yellow Egg, whether our old Yellow Egg or not I cannot say ; tree seemingly hardy, but either from want of proper ripening of wood, or from some other cause, not a good bearer. At Tula, we find quite a variety in the peasant orchards, and among them Reine Claude. Yes, in Russia, we find a family of Reine Claudes, red, white, and blue j and Mr. Lauche, in his Deutsche Pomologie, describes such varieties. They are of very fine quality, extra quality, but in the cold climate of Tula, they are planted at an angle of forty-five degrees or less, and bent down to the ground before the snow falls. Thus protected by a 228 covering of snow they often bear bountifully. When too old to bend down they are allowed to take their chances, often bear a crop or two and then die. A whitish plum, known as the white Hungarian, has also proved successful, as well as the white Otschakovskaya and the white Vengerka. At Orel, we find a collection of the best under names which mean large blue, large yellow, etc. At Kursk, we find the Heine Claudes planted more freely, but unless laid down, they are not reliable, though they may sometimes bear a good crop in the sheltered peasant gardens around Kursk. At Kiev, we find more of the German and French varieties, and, therefore, notes from that climate are less valuable to us. The Prunus Spinosa, of Russia, is very interesting, and quite common as far north as any other plum. The peasants always said it was not a plum, but called it by the Russian name for thorn. There is a large fruited variety of it, round, blue and really good for cooking, far better than our Canadian wild plum for that purpose. We saw it bearing heavily in many places. A dwarf variety of the Spinosa should be introduced into our gardens as an ornamental /curiosity. The fruit is quite small, blue, covered with a bright blue bloom. I have seen it for sale in the markets, but fear it would be very sour. The bushes are seldom more than three feet in height, and I have seen little round-headed bushes, not more than eighteen inches in height, loaded with lovely blue fruit. Strikingly curious and beautiful. APRICOTS. Let us add the Apricot to our list of hardy fruits as soon as possible. Mr. Maximowitch, Curator of Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg, who has spent many years botanizing that vast country eastward to the Amur, says that in Soongaria, in eastern Turkestan, at the eastern end of the Altai range, it is growing in quantity, and that the boars, and the bears, and the natives, fight it out as to who is to have the fruit. The fruit is small, that is, about one inch in diameter, but sweet, and pretty good. In the southern parts of the province of Mantchuria, there is, says Mr. Maximowitch, a variety of apricot different from those in cultivation. They do not thrive well near the coast, but in sheltered situations inland they grow in great quantity. They are really good, and are sold in quantity in the Pekin market. Could we not get the pits of this apricot expressed to us by our Consul at Pekin 1 Surely this might be done. CURRANTS. The Ribes Alpinuin of Siberia we tasted at Moscow. A fruit of ordinary size, a rich carmine in colour, and quite sweet, with a very slight bitter. Worthy of introduction. GRAPES. There are large vineyards on the Don, and in the Crimea, and in other parts of southern Russia, which we did not visit. Good wines are made in these vineyards, and the grapes sent to the northern markets are very fine and mostly of Chasselas type. The vines, however, have been imported from Germany. # MULBERRIES. We did not succeed in finding the Russian mulberry in the colder climates. At Voronesh, in the Botanic Gardens, we saw two varieties in bush form, one of which was like the Russian mulberry. M. Tartarica we saw in the Botanic Garden at Vienna, four- teen inches in diameter of trunk, and twenty-five feet high, showing that it attains to a good size 229 The Mennonites in Manitoba brought their mulberry from the shores of the Sea of Azof. They have grown it as a hedge plant, but it is not hardy there. In Cottonwood county, Minn., it has been planted in great quantity, and does well in that climate. Mr. Maximowitch says there is a hardy Mongolian variety, which, however, may be difficult to get. Mulberries are very plentiful in Amur, of good size, and of good quality, so Mr Faller, of Minneapolis, tells me. MELONS. Russia has long been celebrated for its melons. The best we saw belong to types we have not. Musk Melon. — In the markets we used to find a melon about fourteen inches long, netted, the flesh very deep, and a creamy white in colour, and of the highest quality. I call it a musk melon merely because I do not know what else to call it. Those who abstain from musk melon are not likely to object to these. Like the Khiva melons, which one of the Emperors of China always enquired about on the arrival of the caravans, this is a keeping melon, and may readily be kept till Christmas. It may be a little late in ripening. However, on September 2nd we found fine specimens in the Simbirsk market, said to be grown on the lower Volga, probably at Tsaritsim, Sarepta, or Astrachan. In the Kursk and Voronesh markets we also find them sent from the south. These melons are grown in Russia, where the summer is longer than ours, yet not with such hotbed care as we can give them, and they seem to be picked early. They cannot, therefore, be so very late. Next autumn will test their value in this climate. Water Melon. — Nearly every barge that is being towed up the Volga has somewhere a small deck load of water melons. In all the markets we find them in great quantity. They are a great staple article of food. They are all alike, round, about ten inches in diameter, a creamy white in colour, with red flesh, and of fine flavour. Those who have grown the Russian netted cucumber alongside of the finer English frame varieties, may have noticed the hardy take-care-of-itself character of the Russian plant. Just such a hardy nature I expect to find in this Russian water melon. It grows without care in vast quantity, apparently as readily as pumpkins do with us, that is at Saratof and south- wards. At Kursk and Voronesh it is not quite so large. It is a melon of fine quality likely to do well in the hands of not very careful cultivators. FINIS. Our journey to Russia has shown how necessary such a journey was. It has set us upon the right track, and will greatly hasten the introduction and dissemination of the best of the Russian fruits — a matter to which all our northern horticulturists were so eagerly looking. We have but broken ground ; the work will continue by importations, by correspondence, by the interchange of seeds and scions. It was so fortunate, too, that Mr. Budd was himself able to leave his college duties for so long a journey. Every useful point of knowledge gained will be utilized in Iowa. All promising varieties will be fairly tried in different localities, the most promising scattered broadcast as soon as possible. The other north-western States will soon take action in the matter. Ontario will do something especially for her colder districts. 16 [F. G.] 230 When will our own Province (Quebec) have a propagating centre, where the fruits adapted to each county may be propagated and distributed to each county, as prizes by the county agricultural societies. The action taken by our Provincial Government will be an accurate test of the interest taken by our Government in the people's welfare. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE CHARGED WITH THE OVERSIGHT OF FRUIT AND FOREST PLANTING AT THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, GUELPH. To the Honourable the Commissioner oj Agriculture : Sir, — The Committee of the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario, appointed to direct the operations in Horticulture and Forestry at the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, beg to submit the following report: — The past season has been a favourable one for the growth of newly planted trees, and these, as well as those planted in former years, have made good progress. Additional varieties of apple, pear, plum, cherry, grape, and small fruits, including many of the newer sorts of promise, were procured for the purpose of enlarging the plantations, and besides this the few vacancies have been filled. The orchard, vineyard and small fruit plantations are now so far completed that in future little more will be needed than the procuring of such of the newer varieties of fruit as may be likely to succeed ; and since horticulture is making very rapid progress, the addition of many trees and vines should be made annually, in order to keep pace with such desirable introductions. HARDY RUSSIAN FRUITS. Recognizing the importance of procuring fruits adapted to the colder regions of our Province, so that settlers there may avail themselves of the advantages of such introduction, we have placed ourselves in communication with horticulturists in several of the northern fruit-growing districts in Russia, and, with the aid of Mr. Charles Gibb, of Abbottsford, P.Q., and Prof. Budd, of Iowa, who have recently explored those regions, we have been enabled to make selections, and have ordered many varieties of apple, pear, plum, and cherry, which promise to be much hardier than any of those we now have in cultivation. We confidently expect that these hardy sorts will succeed in Muskoka, Algoma, and other northern districts in this Province, and thereby the comforts of the settlers in those districts will be increased ; and with the introduction of such suitable fruits, the attractive- ness of these localities for settlement will be greatly increased, and the value of the lands enhanced. These fruits will be grown on the College farm, and propagated there, so that they may be available for planting in those districts to which reference has been made. EXPERIENCE OF THE PAST SEASON. The fruit and ornamental trees, vines, and shrubs, endured the winter well, and have made a good growth this year. The raspberries, currants, and gooseberries yielded a good crop of fruit, but the strawberries, although at first promising, were considerably injured by late spring frosts, and the anticipated yield considerably lessened both in quantity and quality. The grape vines have made a good growth, and have now become so well estab- lished that they will require to be trellised before another season. ARBORETUM. The plan of the grounds recently adopted, and in accordance with which work was commenced a year ago has been carried out, and the work partially completed. The roads 231 in front of the buildings have nearly all been laid out and constructed, the grounds graded and in part seeded down and planted ; but much still remains to be done. It is purposed to continue this work in the spring, seed down as much as possible, and do all that we can in the way of permanent planting in the arboretum. According to this plan the trees, shrubs, etc., will be grouped in families, which will afford the best means of readily giving such instruction to the students as they need in arboriculture, and as each specimen will be properly labelled, the collection will also be a source of information to every visitor. We have already provided a large collection which is now growing upon the grounds, and which will be used for this purpose • we also hope to obtain many additional varieties from, year to year, and thus in time make the collection as complete as possible. NURSERY. A piece of ground has been appropriated for the purpose of a nursery, in which several specimen hedges have been planted, where young trees, taken from the seed beds of the past two years are being grown, and will soon be ready for planting for forest or ornamental purposes. FOREST CLUMPS. The several forest clumps planted for experimental and ornamental purposes are doing well, several of them having made excellent growth. The vacancies in the clump of European larch have been filled, and the newly planted trees have rooted nicely, and made fair progress. GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. The building of the greenhouse, conservatory, and propagating houses, which we had hoped to see completed during the past year, and which are so much needed in order to provide facilties for the education of the pupils in botany and horticulture and to propagate material for adorning and beautifying the grounds, has been unavoidably delayed. The appropriation for the purpose was found to be insufficient to complete the work, and hence it was thought best to postpone it for another season, when it is hoped that the grant will be increased so as to admit of the building and finishing of these struc- tures in accordance with the admirable plans which have been prepared and adopted. D. W. Beadle, Wm. Saunders. 232 Mean Temperature for the Winter and Summer quarters for several stations in Quebec, Manitoba, and N.-W. T., with the average highest and lowest tempera- tures at the same stations. STATIONS. Quebec Chicoutimi Cape Rosier Anticosti, S. W. P. Father Point Cranbourne Dalhousie, N. B . . . Wmnipeg Rapid City Poplar Heights Stony Mountain . . . Gimli Minnedosa Fort Macleod j Fort Calgary Swan River Fort Walsh Kalmar, Keewatin Mean Temperature. Winter. Temp. 15.9 11.9 14.5 17.0 15.5 15.6 13.3 2.0 5.6 6.1 6.5 2.3 4.3 26.2 12.9 —7.2 i 6.7 —0.6 +4.7 —0.6 —1.0 —0.6 —0.6 —3.0 —4.9 —4.9 + 1.0 + 0.6 —4.5 —4.3 + 3.9 -2.8 Summer. Temp. 60.8 55.2 56.9 54.9 59.2 55.6 60.7 62.2 61.5 61.5 58.9 58.6 62.0 53.4 58.2 56.0 61.4 -0.3 -1.9 -0.3 -0.4 -0.3 -0.3 + 0.3 —0.5 -0.5 + 0.5 —1.1 -0.1 + 0.4 + 0.4 + 0.4 —0.7 Extremes (average). Highest in Summer. 89.7 96.3 74.0 71.0 80.3 90.0 92.2 91.2 88.7 89.9 85.5 86.5 108.0 93.0 92.0 92.0 90.0 Lowest in Winter. -22.9 -32.2 -15.0 -14.6 -23.8 -27.8 -20.5 -41.7 -41.7 -40.8 -42.4 -54.4 -39.0 -24.0 -41.0 -47.0 63.0 The figures in columns A and A' represent a correction which should be applied to the given mean for the station to reduce it to the mean of a larger number of years, and is derived from the observations at Quebec and Winnipeg respectively. 233 FOBESTRY. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO ATTEND THE AMERI- CAN FORESTRY CONGRESS AT ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA. To the Honourable the Commissioner of Agriculture : — Dear Sir, — The committee appointed by you to represent the Province of Ontario at the meeting of the American Forestry Congress, held in St. Paul, August 8th to 10th, 1883, beg to submit the following report : — We reached St. Paul on the morning of the 8th of August in good time to partici- pate in the proceedings of the opening meeting, which was well attended by representa- tive men from all parts of the United States. The sessions were held in the spacious hall of the House of Representatives at the capitol. The meeting was called to order by the Hon. George B. Loring, President of the Congress, at ten o'clock a.m. Upon motion of F. P. Baker, of Kansas, a resolution was passed for the appoint- ment of a committee upon the order of business, to consist of three persons appointed by the chair. Mr. F. P. Baker, Mr. G. W. Minier and Hon. H. G. Joly, were appointed as this committee. Hon. H. G. Joly moved a resolution, which was adopted, as follows : — " Resolved^ That a committee be appointed with instructions to draft resolutions con- cerning the great loss suffered by the American Forestry Congress by the death of Dr. J. A. Warder, one of its vice-presidents, since its last meeting." The Chair appointed Hon. H. G. Joly, Dr. F. B. Hough, and Rev. N. H. Egleston, as this committee. Upon motion of Rev. N. H. Egleston, a resolution was offered, expressing the re- grets of the Congress upon the death of the Hon. Leonard B. Hodges, of St. Paul ; and upon motion of Mr. G. W. Minier, the name of the late Arthur Bryant, Senr., of Princeton, 111., was included. It being suggested that there might be other names worthy of mention, the resolution was further amended and passed, instructing the committee above named, to include such as they might deem worthy, and instructing the secretary to transmit certified copies of these resolutions to the families of the deceased persons. Mr. R. W. Furnas, of Nebraska, offered the following resolution : — Resolved, That Article VI. of the Constitution be amended by inserting the word " president," so that it should read as follows : — " Art. VI. The president, vice-presidents, secretaries, and treasurer, shall consti- tute an executive committee, for the transaction of such business as may be required by the Constitution, or by a vote of the Congress." 234 This resolution having been adopted, another was offered by Mr. Furnas, to further amend by striking out the words " the close of," from Article XII. of the Constitution, so that it should read as follows : — " Art. XII. At each annual meeting there shall be an election of officers for the ensuing year," etc. This being adopted, Mr. J. S. Hicks, of New York, moved a resolution directing the appointment of five persons in addition to those appointed by the Constitution, to serve as an executive committee ; which was adopted. Mr. J. G. Knapp, of Florida, offered a resolution for the appointment of a temporary treasurer, in the absence of Dr. Charles Mohr, the treasurer, which was adopted, and Mr. J. Fletcher Williams, of Saint Paul, was appointed. Mr. R. W. Furnas offered a resolution, which was adopted, directing the president to appoint a committee of three upon organization ; whereupon Mr. Furnas, of Nebraska \ Mr. B. G. Northop, of Connecticut j and Mr. J. H. Morgan, of Ontario, were appointed. Mr. Baker, from the committee on order of business, reported the following rules for the prese'nt session, which were adopted : — "1. That until all work be disposed of , the Forestry Congress meet every day at ten in the forenoon, two in the afternoon, and half-past seven in the evening. " 2. That all the papers prepared by members present be read according to the alphabetical order of the writers' names. " 3. That the titles of the papers sent by absent members be read, and that on mo- tion of any member, the Congress will decide whether such paper be read at length or not. " 4. After the reading of each paper, the subject matter will be open to discussion, no member being permitted to occupy the attention of the Congress more than ten minutes. "5. That privilege be granted to this committee to make any further report, should it be deemed necessary." Upon motion, offered by the Rev. N. H. Egleston, and adopted, the chair was di- rected to appoint a committee to report upon the best methods of Tree Planting ; where- upon the Rev. N. H. Egleston, of D. C. ; Mr. George W. Wright, of Iowa, and Prof. W. B. Lazenby, of Ohio, were appointed. The following named persons were then elected members of the Forestry Congress, upon recommendation of two members, viz. : — J. H. Morgan, of Amherstburg, Ontario. Edward Daniels (Curator Acad. Science), of Saint Paul, Minn. B. G. Northop, of Clinton, Conn. George H. Wright, of Sioux City, Iowa. J. Fletcher Williams, of Saint Paul, Minn. F. P. Baker, of Topeka, Kansas. Warren Higley, of Cincinnati, Ohio. William R. Marshall, of Saint Paul, Minn. Dr. J. H. Bryant, of Saint Paul, Minn. Eugene Seeger, of Saint Paul, Minn. Ferdinand Harrsen, of Saint Paul, Minn. J. L. Budd, of Ames, Iowa. The hour of twelve meridian having arrived, the Congress took a recess until two o'clock p.m. 235 Afternoon Session, August 8th. The hour of two o'clock having arrived, the President took the chair, and announced the presence of Gen. George L. Becker, of Saint Paul, President of the Minnesota State Forestry Association, who addressed the Congress with a speech of welcome, on behalf of the Association, as follows : — president becker's address. Mr. President, Gentlemen of the American Forestry Congress : — It is both a pleasure and a privilege to address such a body of men as is assembled here to-day. You are on the border of these great boundless plains stretching, as our great American poet has said : — " In airy undulations far away, As if the ocean, in its gentlest swell Stood still, with all its rounded billows, Fixed and motionless for ever." They are the plains and the prairies which were known to our old geographers, and familiar to the most of us in our boyhood days, as " the Great American desert." We have lived to see stretched out on every side over them the iron rail, and the mighty electric wire ; and we see these plains becoming covered by a large population who are constantly developing the fact that they are rich in all that adds to the dignity and the comfort of man. When I first came to Minnesota I started out with this proposition : that God had never made such a country as this without providing everything necessary for the use of the human family, and I argued from that, that sooner or later we would find our deposits of coal here for our use. After thirty years we haven't found the coal. I am still a believer in the proposition that I then maintained ; but whether we are to discover our means of lighting and heating this vast territory in the unknown powers which yet lie undeveloped in the electric force, or in the decomposition of gases in the air we breathe, or by the more laborious process of tree planting, I am unable to say ; but that the means are here ready at our hand when we discover them, I haven't the slightest doubt at all. The Minnesota State Forestry Association has been in existence a number of years. It is not large in numbers ; not influential in its members. It has been teach- ing the A B C of forestry literature to our people, just as the schoolmaster teaches the schoolboy. To begin with, we had to encounter unbelief, ignorance and prejudice. The average settler of the prairie did not believe that trees would grow there. He thought that if trees had been intended to grow there they would be there, and it seemed almost like flying in the face of Providence to think of planting trees on the prairies. But a little leaven has leavened the whole loaf, and I believe that the settler who plants him- self upon the prairie without contemplating a tree plantation that will grow, is the ex- ception rather than the rule. There is one earnest man whom we miss to-day. He whose life was devoted to this work is dead. He died in the early spring, in the midst of his great purpose of planting trees along the line of the Northern Pacific. I refer to Mr. Leonard B. Hodges, our late Secretary. He was the author of our pamphlet of which we have published several editions — the Tree Planting Manual. He was an honest man, a good citizen and a true friend, and he gave an impetus to tree planting which all other forces combined never gave to tree planting in this State. He was himself a learned and practical tree planter. Better than any man I ever knew, he illustrated the truth that, " Vast and sudden deeds of violence, Adventures wild, and wonders of the moment, — , These are not they which generate The calm and blissful and enduring mighty." His body lies in a beautiful cemetery near our town. His monument, more enduring 236 than brass and harder than marble, is in the long lines of trees which line the railroads of this State and the groves that dot our prairies ; and they will tell for generations to come of his practical and patient labours. I need not say to you, gentlemen, that we shall be glad to listen to your discussions. We shall study them with great care, and we shall hope to derive from them great inspiration and wisdom for the future. At the conclusion of his address he introduced to the meeting the Governor of Min- nesota, Governor Hubbard, who welcomed the Congress in the following terms : — Gentlemen of the American Forestry Association : — I extend to you a hearty welcome to our State. I assure you, gentlemen, that you have come among a, people who appreciate the great importance of the interest in whose behalf you are labouring, and who wish to aid you by their efforts, as well as to profit themselves thereby. It is most appropriate that Minnesota should be selected for the place of your meeting at this time. Our people for several years past have given much at- tention to the subject of tree culture, and the prairies of one State to-day bear witness of what may be accomplished by an earnest and systematic effort to perpetuate and preserve the growth of our forest trees. The encouragement given by legislation, national and State, to the promotion of timber culture, supplemented by the intelligent action of your body, and of our State Association, has made forestry a prominent feature in the agricultural industries of the west, and has made habitable and indeed hospitable many otherwise dreary and desolate wastes. Your efforts, gentlemen, are entitled to cordial recognition. Your work is a great public benefaction. The people of the North- West, and of Minne- sota especially, as I have said, realize the value of the interest you are seeking to pro- mote, and they bid you, gentlemen, a most cordial welcome to our State, whose broad area already illustrates the great good you are doing. To this welcome President Loring replied : — I am sure I express the sentiment which animates you, when I say that the cordial welcome we have received here is grateful to this Congress. I am sure no State in this Union could have been more appropriate than^this in which wejmeet, for the consideration of one of the most important subjects that can be brought before the minds of those who are interested in the prosperity and industry of the United States — the care and preserva- tion of the forests to which Minnesota has given such careful and accurate attention, both by her Forestry Association on the one hand, and by her State deliberators and members of Congress on the other. The discussions were then opened by the reading of the President's annual address, which will be found to be full of valuable information. PRESIDENT LORING'S ADDRESS. Gentlemen, — When I had the honour of addressing an assembly of those interested in promoting the cultivation and preservation of forests in this country, and in ornament- ing our cities and towns by the planting of trees in their parks and along the highways, now a year ago, I dwelt largely on the value and importance of providing in every way for the gratification of our refined tastes and for increasing the popular sense of beauty. I did this as preliminary to the more practical work which called that assembly together, and as an appeal to the strongest motive man has to engage in the business of providing for his wants and surrounding himself with the comforts and luxuries which prosperity secures. At this time I propose' to confine myself strictly to the condition of forests in this country, and to such suggestions as may occur to me with regard to their increase, preservation, and economical use. And first as to the increase of our forests. In this work both nature and art are engaged. The "forests primeval" meet man wherever he advances to the occupation of new lands best adapted to feed and clothe him, and best fitted for agricultural labour and production. His primary work is to remove this great vegetable growth, whosexondition indicates the quality of the soil he proposes to cultivate. If he pauses in his work the 237 forests return to their accustomed place. In the older States many acres which half a century ago were used for pasturage or tillage are now covered with forest growths, and many timber lands which have once supplied the forest products are now hastening to supply a new crop. The acreage of woodland is undoubtedly increasing in those sections where farming has become unprofitable either through the exhaustion of the soil or through a change in the locality and demands of the markets. In the strictly lumbering States this is also true. While the deserted, remote, and mountain farms in Massachu- setts are rapidly " growing up to wood," the woodlands of Maine and Michigan and many another lumbering State are growing a new crop, which in a quarter of a century will be more valuable than the original growth, although much reduced in size. The young pine and spruce forests of the north, covering acres of land once occupied by their sturdy progeni- tors, are full of promise and beauty. In other sections of the country, lands, which have for ages been bare of trees while exposed to annual prairie fires, and under the protection of man, producing rapid growths of wood. As the settler guards his fields against fires and cattle, trees spring up, and especially along the water-courses may be seen forest belts where an entire absence of trees had been the law for many generations of men. Wher- ever the land is protected, therefore, whether it be the location of old forests, or bare spots adapted to tree-growing where the forests have been hitherto unknown, nature is busily engaged in producing wood, and in bringing back the forest growth which welcomes advancing man as he goes on in his work of civilization. In addition to this natural increase, much has been done in many of the States in tree-planting, and much more ought to be done. The establishment of " arbor days " and the inducements held out by legislation have operated very favourably on the work of what is called village improvement, and on an agricultural attention to the cultivation of trees as a crop. And this business has increased with very considerable rapidity in some of our best farming States. In Minnesota, for instance, the number of acres planted on " arbor day" in 1878 was 811 ; in 1882 the number was 1,184 ; and the whole number of acres planted increased from 18,029 in 1878, to 38,458 in 1882. Work similar to this is done in Iowa, Nebraska, and Dakota, as well as in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Kansas. In Nebraska, the number of acres of cultivated woodland has reached 107,438, as against 19,695 acres of natural increase. These are small beginnings, it is true, but they are en- titled to our most careful consideration as the commencement of an enterprise which, when properly conducted, will undoubtedly constitute an important branch of American agriculture. Tree-culture ought now to receive our most careful attention. It is time that the skill which has been applied to the cultivation of our great cereal crops, to cotton, rice, tobacco, and all the profitable products of the soil, such as grass, and vegetables, and fruits of every description, should be applied also to the growing of wood as a farm product. To the choice of forest trees adapted to each locality ; to the selection of land which can most properly be devoted to trees, considering its fitness or unfitness for any other crop on account of quality and situation, whether near to or remote from farm buildings, whether useful or not for pasturage and tillage ; to the best methods of cultivation, whether by seeding or planting from nurseries ; to the best method of securing a speedy return — to all these points the attention of practical and investigating farmers should be carefully and systematically turned. The profit of the crop can, I presume, be no longer questioned. Waste lands enclosed and left to nature have produced in wood a very large return for the investment. Why should not land subjected to the well-directed art of the cultivator produce just as good a result % For the purpose of encouraging this enterprise it is important that Government should lend its aid in every legitimate way until the wood crop is recognized exactly as are the great staple crops of the country. If a bounty is legitimate and useful in any case, it certainly would be in this. The protection against lawless invasion thrown around our grain fields and gardens should also be extended to our woodlands, protection against depredation, wanton fires, and stray cattle. The rifling of a forest should be as penal an offence as the rifling of an orchard. Over forest-covered public lands and over forest plantations, against the careless destruction of the settler on the one, and the trespass of the outlaw on the other, should the strong arm of the law be constantly and vigourously extended, 238 THE VALUE OF THE INDUSTRY. In order that I may impress upon yon the value of this industry I will ask your at- tention to its extent in our country, which covers such a vast area. I do this in order to impress upon your minds not only the value but the great importance of husbanding our resources in this direction in view of the constantly increasing demand for our forest pro- ducts in all their variety. The forest lands of the United States amount to less than one-fourth of the entire area. The proportion of wooded area is less than in eastern, northern, and central Europe, and is very unequally distributed. Norway has two- thirds of its area wooded, Sweden six-tenths, Russia nearly one-third, and Germany nearly one-fourth. The countries having less forest areas, arranged in order of proportion, from eighteen down to five per cent., are Belgium, France, Switzerland, Sardinia, Naples, Holland, Spain, Denmark, Great Britain, and Portugal. Originally the southern, middle and eastern States were entirely wooded, except a large portion of Texas, and a few small prairies in the south-west. Small areas of moun- tain glades among the Alleghenies might also be excepted. Ohio and eastern and south- ern Indiana were wooded, and the northern portions of the lake States. West of the line of prairies running south-west through Indiana, Illinois, Mis- souri, to the Indian territory, the central prairies, the drier plains, and much of the southern belt of the Pacific slope are destitute of wood. The streams in all the great region are more or less fringed with trees of some sort, and the higher mountains on the protected sides have a thin covering of forest. In the deep valleys of the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas are forests of extraordinary density filled with soft-wooded evergreen trees of enormous size, the wonder and admiration of the practical woodman. Here the Sequoia gigantea, or big tree, flourishes in isolated patches, while the coast range is the home of the Sequoia semper vir ens, or redwood. From North Carolina to Louisiana nearly six-tenths of the farm area is wooded, though much of the area thinly, and part of it has been culled and is in second growth. Including unoccupied areas, not in farms, which are in forest, something like three-fourths of the entire south is wooded. There are counties in the south that were ten years ago almost unbroken forest. More than nine-tenths of the area of Brunswick, North Carolina, were then wooded, and almost as large a proportion of Beaufort, Craven, Onslow, New Hanover, and Bladen. A similar preponderance obtained in Williamsburg, Georgetown, and Lexington, in South Carolina ; and in Camden, Charlton, Clinch, and others in Georgia. In all of the gulf States such districts were found. Less than two per cent, of Newton County, in eastern Texas, was cleared. To-day the proportion of woodland is but little less. On the farm areas of Georgia the percentage of forests has increased from fifty-five to fifty-nine on account of taking two or three millions of primitive forests into the farm area. In Florida, from the same cause, it has increased from sixty to sixty- six per cent. The de- cline has been from sixty-one to fifty-eight in Mississippi ; from fifty-seven to fifty-five in Louisiana. It has increased from forty-two to forty-four in Texas ; and nearly one hundred counties show from ten to eighty per cent in wood. The, wealth of the forest growth is scarcely appreciated in large districts of the south. There are districts where clearings are yet made yearly by girdling the trees in the summer for planting among the boles standing bare and blackened. Every winter a log-rolling disposes of the trunks that fall, until decay and fire have cleared the field. And it is not long since a sprink- ling of black walnut rails could be seen in the worm fences which still surround the fields of corn and cotton, and probably a few can yet be found. Comparing the census returns of 1870 and 1880 we find a decrease of woodlands in farm areas in Michigan from forty-one to thirty-two per cent ; in Minnesota from twenty- one to fifteen, and in Iowa from sixteen to eleven per cent. In Nebraska tree-planting has changed the record from three to ten per cent. From the increase of farms in the wooded area Wisconsin has thirty-one instead of twenty-nine per cent. The comparison is thus tabulated : 239 States. Michigan . . Wisconsin . Minnesota. . Iowa Nebraska . . Totals Acres in farms. 1880. Acres in woodland. Per cent, of farm lands. I 13,807,240 | 4,452,265 15,353,118 I 4,768,046 j 13,403,019 2,030,726 \ 24,752,700 2,755,290 9,944,826 321566 77,260,903 14,327, 32 31 15 11 3 18 Acres in farms. 1870. Acres in woodland. 10,019,142 11,715,321 6,483,828 15,541,793 2,073,781 45,833,865 Per cent, of farm lands. 4,080,146 3,437,442 1,336,299 2,524,793 213,374 11,592,054 41 29 21 16 10 25 The belt including latitudes 37° to 41° through which runs the Ohio River extended westward across the Mississippi River, shows a decrease from 34 to 26 per cent, ; greatest in Ohio and Indiana, as follows : 1880. 1870. States. Acres in farms. Acres in woodland. Per cent, of farm lands. Acres in Acres in farms. woodland. Per cent, of farm lands. Kentucky . Ohio 21,495,240 24,529,226 20,420,983 31,673,645 27,879,276 21,417,468 10,106,072 5,982,507 5,935,308 4,935,575 10,137,790 991,187 47 24 29 16 36 5 18,660,106 21,712,420 18,119,648 25,882,861 21,707,220 ' 5,656,879 9,134,658 6,883,575 7,189,334 5,061,578 8,965,229 635,419 49 32 Indiana 40 Illinois 20 Missouri 41 Kansas 11 * Totals 147,415,838 38,088,439 26 111,739,134 37,869,793 34 In the eastern section, Maine shows an increase from new farms in Aroostook county and other northern counties, but it has been denuded of heavy timber and left for new growths, and therefore makes a deceptive showing. New York shows a decrease from 26 to 22 per cent., and Pennsylvania from 32 to 29, as follows : States. 1880. Acres in farms. Maine 6,552,578 New Hampshire 3,721,173 Vermont ... 4,882,588 New York | 23,780,754 Pennsylvania 19,791,341 Totals. 58,728,434 Acres in woodland. 2,682,296 1,296,529 1,503,467 5,195,795 5,810,331 16,488,418 Per cent, of farm lands. 41 35 31 22 29 28 1870. Acres in farms. 5,838,058 3,605,994 4,528,804 22,190,810 17,994,200 Acres in woodland. 54,157,866 2,224,740 1,047,090 1,386,934 5,679,870 5,740,864 16,079,498 Per cent, of farm lands. 150 240 Taking the States by groups the inequality of forest distribution is strikingly shown. The following statement divides the woodlands reported on farm areas as follows. : States. Acres in farms. Acres in woodlands. Per cent. of farm land. New England Middle 21,483,772 47,592,113 90,117,393 112,004,983 137,473,231 97,397,289 21,339,316 8,673,738 7,315,730 11,993,317 49,339,653 59,078,032 42,360,123 16,236,559 3,115,924 816,406 34 25 South Atlantic 55 53 Ohio Valley and Lake . 31 Trans- Mississippi , 17 Pacific .... 15 Rocky Mountain , 9 Totals 536,081,835 190,255,744 35 CHANGES BY YEARS. The following tables give a list of the States showing changes of ten years, both in farm and woodland areas : States and Territories. Acres of woodland. Per cent, of farm lands. Maine ,...., 2,682.296 1,296,569. 1,503,467 1,004,099 182,666 646,673 41 New Hampshire 35 Vermont ... 31 Massachusetts 30 Rhode Island 35 Connecticut , , 26 * New England ..,,,,,, 7,315,730 34 New York .... 5,195,795 708,092 5,810,331 279,099 22 New Jersey 24 Pennsylvania „ 29 Delaware 26 Middle 11,993,317 25 1,634,019 9,126,601 13,868,086 7,255,121 15,269,225 2,186,601 32 Virginia ...-. 46 62 54 59 Florida 66 South Atlantic 49,339,653 55 10,430,727 9,144,323 4,557,332 15,851,365 7,861,409 11,232,876 55 58 Louisiana 55 44 65 54 Gulf and Southern , 59,078,032 53 6,180,350 10,106,072 5,982,507 4,452,265 5,935,308 4,935,575 4,768,046 61 47 Ohio 24 Michigan 32 29 16 31 Ohio Valley and Lake 42,360,123 31 241 States and Teekitories. Aares of woodland. Per cent, of farm lands. 2,030,726 2,755,290 10,137,790 991,187 321,566 15 11 36 Kansas 5 3 16,236,559 17 44,117 13,399 80,264 11,892 3,678 219,224 2,305 437,696 510 3,321 4 10 2 4 1 35 , 0-4 31 0-4 18 New Mexico Rocky Mountain .'. , 816,466 9 California 1,672,810 1,424,417 18,697 10 34 4 Nevada .' Pacific Coast , 3,115,924 190,255,744 15 United States , 35 Of the value and importance of the forests covering these areas let me say : Next to the white pine of the northern forests, the most valuable tree is undoubtedly the Pinus australis, or long-leafed pine of the southern coast lands, forming a belt of varying breadth, up to 100 and 150 miles from the Atlantic and Gulf shores. It is the Georgia pine of builders, preferred for flooring and heavy frame-work, and is still found in pristine vigour and abundance over a large area from Norfolk to Galveston. These pine lands are now eagerly sought for by American and English capitalists, are rapidly taken up for manufacturing operations or on speculative account, and are rising in value. They have been held for many years by the general government at prices ranging from 12 J cents to $1.25 per acre, the former being for lands that had been opened to market for a certain period. This is the turpentine pine of North Carolina, where the business of distilling turpentine and making tar and resin has long been profitable. It is also carried on, though in isolated enterprises, in other portions of this coast belt. TURPENTINE PINE. The products of the year ending April, 1880, are thus estimated by Mr. A. H. Van Bokkelen : States. Turpentine. Resin. North Carolina , Gallons. 6,279,200 4,593,200 3,151,500 1,036,350 2,005,000 250,000 250,000 Barrels. 663,907 South Carolina ..... .... 333,940 Georgia .... 277,500 Florida 68,281 158,482 20,000 20,000 Alabama Mississippi Louisiana . Total United States . . . 17,560,300 1,542,110 The Southern pine will come into still greater prominence as railroad and steamboat lines extend facilities for transportation, which is now being done with great rapidity. 242 THE SUPPLY OF PINE. The condition of the pine-lumber supply of the United States in connection with the statements I have made is interesting. The destruction of this tree by fire and the axe of the settler and lumberman is very great. Together with the spruce it is being rapidly consumed, and I think the following figures will show that the supply is to be obtained hereafter by allowing an exhausted region time to recuperate, while the comparatively uncut sections are resorted to for filling the demands of the market. Investigations recently made show that the supply of pine in New Hampshire and Yermont is exhausted, and that the spruce lumber, at the rate the cutting is now going on, will last in the former State but seven years, and in the latter but four. In the State of Maine the pine will last four years and spruce fifteen years. In South Carolina the pine forests will last fifty years at the present rate of cutting; in California, 150 years; in Arkansas, 300 years; in Pennsylvania, fifteen years; in Georgia, eighty years; in Louisiana, 100 years; in North Carolina, fifty years ; in Wisconsin, twenty years ; in Michigan, ten years ; in Minnesota, ten years; in Mississippi, 150 years; in Alabama, ninety years; in Florida, thirty years; in Texas, 250 years. That the exhausted forests in this list of States can be restored in time there is no doubt ; and every means of cultivation and protection should be applied by the people and the Government, both State and Federal, each in accordance with its own j urisdiction. FEARS OF A TIMBER FAMINE UNFOUNDED. We should not forget, however, that while the demand for timber is imperative and increasing with increase of population, requiring the fostering care of the Government and the enlightened enterprise of timber-growers in promoting the progress of forest culture, there may be danger of assuming too hastily a prospective timber famine, and fabulous prices for fuel, even with the foregoing striking estimates before us. It should be remembered that thus far the exhaustion of lumber relates mainly to the white pine. It may be found, when the great pineries shall be cut over, that the out- come is greater than was assumed, and that isolated patches of pine in mixed forests, and the second growths and remnants from first cuttings, may suffice to delay the threat- ened famine. The black walnut, culled from western forests to meet a limited though important demand, is really becoming scarce on the northern, side of the Ohio valley ; but on the southern, along the foot-hills and in the valleys of the Appalachian range, it is abundant and almost untouched. It grows rapidly in the western States even beyond the Mis- souri, and it is destined to be the source of wealth to the future tree-grower. The millions of acres of existing forests on this great eastern chain of mountains have not yet been considered in the statistics of forestry here presented. Their resources have never been measured, are yet comparatively unknown, and almost untouched by the axe of the woodman. As railroads penetrate these mountain fastnesses in the Virginias, the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee, bonanzas of forest production will respond to the call of enterprise, and enrich the proprietor woodsman and manufacturer. In addition to this, the white pine of Minnesota is estimated at 6,100,000,000 feet exclusive of isolated timber in birch lands and amidst other hard-wood growth. In Michigan the estimates for the lower peninsula cover 7,000,000,000 feet in the Saginaw district ; 8,000,000,000 on the streams flowing into Lake Huron, and 14,000,000,000 on those flowing into Lake Michigan. The upper peninsula contains 6,000,000,000 more, making 35,000,000,000 feet in the principal pine districts of Michigan. The great pine forests of Wisconsin are estimated to contain 41,000,000,000 feet of lumber, the largest proportion in the Chippewa and Wisconsin districts. They cover an area of 22,500,000 acres. The northern border of the pine area is less productive than the areas of lower latitudes. The cedar swamps of Wisconsin scattered through the pine belt are estimated to cover 1,365,000 acres, and to contain 62,800,000 posts, telegraph poles, and railroad ties. There are also large supplies of tamarack, and spruce, and valuable oak timber, especially in Dunn, Pierce, and Saint Croix counties, and other hard woods are abundant through the southern border of the wooded districts. 243 The united area of the States south of Maryland and the Ohio river is more than 500,000,000 acres containing nearly 400,000,000 acres of forest lands. The farm area of these States is 228,000,000 acres, containing 123,000,000 acres of woodland. Denude any portion of this forest surface, and trees spring up spontaneously and grow rapidly. There are millions of acres of young forests in the South in which the corn-hills are almost as prominent as when the waving corn occupied the surface. Nature abhors a vacuum of broom-sedge, the first growth of abandoned fields, and speedily replaces it with a forest of pines. Intelligent landowners of this region have estimated an average growth of a cord of wood per acre each year, or twenty cords of wood per acre in twenty years. Is there immediate danger then of scarcity of fuel in a country where more than two- thirds of the entire area is wooded ■ and when nature is so kind and so prolific in forest farms, cannot the supplementary hand of man aid in providing even a sufficiency of tim- ber for the wants of coming generations 1 PRESERVATION OF FORESTS. But notwithstanding this somewhat encouraging view, much remains to be done for the preservation of our forests. The waste by careless cutting, by fires, by settlers clear- ing the land for agricultural purposes, is enormous. Thus far this has not been checked to any great degree. Local and federal legislation, diffusion of knowledge, the manifest destruction of valuable property have not yet been able to bring the forests within the pale of well-protected possessions under the law. Often has the remedy been pronounced by those who have devoted their lives to the study of this industry, and often have laws been passed which seemed to afford a remedy for the existing evil. But still the work of destruction goes on. It now remains, as it seems to me, for the public mind to be brought to a true understanding of the value of the property itself, and of the disaster which would attend its destruction. That protection can be secured in the States by associations like this, by practical men engaged in planting trees and preserving their woodlands, by bounties for successful tree-culture, by the distribution broadcast of bulle- tins and pamphlets, there can be no doubt. On the best method of legislation it is not easy to decide. Bounties based on exemption from taxation have not had the desired effect, the tree-planting having served more as a mode of evading taxation than as a means of developing an industry under the stimulus of protection. And of one county in Iowa it is said " the experience of the board of supervisors justifies them in the opinion that forest culture in our county would advance as rapidly without as with the exemption laws." On the other hand the State auditor declares that : — " There can be no question but that this law of our State has greatly stimulated the planting of forest trees and orchards too ; " and that " if advantage could be taken of its popularity by inducing planters to set out a better class of trees, such as ash, walnut, etc., more good would thereby be accomplished." Connecticut, Dakota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and other States, have all passed Acts encouraging tree-planting, either by bounty or exemption. Encouragement has also been largely offered by agricultural associations in most of the States, and great attention has been given to the proper selection of trees for each locality. The introduction of new varieties of forest trees has been carefully considered also ; and the habits of trees, native and foreign, have been made matters of the most diligent study, both by those who are governed by scientific zeal and those who are engaged in developing a practical industry. Of the efforts of the Federal Goverment to preserve and develop the forests on the public lands of the United States much has been said. THE TIMBER CULTURE ACT, On the working of the Timber Culture Act it is unnecessary for me to dwell. But I think I can, with profit, submit some suggestions, made by the Land Office, with regard to " timber depredations " and the laws to prevent them. On this point the Land Com- missioner, in his report of 1882, says : " While much has been accomplished in the direction of suppressing the unlawful cutting and removing of timbers from the public lands, I am of the opinion that bet- 244 ter results can be obtained in the future ; particularly so if some general and compre- hensive law could be passed, clearly denning who may take timber from the public lands, the purposes for which it may be cut and removed, and prescribing the punish- ment for unlawfully cutting, removing or in any way wantonly destroying or injuring any timber growing, or being upon any of the public lands, or in any way causing or in- citing such trespass. Such law should also establish the terms and conditions upon which any compromise or settlement should be authorized. A law of this nature would be more generally understood and comprehended than the several different enactments relating to this subject now in force, and could be more easily and evenly administered." This is recommended because it is difficult to get competent and reliable special tim- ber agents under the existing laws, and because the offences are committed too often under cover of the homestead entries fraudulently made for the purpose of securing the tim- ber on the lands. I think the difficulty in this matter lies in the fact that no value, is set upon the timber itself as a piece of Government property. It has been assumed that Government does not desire to make the timber a source of revenue or profit, and that in the survey of lands no discrimination should be made on the score of existing resources. This policy may be wise and necessary, but it is not thrifty. Early in the history of the Government public lands were sold, as in the case of the sale to the Ohio Company in 1787, for the purpose of replenshing the public treasury. And while Congress has. exer- cised great liberality in the donation of lands for various enterprises, still the fact remains that this landed possession is of greal financial importance. The time is gone by when the standing timber of the country, either on public or private domain, can be considered an obstruction to be removed by the axe and fire to make way for crops of another des- cription. There is a value attached to it equal to that of any crop known — a value which should in some way be considered in the transfer of public lands to settlers and purchasers. Whenever in any way a recognized value is attached to the timber itself, be it large or small, its protection and preservation by the Government becomes a natural consequence, and wanton destruction by the axe and fires may be prevented. Government now offers a bounty for planting trees by its timber act, and makes no adequate provision for the preservation of the valuable forests standing on unoccupied lands. It seems as if this case might be met by some form of legislation. The Timber Culture Act was passed March 3, 1873, amended March 13, 1874, and again June 14, 1878, since which date 75,045 entries have been made, of the aggregate of 93,246, since the first passage of the Act. The area covered by these entries is 13,677,146 acres, of which 4,890,802 are in Dakota, 3,594,775 in Kansas, and 2,338,155 in Ne- braska. In 1882 the entries amounted to 2,566,686 acres, more than half of which were in Dakota. The distribution of the aggregate entries is as follows : States and Territories. Entries. Acres. 88 3 1,245 1,101 31,178 1,089 640 24,854 28 10,866 497 16,463 30 87 1,570 137 3,332 37 • 11,866.08 231.92 168,413.53 153,373.87 4,890,802.15 141,903.25 55,151.51 3,594,775.49 3,417.85 1,510,382.56 63,273.25 2,338,155.60 4,120.00 11,619.13 232, 954. 8& Utah , 16,144.59 Washington 476,841.52 40.00 3,679.21 ^(CHVBt Totals 93,246 13,677,146.37 245 THE NECESSITY OF PRESERVING AND REPLANTING FORESTS. In the report of R W. Phipps, Esq., of Toronto, on "The necessity of preserving and replanting forests," I find a sketch of forests and their management in other coun- tries, to which I call your attention as one of the most comprehensive statements we have on this subject. His sketch, which is here abridged, is taken from an extensive re- port of Captain Walker, a gentleman who passed nine months on the continent, by direc- tion of the English Government for that purpose. From Mr. Phipps I learn that in Hanover there are 900,000 acres of forest, under Government or State management, belonging to the church and to municipal- ities. The care and working of these forests costs about $650,000 annually. The re- ceipts therefrom are $1,500,000, and the profit is about $850,000, about $1.50 per acre per annum. The officers in charge are a forest director, an over-forest master, 20 forest masters, 112 over-foresters having charge of districts of seven or eight thousand acres each, 403 assistant foresters. A systematic plan for the management of the forest is adopted. After a forest has, by thinning, planting, and so forth, been gradually got into per- fect order, the system of natural reproduction forms a great part of the German method. It is as follows : — The rotation and periods are fixed in the working plan. For beech it is, in Han- over, 1 20 years, divided into six periods of twenty years each, that is to say, when the for- est has been brought into order there should be nearly equal areas under crop of trees in each of the six periods, from one year to twenty, from twenty to forty, and so on. When a block arrives in the last period, felling is commenced by what is called a preparatory clearing, followed by a "clearing for light" in the first year after seed has fallen, with the object of (1) preparing the ground for the seed, (2) allowing it to germinate, (3) af- fording light to the young seedlings. If there is a good seed year and sufficient rain, the ground should be covered with seedlings in two or three years after the first clearing ; but it is better generally to wait for a second year, and aid nature by hand-sowing, transplanting from patches of many to barer spots, and turning up the turf to give the seeds a better chance of germinating. When the ground is well covered, the old trees are felled and carefully removed, so as to do as little damage as possible to the new crop, and the block recommences life, so to speak, nothing further being done till the first thinning. The time allowed between the first and final clearing, is from eight to fifteen years. * * * In these forests can be seen all the periods of growth — nurseries and schools for seedlings. In Prussia there are twenty millions of acres of forests, ten millions of which are private, and the remainder, with which we have more to do, state, communial, and ecclesiastical. Of these the income is $14,000,000, and the expenses $7,500,000, leavino- $6,500,000 clear. The forests in Prussia as in Hanover form part of the finance depart- ment, and are presided over by an overland forest-master and ministerial director, aided by a revenue councillor and joint ministerial director, and a numerous council or board. There are two forest academies, one near Berlin and one in Hanover. There are twelve provinces in Prussia, divided into thirty circles, each having an over- forest master. These represent the forest department in local administrations, which as a board represents the forest interest in the government. In order to be a forest-master, the lowest of the gazetted appointments, five years without pay are required to be given in study, with but meagre pay when employed, yet candidates are numerous. In some provinces the Prussian Government has certain rights concerning the man- agement of private forests j in others, none. In Saxony the state forests are nearly 400,000 acres, worked at an expense of $500,000, receiving $1,750,000, leaving a clear rental of $3 per acre. The expenditure is planting, draining, roads, improvement of inferior woods, felling, transport, killing insects, etc. About 5,000 are planted yearly, at an average cost of $7.50 per acre. The official establishment resembles that of Hanover. There is a forest academy at Tharandt with a separate staff of professors. 17 [F. G.] 246 In Bavaria the state forests cover 3,000,000 acres. They return, after paying all expenses, about $1.50 per acre per annum. About 30,000 are planted or sown annually, taking 35,000,000 plants and 1,000,000 pounds of seed. Persons found guilty of breach of forest rules have been punished by enforced labour in the woods. Private forest rights are being bought up by the government. The system of management is much the same as that previously described. In Austria the state forests have been largely sold to meet state necessities, but there still remain nearly 2,000,000 productive acres, which yield, however, after expenses are paid little over twenty -five cents per acre. The existing establishments of forestry are not uni- form, but there are about 1,200 employes, of whom twenty-two are forest-masters. Scien- tific forestry is not so far advanced here as in Germany, but officials are busily introducing a reorganization, by means of which, there is no doubt, it will be on a par with other states. The Austrian crown forests have been neglected. There has been till now no attempt at rotation of blocks, or working in periods. The present director is trying hard to change matters for the better. He is planting up many bare or ill-covered tracts, where natural reproduction is impossible, owing to the absence of standard trees. In the Grand Duchy of Baden there is a most interesting private forest belonging to the Prince of Furstenburgh, in the Black Forest. There are about 72,000 acres in charge of eighteen foresters and over-foresters, who have many subordinates. The administration of the forests in France is entrusted to the ministry of finance, and the head of the department is the director-general, assisted by two administrators, one charged with the management of the forests and the sale of the products, the other with the police of the forests and the forest laws. The forests under the management of the bureau (state or commerce) are about 7,500,000 acres. Also, there are in France 15,000,000 acres of private forests. The sawmills in the forests are usually owned by the government, and hired at a certain rate to the wood merchants, who buy the cuttings. The school of forestry at Nancy is said to be one of the best in the world. The French Government have, at great expense, replanted vast and almost barren districts ; they have also established great forests along the sea shore where formerly the sand threatened to destroy whole departments, and have averted the evil. In Russia, the government own about 330,000,000 acres of woods, and other parties 150,000,000. About forty per cent, of the country (Russia in Europe) is timbered. The immense government woods have been placed under the care of the minister of public domains, who has a director of the forest department ; and the organization of the service is very complete. Two special schools of agriculture and forestry have been established ; one at St. Petersburg, and one near Moscow. Italy has over 5,000,000 acres of communal forests, over 6,000,000 of private for- ests, and only 500,000 acres of state forests. One-fifth of the land is in forest. In Switzerland, the waste of forests has been more rapid and destructive than any other country in Europe, and in none, perhaps, has this been followed by more disastrous results. Public attention has, however, been thoroughly awakened, and active measures are in progress to remedy, as far as may be, these evils. The cantons which have charge of these operations have for some time at great expense, been constructing works to control the streams, and planting trees wherever practicable. The description of the forests in the British Isles, as given by Captain Walker, from whom Mr. Phipps obtained his facts, is most interesting, and shows, as do those to which I have already referred, that the business of forestry is entitled to the most careful con- sideration of states and individuals. VARIETY AND AGE. In the practical work of planting forest trees there would seem to be a propriety in following the example of nature and giving variety, mixing trees of early maturity with those of great longevity, that the former may be cut when the great size of the latter should command an ampler space. Thus after the usual consecutive thinning for hoop-poles, fence posts, railroad ties, or other purposes, the mature trees of the genus of least lon- gevity could be taken out, leaving the veterans of the plantation to mature their more valuable crop of heavy timber. 247 In this connection the consideration of the proper age for cutting with profit is ^ im- portant. Mr. Michie reports his recent observation of a plantation in Great Britain sixty -five years old, partly cut down, in which eighty-five per cent of a growth of mixed hard woods was deceased from over ripeness. The plantation should have been cut at fifty years. The proprietor all this time was losing a part of the value of his wood, and losing the growth of fifteen years of young trees. He cites an example of a ash growth the root cuts of which were "tough as whalebone" at fifty-five years, while at seventy- five all toughness had disappeared, and more than half its value lost. It should have been cut down and replanted at the age first named. The ash should have a clean and straight stem, and be cut while yet in rapid growth and full vitality. In England, the larch, ash, and poplar are ripe at fifty to sixty years, while the oaks planted among them may continue to grow one hundred to one hundred and fifty years, and a second crop of the earlier maturing species be matured among the oaks. Mr. Michie places the mature age of the elm at eighty to one hundred years. METEOROLOGICAL INFLUENCES. The influence of forests on rainfall has been so frequently and exhaustively dis cussed that little of value can here be added. From ten thousand observations made in Parana the mean annual temperature of the forest soil was found to be 21° lower than in the open field, and the mean annual temperature of the atmosphere of the forest 10° lower than in the open field. Relative moisture was found to be six per cent, greater than in the open field, nine per cent, in summer and five in the other seasons. In the mountain regions the difference was greater than at lower elevations. It is not necessary to assume that forests induce a heavier rainfall, or even to show that they influence locally the distribution of rain, to prove their beneficence in regulat- ing the moisture available for the use of agriculture. The foliage of forests resists the violence of storms, breaks the force of the rainfall which percolates through the covering of leaves and moss, and is absorbed by the humus beneath to be given out by the slow process of retarded evaporation, the surplus finding its way to the springs deep in the earth. In an open field the storm beats with unbroken violence upon a surface impacted and hardened under the rays of the sun, fails to penetrate the soil, and rushes on in tur- bid streams down the slopes to swell the brooks and rivers, and instead of refreshing the earth scarifying and wasting it. The world is full of examples of once verdant and productive areas which have become burned and blackened deserts. The gradual desiccation of the once green and productive islands of the West Indies, Santa Cruz and Saint Thomas, which has been progressive for many years, is the result of the destruction of primitive forests. The little island of Curacoa, where rich plantations, beautiful villas, and terraced gardens have given place to aridity and desolation, because of the export of its valuable timber, is a striking illustration of the changes wrought by forest destruction. The entire coast of the Mediterranean, once the garden of the world, has been blighted into comparative barrenness by the denudation of the forest areas. A portion of this territory, the Karst region of southern Austria, bordering on the Adriatic, has been the scene of extensive reafforesting work by the Austrian Government. Centuries ago it was covered with magnificent oak forests, and furnished piles and ship-building timber to Venice during her brilliant maritime career. So dense was the forest upon the Istrian coast that a squirrel could traverse it for miles on the branches of the trees. It was plundered systematically by Venetian spoilers, till the whole region was reduced to barrenness and poverty. For a score of miles north of Trieste the soil itself was washed away by the floods after the exportation of timber had been followed by relentless fires, leaving the bare rock in rugged masses as the sole covering of the surface. The work of restoration, commenced nearly twenty years ago, was one of exceeding difficulty. Exposure to sun and rain had exhausted the fertility of any remaining forest humus ; the underlying masses of chalk were seamed and honeycombed with cavities requiring a mixture of underlying clay to sprout either grass-seed or tree-seed. Millions of trees were annually supplied by the Government nurseries of Austrain pine, ash, larch, and other varieties, 248 and year after year the slow and patient effort has been continued with results that pro- mise the ultimate renovation of a vast area of several hundred thousand trees, though the blasted district is yet a scene of comparative desolation, requiring millions of treasure and years of patient labour to restore a tithe of its profusion of forest wealth. The productive capacity of the United States is due not alone to the great fertility of its central areas but, in a large measure, to the amount and reasonable distribution of the rainfall. The lower latitudes, the Southern States, where high temperatures prevail and evaporation is greatest, have a rainfall of forty, fifty and sixty inches annually, with a liberal distribution through the summer months. The lake region and the Ohio basin have less, yet a good supply, suited to more temperate conditions, a lower temperature and less evaporation. Yet the droughts that occasionally prevail, and which are most severe on the borders of the wooded belt, as in Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinios,. should admonish us to avail ourselves of the local benefits of forests in the equalization and conservation of the rainfall actually received. Some of the States have less than the rule of the Duke of Burgundy requires : " One-third to the hunter, two-thirds to the husbandman." The rule of William Penn, one acre in woods for five acres cleared for agricultural lands, exclusive of the wooded hills and mountain forests, was not materially less. Yet Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut in New England have less than a third of the farm lands in forest j New York, twenty -two per cent. ; New Jersey, twenty-four ; Pennsylvania, twenty -nine ; Delaware, twenty-six ; Ohio but twenty-four per cent. • Michigan, thirty-two ; Indiana, twenty-nine ; Illinois, sixteen. These are originally wooded States, except a part of Indiana and Illinois. The necessity of a careful and accurate cultivation and restoration of our forests is now recognized by all. For three-quarters of a century we have been busily engaged in the business of lumbering ; the time has now come when we must turn our attention to the business of forestry. The great wood crop, which nature lavished on our ancestors, has been so diligently gathered that all our ingenuity will be taxed to continue the necessary supply for the growing wants of a rapidly increasing population. It is to this point that this Association should especially turn its attention. It is to this point that I have directed the work of the Forestry Division in the United States Department of Agriculture for the development of the forest industry of this country. Mr. Joly, from the committee appointed upon resolutions concerning deceased mem- bers, then offered the following resolutions : — " Resolved, That the American Forestry Congress has Suffered an irreparable loss by the untimely death of one of its Vice-Presidents, Dr. J. A. Warder. " Resolved, That while Dr. Warder has endeared himself, by his genial and hearty manners, to all those who have had the privilege of knowing him personally, he has at the same time gained their admiration by the untiring energy and great talent with which he has advocated for so many years past, the cause of Forestry. " Resolved* That the loss of such an earnest and devoted man can be considered as a public loss, and that, while his colleagues lament it as such, they feel at the same time, what a void it must have left in his home circle, and deeply sympathize with his family. " Resolved, That the Recording Secretary of the Forestry Congress be requested to send a copy of the foregoing resolutions to Dr. Warder's family." Also the following resolutions, from the same committee : — " Resolved, That the Forestry Congress desires to express its sense of loss on the death of Hon. L. B. Hodges, of this city. Mr. Hodges had been known for many years, not only as one greatly interested in the subject of forestry, but as one who, by his earnest activity, had done much to interest others in the subject. He was the pioneer in the forestry movement in the State of Minnesota. He was also one of the first to pro- pose and aid in the organization 'of the Minnesota Forestry Association. By his writ- ings, and his practical exemplifications of tree planting, he had become a recognized authority on the subject both in this country and in Europe. His death was a loss to 249 the country at large, but his labours in behalf of Forestry will speak for him, and bear good fruit, after his personal labours were brought to an end. "Resolved, That the Recording Secretary be directed to send a copy of the above resolution to the family of Mr. Hodges." Also the following resolutions, from the same committee : " Resolved, That this Congress feels it to be a duty it owes to men who, like the late Arthur Bryant, have forethought to discern, and courage to express their convictions on the conservation of our forests, — to express regret for their death, and while we feel that men of his age have done their work, we nevertheless deplore the vacancy in our ranks. " Resolved, That the Recording Secretary be instructed to send a copy of the above resolution to the family of Mr. Arthur Bryant." Remarks upon the above resolutions having been made by Mr. Geo. W. Minier, of 111. ; the Hon. J. B. Grinnell, of Iowa ; Hon. W. Higley, of Ohio ; Prof. Daniels, of Minn. ; Ex-Go v. Marshall, of Minn. ; Hon. Ignatius Donnelly, of Minn., and Mr. D. W. Beadle, of Ontario, the resolutions were passed by a rising vote. Mr. Baker, from the committee on Order of Business, made the following supple- mentary report, which was adopted : — •* 1. That all committees appointed at the Montreal meeting be requested to report at the opening of the morning session, on Thursday. " 2. That immediately after the reports of the above committees, Judge Higley present his report on the State Association of Ohio, and then, that F. B. Hough, of New York, make such statement as he desires on the steps which have been taken toward organizing a State Association in that State, " Reports of committees : — Mr. B. G. Northrop presented the following resolution, which was adopted : — " Resolved, That the TJ. S. Commissioner of Agriculture be requested to call a meet- ing of the representatives of associations and institutions interested in Forestry, at the Department of Agriculture, during the ensuing winter." Dr. Hough offered the following resolution, which was adopted : " Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed by the Chair to prepare the form of a certificate of membership, and a device for a seal for the American Forestry Congress." Dr. Hough, Prof. Leue, and Prof. Northrop, were appointed as this committee. Mr. Elizur Wright, of Mass., presented the following resolution, which was adopted : " Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed by the Chair to consider and report upon the probable effects that will ensue, should the plans proposed for damming the upper waters of the Mississippi, for the creation of reservoirs, be carried into effect." Mr. Elizur Wright, of Mass. ; Gen. Geo. L. Becker, of Minn., and Hon. J. B. Grin- nell, of Iowa, were appointed. Mr. Fern as, from the Committee on Organization, reported the following list of officers for the coming year, which report was adopted : — For President, Geo. B. Loring, of Massachusetts. " 1st Vice-President, H. G. Joly, of Quebec. " 2nd Vice-President, Geo. L. Becker, of Minnesota. " Recording Sec'y., N. H. Egleston, of Dist. Columbia. " Corresponding Sec'y., B. E. Fernow, of Pennsylvania. " Treasurer, Charles Mohr, of Alabama. Executive Committee. — B. G. Northrop, of Connecticut ; Warren Higley, of Ohio ; J. G. Knapp, of Florida j J. S. Hicks, of New York ; J. L. Budd, of Iowa. The hour for recess having arrived, Mr, Baker announced the order of business for the evening session, and the Congress adjourned till 7.30 p. m. 250 Evening Session, August 8th. The hour for meeting having arrived, the President called the house to order, and requested Vice-President Joly to assume the chair. Mr. D. C. Burson, of Topeka, Kan., read the following paper : — FOREST TREE PLANTING AS AN INVESTMENT. More able tongues have talked ; more gifted minds have thought ; more ready pens have written upon the great future necessities of forest tree planting. But all the talking thinking and writing, have so far availed comparatively little. Why is it 1 Because too many look upon it as an act of benevolence, thinking they must metamorphose themselves into a philanthropist before they can set out a grove of forest trees. While a few per- chance, will set it out with a feeling of pride ; while others may do it for honour or fame. But is benevolence, philanthropy, pride, honour or fame, the motive power that impels the progressive car in this the nineteenth century % N o ! It is money, — the love of money, or the anticipation of money. Then let us consider tree planting in its true light ; a light that will illumine the mind of every American citizen. The light of money making. Yes ! if we do that, we strike the keynote, whose music will vibrate throughout the length and breadth of our western plains. Our capitalists, east, west, north or south, all invest their money for the purpose of increase ; their sole object is to accumulate. Our merchants do not invest their money in drygoods and groceries, and work and worry over their business for the sole purpose of accommodating their friends and neighbours with the necessaries of life. The capitalist does not invest in bank or railroad stock with the spirit or feeling of a philanthropist. Vanderbilt, Garret, or Gould does not extend rail- roads over our plains, or along our valleys, for the purpose of assisting the poor granger to get his few bushels of corn or wheat to market. The millionaire who has his palatial mansion, and is enjoying all the comforts of life, does not invest his surplus capital in corner lots, fine dwellings or massive blocks, for the purpose of beautifying the city or giving his poor neighbour a home. We do not invest in electric lights or telephone stocks to make the blind see, or the deaf hear. But in each and everyone of these investments, the one great object is to make money. Then if this is the motive power in everything that is progressive, it is folly to look at tree planting in any other light. And in that light alone ; yes in that electrofying light, we shall for a few minutes consider tree planting. For we think without being in the least egotistical, we have the power to show that forest tree planting will make a safer investment, and bring in larger and more satisfactory returns than any other business that man can embark in. But in this enter- prise you cannot sow and reap the same year ; you sow in your prime, and reap in your decline, and to the benefit of your children who follow after. And to illustrate this point and to show it in the most practical light, we will take a kind and thoughtful parent ; who has a bright and promising son of five summers, in whom he takes a great interest, and wishes to see comfortably started in business when he attains the age of twenty-one. Having five thousand dollars which he wishes him to have at that time — sixteen years hence — and wishing it to increase as fast as possible in that time, he very naturally asks himself, " how shall I invest it so that it will not only be safe but increase in the greatest ratio 1 " Government bonds are safe ; but then the interest is so very small that his capital would only increase about three thousand dollars in the sixteen years, even at compound interest. He next investigates a real estate mortgage bearing six per cent, interest. In this he finds his capital would only be about ten thousand when he wants to use it, but the father being desirous of a large increase, looks beyond bonds and mortgages, and beholds the treeless plains of the great west, which is fast settling up by the industrious emigrant ; he sees that building material, especially fence posts and rail- road ties are in great demand, and that demand is fast increasing, while the material is decreasing in an equal if not a greater ratio. He beholds a glorious future for the tree planter, his mind is now fully made up ; he will invest his five thousand dollars in western lands and forest trees. He selects forty acres of good tillable land, for which he pays. 251 eight hundred dollars ; and encloses it with a good substantial fence, for which he pays two hundred dollars more, leaving four thousand dollars of the capital yet uninvested. He now puts the entire forty acres under a good state of cultivation, preparatory to setting out in forest trees. He is somewhat at a loss to know what species of trees to plant, but he decides that it must either be, Catalpa, white Ash, Russian Mulbury or black Walnut, but as his land is situated south of forty-four degrees north latitude, and fence posts and railroad ties being in the greatest demand and the most profitable of any wood he can raise ; and the Catalpa having no superior for that purpose, (the timber lasting a century) and being a hardy tree and a fast grower, he decides that that shall be the tree. By adopting the usual plan of setting four by four feet each way, it will require twenty-seven hundred trees per acre, or one hundred and eight thousand to set the forty acres. He finds that to prepare the ground, buy or raise the trees, set them out and cultivate as long as they require any attention, it will cost about one hundred dollars per acre, or the remaining four thousand dollars. He has now the entire capital invested. Let us look for the returns. The weeds and grass being kept down, he will let nature take her course, do her own trimming and pruning until they are eight years old. Of course the results are only imaginary, based upon the knowledge and experience of others, but we propose to be very liberal in our estimates. We will in the first place calculate on a loss of twenty- five per cent., that is we will suppose that by the extreme changes of climate, twenty- eight thousand have either died or been so stunted as to be worthless, which leave just eighty thousand good thrifty trees eight years old. It now becomes necessary to remove one-half of them, or forty thousand. Each tree making at least one good fence post. A Catalpa post, even an inferior one will always bring a good price, say twenty-five to thirty-five cents, but we will put them down at twenty cents each ; calculating that the remaining timber of the trees being utilized for fire wood, will pay for cutting and removing the posts. We now have forty thousand posts at twenty cents each, making a total of eight thousand dollars. The remainder of the trees are left standing eight years longer or until the son attains his majority, and is ready to start in business. The father puts the axe-men at work to remove them and convert them into ready cash. We of course have again to let imagination, experience, and precedent do the calculations. We cannot take isolated cases and make comparison or we will estimate too largely, for we have heard of Catalpas sixteen years old, being twelve to fourteen inches in diameter, which would make two or three railroad ties, or ten or twelve fence posts, but as we would sooner be below than above, we will say that there can be realized on an average four good posts per tree, or one hundred and sixty thousand posts, which at twenty cents each, would amount to thirty-two thousand dollars ; added to what we have from the first thinning we have a grand total of forty thousand dollars, or over forty per cent, per annum for the entire time. Now I know that these results look incredulous, especially to a person who has never given the subject any thought ; but the experience of many under the sound of my voice to-day will bear me witness in these statements, and claim that even greater results can be attained, while others who have been reared in the woods, cradled in a sugar trough, and, per chance, housed in a hollow tree, and spent the prime of their lives in cutting and burning valuable timber with no conception of its value, may say that twenty cents for a fence post is an enormous price, and the average farmer cannot afford to buy them. Well for the benefit of that class, let us make a large reduction and put a Catalpa post that will last a hundred years at the same price of a Cottonwood that will not last two years — ten cents each — and yet we have twenty thousand dollars, or about twenty per cent, per annum, two or three times as much as could be realized in bonds or mortgages. But it is unnecessary to make any such reduction. Ten millions of Catalpa fence posts could be sold in Kansas to-day at twenty-five cents each, and as many railroad ties at double the price of an oak. In making the above calculations, we have said nothing about the land after the timber had been removed, neither have we said anything about taxes, so we will allow one to offset the other. We have also confined ourselves to dollars and cents, and said nothing about the pleasure and comfort derived from shade and windbreaks. But the mission of this article 252 is not to picture the beauties and pleasures of forest groves, or to calculate the untold value it sustains to fruit orchard, grain field, or pasture lots, but it is to show just how many dollars and cents can be realized in a certain number of years, by raising timber for commercial purposes. Discussion followed, in which the following persons participated viz. : — Mr. Sue! Foster, Prof. Northrop, Mr. Burson, Mr. Minier, Prof. Lazenby, Dr. Hough, Mr. Hicks, Mr. Thayne, and Mr. Deam. Prof. Adolph Leu£, of Cincinnati, O., read the following paper : — FORESTRY EXPERIMENTAL STATIONS. Forestry is both a science and an art. As an art it embraces the methods of plant- ing, sowing, cultivating and managing forests for profits ; this may conveniently be called practical forestry. As a science it investigates the principles upon which practical forestry is or should be based, and this may in contrast to the former be termed scientific forestry. Practical and scientific forestry are however inseparable and must go hand in hand, unless the former become a mere drudgery and the latter an abstract science. This conception of forestry makes a simultaneous development of both practice and theory imperative. Now, it is a fact that under the existing circumstances in this country the nearest future of our forests will depend upon our farmers, who almost exclusively constitute the owners of property that is available for forest culture. In order, therefore, to make a development of this kind possible, either our farmers must be educated in science, or our scientists must become farmers. This, however, is impracticable, if not impossible. Of this problem but one solution seems possible. As practical and scientific forestry, so the farmer and scientists must join hands. As soon as the farmers of our land begin to take an interest in the endeavours of forestry associations and scientists in the actual work of planting, cultivating and managing forests, we may hope for a system of forestry that shall be worthy of the name and reflect credit upon American foresters. When that system is fully developed we shall have a thorough knowledge of forest botany, or the natural history of all forest trees that grow or may be grown in our land, and of all other plants that are either injurious to the growth of forest trees or that are of economic value to forests ; we shall be well acquainted with forest zoology or the natural history of all the species of the animal world which are either injurious or bene- ficial to forest and forest trees ; we shall understand the true nature of the forest soil, i.e., we shall know what may and what may not be grown on a given soil ; we shall know which are the best methods of cultivating and managing forests in the way most profitable ; we shall have a minute knowledge of forest usufruct, i.e., we shall be able to tell the various uses of all the different forest products and how to obtain them ; we shall be informed as to the influence of forests upon climate in the widest sense of the word, and know in what ratio the forest should stand to cleared lands. An examination in each and all of these points, profitable as it might be, would, I fear, not be very agreeable. Let us, therefore, make no further inquiries as to what we ought to know, but consider the means of developing that system. One of the most conspicuous tendencies of advancing civilization is to place the various mechanical arts upon a scientific basis. The beneficial influence of this tendency is most strikingly seen in the history of the development of agriculture. From the earliest time upwards to the beginning of the present century, it was a mere empirical art, resting solely upon the traditional maxims of experience, without any visible signs of progress whatever. But when in the first part of the present century Liebig and others subjected those ancient maxims of experience to a series of scientific investigations, a new era began to dawn upon this most important occupation of mankind. Since then such investigations have been carried on in schools of agriculture, which have been 253 founded in all civilized countries, and have reached the highest point of perfection in the agricultural experiment stations. The results are most gratifying ; for by means of these scientific investigations and systematic experiments agriculture has been elevated to the dignity of an exact science. This hasty glance at the history of the development of agriculture plainly indicates the course to be pursued in the attempt to raise forestry, the younger sister of agricul- ture, to the same dignity. A very successful beginning has already been made in Ger- many and Austria, where the idea of forestal experiment stations originated. The great importance which the governments of those countries attach to these stations is seen from the fact that Germany alone expends about $30,000 annually for the main- tainance of the same ; and from the other that their number has been at a steady increase. Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and even Russia, are following the examples of Germany and Austria. After this brief consideration of what should be done and of what is being done abroad, the question naturally arises : What are we doing in this matter, and what are we going to do % There has certainly been no want of agitation on this subject, for the establishment of forestal experiment stations in this country has been talked of at different times and places ; resolutions have been passed by societies of various descriptions, but to no effect. Such resolutions addressed to the Congress of the United States or to the General Assembly of the individual States, will, I greatly fear, be of no use, unless we accompany such resolutions with a practical plan upon which such stations may be organized. A resolution, accompanied by such a plan, has some chance of receiving a favourable recog- nition. If this plan, in addition to its being practical, should have the advantage of in- volving no great expenses, a favourable action on the part of our legislative powers may confidently be expected. A still better course of proceeding seems to be, not to wait for legislative action, but simply to adopt that plan and then carry it into effect. This, gentlemen, has been the Ohio way of doing, for it may not be generally known that the establishment of a Forestal Experiment Station in Ohio has been resolved upon. A detailed history of the development of Forestal Experiment Station in Ohio does not come within the narrow frame of this discourse, but briefly told it is this : A plan on which such station might be organized was proposed in a meeting of the Ohio State For- estry Association, held in the early part of last May, discussed in several meetings, found practical, and adopted July 21st. The object of this Forestal Experiment Station in Ohio is the development of a system of forestry adapted to the wants of Ohio. The station shall consist of a centre and an unlimited number of primary and second- ary stations. The centre of this station shall be the Ohio State Forestry Association, which shall appoint a director whose duty shall be — (1.) To preside at all the meetings of the Committee on Forestal Experiment Station. (2.) To ascertain the wants of forestry in Ohio and to institute the necessary experi- ments and investigations ; in this he shall consult with the committee. (3.) To prepare plans of experimenting and to devise formulas for recording the work performed at the primary stations. (4.) To represent the Ohio Forestal Experiment Station both at home and abroad. (5.) To attend to all the correspondence connected with the station. (6.) To report to the Ohio State Forestry Association at each annual meeting in January the work performed at the station, and to give an account of the money ex- pended in experimenting and investigation, and of all other expenses of the station. (7.) To keep the society informed of the progress of experimental foresty elsewhere. (8.) To submit at the annual meeting an estimate of the probable expenses of the station for the ensuing year. The 'primary stations shall consist of at least three acres of ground each, which shall be devoted to experimenting ; and the experiments on the same shall be made according to a definite plan, agreed upon by the committee on Forestal Experiment Scation. 254 The secondary station shall be dovoted to general investigations ; such as analysis of soil, the study of forest botany and forest zoology, testing the vitality of seeds of forest trees, determining the comparative value of forest products, such as tanbark, charcoal, etc., testing the adaptability of wood for mechanical and technical purposes. The director of the Forestal Experiment Station, the superintendents of the primary stations and all having a secondary station, shall constitute the committee on Forestal Experiment Stations. This committee shall meet at least once a year. Each primary and each secondary station that may be adapted for forestal meteorologi- cal observations shall be provided with the necessary instruments for such observations. The Ohio State Forestry Association shall appoint a finance committee, of which the director of the station shall be a member. How can this plan be carried into successful operation ? is the next important question. The nearest future of our forests depends, as t have already stated, upon our farmers, who almost exclusively constitute the owners of property that is available for forest culture. They are, therefore, the first to reap the benefit of a rational system of forestry ; are thus directly interested in Forestal Experimental Stations, and should on that account do their part to make the enterprise a success. By direct inquiry it has been ascertained that there is a sufficient interest amongst our rural population to en- courage the Ohio State Forestry Association in its endeavours. We already have the promise of four of our most intelligent and well-known farmers and arboriculturists that they are ready and willing to devote any reasonable amount of land for experimenting in forestry and to carry out the experiments. Ohioans, as a rule, are not slow to discern what may prove to them an advantage. The performing of an experiment is to him who undertakes it, an excellent school of forestry, which not only charges no tuition, but rewards him with at least a nucleus of a forest, which will greatly enhance the value of his farm. We do, therefore, not anticipate any difficulties in our endeavour to dot the whole State of Ohio with primary stations. It is, however, not only the farmer who will be benefited by our experimental station ; the followers of the mechanic arts are interested in more than one way. (1.) An abundance of forests and a cheap method of raising them will have material effect upon the prices of the raw forest products, which in many instances almost entirely constitute the material upon which such industry depends. (2.) One of the objects of the Forestal Experimental Stations is to find new uses for the various forest products, and new forest products for certain purposes. It is, therefore, to their own advantage if these several industries aid the association to make this department of the station a success. The fact that we have the promise of one secondary station, with fair prospects of more, assures us of success in the me- chanical division of our station. We have had some grave apprehensions as to the scientific department, which, as we proceed, will be made to consist of a chemical, a physical, a botanical and a zoological division. But there seems to be no reason why we should entertain any fears whatever. We ask scientists to aid us, and as a recompense we offer the material for researches, and to publish the result of such investigations. We also contemplate to offer prizes for certain investigations. As our great object is to hasten the development of a system of forestry adapted to the wants of Ohio, we justly demand that our primary stations be located within the boundaries of that State. The secondary stations, however, which are of general inter- est, may be located anywhere in the United States, in Canada, or even in Europe, if it should be of advantage. We contemplate to commence this work as an association, not because we believe it to be the best or only course, for we are persuaded that as this is pre-eminently a sub- ject of general interest, it is the duty of the State to institute and to carry out such experiments, but we intend to take the initiative, because we feel the great need of such an institution, and because we desire to illustrate the practical working of the same. Such station or stations may be established as separate State institutions, and superin- tended or directed by a State forester or commissioner of forestry, or they may be at- tached to agricultural colleges as a special institution. 255 "Whatever may be said against this plan of organizing forestal experiment stations, let it be remembered that it may, and indeed will, be perfected as we proceed to carry it into operation. With its defects it has some advantages which may thus be summed up:— (1.) It is adapted to our circumstances. (2.) It is exceedingly simple. (3.) It enables us to perform the experiments where they are most needed. (4.) It gives us the very best force that can possibly be obtained for primary as well as secondary stations. (5.) It is cheaper than anything of the kind that has yet been proposed. (6.) It fills all the demands that can reasonably be made on a station. (7.) It is a plan that makes a simultaneous development of scientific and practical forestry possible. Discussion followed, in which the Rev. Mr. Egleston, Mr. Minier, Mr. Higley, Dr. Hough, Prof. Lazenby, Prof. Leue, Prof. Northrop, and Commissioner Loring, participated. Dr. Franklin B. Hough, of Lowville, N.Y., read the following paper : — FORESTRY EDUCATION. By T. B. Hough, Ph.D. Using the term " education " in its broadest sense, as the imparting of knowledge in any mode or form, and assuming that knowledge is indispensable to success in any pursuit in life, we may be allowed to consider some of the means by which instruction can best be given in matters relating to forestry, in order to secure the greatest advantages to the greatest number who may have occasion and opportunity to apply this knowledge. The special schools of forestry in Europe are, in gome instances, elementary, and almost wholly practical in their character, and are intended for no higher purpose than to prepare young men to serve as foremen of working parties, and as forest guards. They are expected to know when the work entrusted to their care is well done ; to see that there is no needless waste of material or of time ; and if the work is done by a contractor, but subject to their inspection, they are expected to know whether the terms of the con- tract are faithfully observed. They must be taught the protection of game, and the pre- vention of trespass and spoilage, in whatever form it may be attempted, and must under- stand enough of the first principles of administrative law to draft a formal complaint as the first step in a prosecution, whenever this may become necessary within the district under their charge. It is only in extraordinary cases that persons thus trained find opportunities for advancement, and they reach the highest point of their ambition when they have done their work well. But the schools for technical instruction in forestry, of which we find some thirty or more under the patronage of government, in various countries in Europe, have a much higher mission. They take their students after they have finished a course of study in the public schools, and sometimes besides this after they have had a period of actual ser- vice in forest labours, under skilled direction, and they endeavour, with this beginning, to impart a course of theoretical and practical education that is carefully adapted to meet the future wants of the forest officer in every grade of the service, and quite as special and technical in its nature as in our naval and our military academies. When this course is completed they are not always then sure of immediate appointment, but must wait for a vacancy in the service. The place once secured, there is great certainty of its permanence, and a reasonable prospect of advancement as circumstances may favour, or as talent may deserve. I have thus briefly sketched the object and the motives that lie at the foundation of forestry education in Europe. They apply to countries having large tracts of woodland, in charge of a government or belonging to great hereditary estates, and they are carefully 256 and well devised to meet the wants of these countries, by preparing skilled agents for the management of the interests concerned. With us, a difference of laws, and in the tenure and inheritance of property, and the perfect freedom to every owner of land in the management of his own estate, must neces- sarily occasion a wide departure from these methods of special education in its relations to forestry, in order to adapt it to the wants and requirements as they exist among us. I will therefore invite your thoughts to certain points to be considered in connection with for- estry education in our own country,'and enquire as to the duties that may arise in pro- viding the kind and degree of instruction that will be of greatest practical service. And first, we may remark, that we do not for the present, and perhaps for many years to come, require a class of persons who have been specially trained to the degree that is deemed necessary in the better class of forest schools in Europe, because such per- sons could not find employment either in charge of public or private forests at the present time. In a journey through Europe and in visiting many of these schools in 1881, I made inquiries about students from America, and so far as I could learn there had been but one from their first beginning, and this one had but recently entered at Thavand. Of the very few graduates who have come to America, everyone has, I believe, been obliged to seek other employments ; and upon quite a number of occasions in which students or recent graduates have asked my advice about the opportunities for professional employment in America, I have in every case discouraged them from coming, unless prepared to seek some other pursuit than systematic forestry. A time may come when it will be desirable to seek for men well versed in science, who are capable to conduct series of observations at an experimental station, or to manage the forests upon the public^ domain, should they be put under regular management, as I have urged in my reports, but that time is not yet. I am well aware that this measure of the establishment of special schools of forestry has been urged upon Congress, and that Saint Paul has been mentioned as a proper place for its location. It certainly might as well be there as anywhere. But let me enquire : Where would the graduates, if trained to the highest degree and fitted to accomplish all that those can who leave these schools in Europe, be able to find employment ? Neither the general nor the state governments have any systems of forest management needing their services. There may be a few railroad companies who would employ one, but this is not certain, and as to private estates, I know of none upon which such a person would be likely to find an engagement. A time may come when this want may arise, but it has not yet arrived. Should experimental stations come to be established, they should of course have men of the highest qualifications ; and they would need a considerable amount of hand-labour. In this, preference might be given to young men wishing to acquire skill in planting, and thus these places might become in time the nuclei of schools of practical forestry, but these too belong to the future. Let us then return back to the present, and consider what are the existing needs of the country in the matter of forestry education, and how they can best be supplied. If we do not need a high degree of special training for a few, we certainly do need a certain amount of instruction of a practical kind for a greater number. We can alto- gether dispense with the whole of what is taught in the forest schools of Europe, upon the jurisprudence and the administration of forest codes, and the adjustments of rights of common usage. We can leave out what they teach concerning the protection of game. There is a great deal taught concerning " amenagement," that is, the working of a forest through a future given period, upon plans first carefully studied, and which, when once adopted, must be observed to the end, which do not find application in American forestry. There are studies in topography and engineering, drawing of maps, construction of reser- voirs, dams, and various hydraulic operations, including leveling for drainage, the build- ing of sawmills and the like, which, however useful, do not necessarily require more than is now taught in our best institutions in courses of study already in operation. Let us now come to consider what we do want, and how this want can be b est sup- plied, and in this we will begin at the lowest and broadest stage of education, with what our children should learn in their families and in the common schools. 257 They should be impressed with the idea that the woodlands are not less useful to human welfare than the cultivated fields; and that like them they should be protected from injury or waste, as well from fires as from other causes. They should be made to understand that the birds nesting in our groves are, almost without exception, our friends, and therefore entitled to protection. Under a competent teacher they can be interested in little schemes of planting and rural adornment around the schoolhouse and at home, and this without the formalities of a lesson from books, or under the semblance of a task imposed upon the unwilling, but rather as a reward of merit. These first ideas so easily instilled into the minds of children, leave the most durable impression, and remain through after- life, at least in the way of pleasant recollections of happy hours, and they may and should create a sympathy with nature that the hard realities of life can never wholly efface. A skilful and competent teacher might now and then by way of pastime, require the scholars to bring in specimens of woods, and leaves, and flowers, and fruits, and ask them to tell all they knew or could find out about them. The uses of things might b% explained, and some idea of the order and harmony of nature thus imparted, might awaken observation, and a habit of inquiry, and a desire for knowledge, that might have otherwise lain dormant. An hour or two in a week devoted to this kind of teaching by object lessons, would bring about the best results, and the school boards could well afford to pay something above the current wages to the teacher who could do it well. This simple and elementary instruction might not go far in the way of education in forestry, but it would be a good beginning, as far as it did go it would be in the right direction. In mountain rills tlie source may be small, and a feeble obstruction may give the first direction to the. stream that finally becomes the river. It would at least impart some knowledge of the names of things, and impress the truth that every part of a created object has it,s uses, and that nothing is formed in vain. Y/e have been obliged, in speaking of the teachers of our primary schools, to use the words " skilful and competent," preceded by an " if," because it is painfully evident that they do not apply to them all. And this leads us directly to the next point we have to, consider, namely : That our Norma] Schools, where these teachers are prepared, do not as yet afford that instruction upon these subjects, that should impart that skill and com- petence that we need. There should be introduced in the way of classroom recitations, or by lectures, or otherwise, a little practical instruction upon the ways by which the children of a common school may be interested in these habits of observation and inquiry, and instructed in the rudiments of knowledge about the productions of nature which are around them. This is done already to some extent in various normal schools, and it might be done with profit and to a further extent in them all. The cabinets of these normal schools, should contain specimens of woods, and of the leaves, blossoms and fruits, and the students might be exercised in distinguishing the different species by the bark, the wood, and the general habit of growth, of the trees of common occurrence around them. The grounds of such institutions should have labelled specimens of living trees, grouped in their natural relations, and in as great a variety as their extent, and the soil and climate would permit. Some correct ideas might also be imparted, as to the time and method of planting, the requirements of particular kinds of trees, and the like, and the classes of young men might be taught, in a practical way, some of the first lessons in forest economy that are most useful in after life, or that might be again imparted when they go forth to teach. In these lessons, instruction might be given as to some of the relations that exist between forests and the climate, the incidental benefits conferred by woodlands upon agriculture, and some of the economies that may be practised in the planting and care of trees. Our high schools and academies might in like manner and to an equal or greater extent, impart instruction upon things useful to be known, and with the very best effect. Under zealous and competent teachers the students might be interested in the formation of collections of various kinds, and be taken occasionally upon little excursions into the woodlands, where opportunites for practical instruction are afforded on every hand. This method of education by means of excursions under the guidance of teachers, which is quite common in certain schools in Europe, and is a prominent one in all schools of 258 forestry, should be more generally practised among us, and no summer term should pass in these institutions without one or more of them being had. In the various grades of schools that have been noticed, an arbor day should never be allowed to pass without being duly celebrated, with ample preparations beforehand, and it would add not a little to the interest in the custom, if the care and protection of particular trees were assigned to particular ones of the number, who would be expected to give their charge all needful attention by watering in a dry time, through the first season, and by such further attention as their wants might require. In the various grades of instruction, suitable prizes might be offered for proficiency and merit, and the best results shown in a county or a state, should be rewarded by dis- tinguished mention in the official reports. Passing from these institutions of the middle class, to those of higher grade, we come *o the colleges and universities of the country. Some of these from their location, or on account of their special object, may offer no opportunity for instruction in forestry in any form ; but with much the greater number, more or less might be done, without burdening the course of study as already prescribed, or requiring more time than is now allowed. In the course of instruction in chemistry, botany, natural history, physics, mathe- matics, meteorology and the like, the application of these sciences to questions in forestry might be noticed, as opportunity occurred. A course of lessons in the class- room might be prescribed, as is already done in several of our colleges, as at Dartmouth, and in the Michigan University. The remarks already made concerning collections for the cabinet, and a labeled arboretum, might apply on a more extended plan, correspond- ing with the more enlarged field of operation and greater opportunity ; ?-nd no class should graduate without hearing at least one course of a dozen lectures by a person thoroughly qualified for presenting a concise general outline of the whole subject of forestry. I have thus briefly presented the leading features which I think might be grafted upon our existing system of education, without creating new institutions, or much enlarge the operation of existing agencies. The plan I propose would embrace the whole country, and include in its operation every person who is to become in a few years an owner of the lands upon which our forests must in future be grown. It is no doubt imperfect, but it would be a fair beginning, and its details could be modified from time to time, as experience might suggest. It applies chiefly to the young, but this is the class that learns. It is often said, and there is too much truth in the saying, that a man in middle life or in old age can learn nothing. But these men are passing away, and our greatest hope depends upon our ability to prepare those who are to come after them, to discharge their whole duties, as well in this as in every thing, in such a manner as to do full justice to themselves as to the commonwealth whereof they form a part. Discussion followed, in which Mr. Foster, Judge Higley, Prof. Budd, and Mr. Minier, participated. The hour for adjournment having arrived, the Congress adjourned until to-morrow, at 9 o'clock a.m. Second day, Morning Session, August 9th. The hour for meeting having arrived, the President assumed the chair, and the Congress proceeded with the reading of reports from committees as previously arranged. Prof. Adolph Leue, from the committee appointed at the Cincinnati session, in April, 1882, to report upon Forestal Experiment Stations, presented a report, as follows : Report op the Committee on Forestal Experiment Stations. In consideration of the existing circumstances of this country, as — 1. The absence of state forests ; 259 2. The want of trained foresters ; 3. The non-existence of forest academies ; and, 4. The comparatively little importance which the Legislatures of almost all the States have attached to experimenting in Forestry ; — Your committee most respectively submits the following : I. That the members of this Association individually urge, in their respective States* the necessity of establishing experiment stations. II. That this Association, as a body, or through a committee, memorialize the General Assemblies of their respective States, and in this memorial urge upon these bodies the need of such stations, and the practicability of establishing them in various places in each State. III. That the Ohio plan of organizing such stations, on account of its being exceed- ingly practicable and thorough, be recommended as the most suitable to our circumstances. IV. That the Forestal Experiment Station, consisting, as it does in Ohio, of a centre, of primary and secondary stations, may centre most appropriately in the agricultural colleges. V. That a standing committee on Forestal Experiment Stations be appointed for the ensuing year. (Signed) Adolph Leue, Chairman, Franklin B. Hough. Upon motion of Prof. It. B. Warder, the above report was accepted and adopted. Upon motion of Mr. J. H. Morgan, the Congress resolved that the memorial pro- vided for in the report be also addressed to the Governments of the Dominion and the Provinces of Canada. The Chair appointed Prof. A. Leue, Mr. J. H. Morgan, and the Bev. N. H. Egleston, as such committee. It was further ordered that a committee upon Forestal Experiment Stations be appointed, and the following persons were named as this committee, viz : Bev. N. H. Egleston, Mr. B. W. Furnas, Prof. Wm. Saunders, Mr. Leo Weltz, Mr. Warren Higley, Prof. B. B. Warder, and Prof. Adolph Leue. Dr. Franklin B. Hough, from the committee appointed at the Cincinnati session, in April, 1882, to memorialize State Legislatures upon the establishment of State Forestry Commissions, presented a report, as follows : Beport upon the Establishment of State Forestry Commissions. The undersigned, being members of the American Forestry Congress, appointed to prepare a memorial upon the establishment of State Forestry Commissions, having con- sulted as opportunity offered, would respectfully recommend the following draft of a communication, which, if approved by the Congress now in session, might be addressed to the Governors of the several States (and with proper change in the direction, to the Governments of Canada), with the request that the same be transmitted to their respec- tive Legislatures for consideration. Franklin B. Hough, Chairman, William B. Lazenby. To His Excellency, the Governor of : Sir : — The American Forestry Congress, having, by a committee of its members, pre- pared a memorial to the Legislatures of the several States of the American Union, and to the Provincial Parliaments of Canada, upon the subject of establishing State and Pro- vincial Forestry Commissions, adopted the same, after due deliberation, at its session held in the city of Saint Paul, Minn., on the 9th day of August, 1883, and as to the former, requested the Commissioner of Agriculture to transmit the same to the Governors of the 260 several States, with the request that it might be referred to their respective Legislatures for consideration. The inclosed communication is addressed to you in pursuance of this intention, with the request that, if approved, you will refer the same to the Legislature at its next session, with such recommendations as you may deem proper concerning it. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, To the Honourable the Legislature of the State of- The American Forestry Congress would respectfully invite the attention of your Honourable Body to the importance of giving early attention to measures tending to the maintenance of our forest supplies. The very important relations that exist between a due proportion of woodlands and our agricultural welfare, resulting from their influence upon climate ; their protection from drying winds and their effect in the equalization of water supply, for navigation, hydraulic power, and the use of cities and towns, are worthy of serious atten- tion, and present questions that may properly claim the notice of a legislative body. It is well known that in every country upon the continent of Europe, systems of forest management, originating from necessity, have grown up, and that codes and regu- lations for protection, working, and restoration have been devised, and matured as experience led, until they have become, in a great degree, adapted to the conditions and wants of their inhabitants, and to the requirements of their governments, in matters of timber supply. Although, from the differences that exist between the American States and the countries of Europe, as well with respect to the tenure of the land as the structure of the laws, which would prevent any one of the European codes of forestry from being applied in America, still there are strong reasons for urging the adoption of carefully devised measures for promoting the maintenance and renewal of our forest supplies. Since in the States and Territories of the United States, as well as in the Provinces of Canada, most of the settled portions of the country belong in fee-simple to private owners, who are usually the actual occupants ; and since the entire cost and care of management of the woodlands upon these estates must devolve upon these owners, it is evident that there can be no more effectual means devised for promoting this object, than by the diffusion of correct ideas among the owners of these lands, with reference to the forest interests of the country. In the case of fisheries, another element of national wealth, in which our citizens, in their individual capacity, have a great interest, although the Government itself can scarcely be said to have property, it has been found that great public benefits have bee;n derived from the information obtained and disseminated through the agency of State Fishery Commissions. The investigations made by Government in this matter, have been far beyond the means of individual enterprise, or even of associated private effort, and the operations of breeding, stocking distant waters with improved species, protection, maintenance, and restoration, which have been carried on, in a large degree, under the patronage and intel- ligent direction and advice of State Commissions appointed for this purpose, have greatly enhanced the value of our inland fisheries, and promise still greater benefits in the future. These Commissions of Fisheries exist in all the principal States of the American Union, and in Canada, and their benefits are realized more and more every year, as we learn their results. In the case of our woodlands, we find in matters of public policy, and the promotion of the common interest, a strong resemblance with the case above cited. Information is to be collected ; investigations are to be made upon questions before unknown ; the intro- duction o.i new species is to be encouraged ; improved and economical methods are to be made known, and the public interest is to be awakened and maintained. Although it would be obviously inexpedient and improper to confer authority upon a commission with respect to the control and management of private property, unless in 261 exceptional cases where a public interest was concerned, there are many ways in which it could very greatly promote the general welfare, among which we may specify the following : — 1. It might institute and conduct experimental stations, either upon lands specially acquired for the purpose, or with the concurrence of institutions of learning, where facil* ities exist, and the conditions are favourable. We would especially mention the colleges for instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts, in the several States, formed separ- ately or in connection with colleges already existing, under a grant from Congress, as proper places for aiding in these experiments. The co-operation of individuals might doubtless be secured in many cases. These experiments should embrace, as well ques- tions of culture and management, for the discovery of best methods, as matters of scien- tific interest, including the study of the local climate in its relations to Forestry. 2. It might establish nurseries for the supply at cost, or otherwise, of approved spe- cies of young trees, especial care being taken to offer those only which afforded the best prospect of success, and the most useful product. These young trees (or in some cases tree-seeds), should be accompanied by plain and simple directions for their care and man- agement, and the persons receiving them should be requested to report the results. 3. It might stimulate competition by the offer of prizes, for plantations remarkable for their extent or excellence, or for success in overcoming difficulties in planting. 4. It might reward the authors of approved essays, tending to make known improved methods, or to awaken an intelligent interest in Forestry, or to disseminate useful infor- mation upon any subject therein, calculated to promote the general welfare. 5. It might collect statistical and scientific facts, having reference to Forestry in its. various economic and scientific relations, with the view of furnishing information in answer to private inquiry, or by way of public reports. 6. It might promote an interest in the subject by the holding of public meetings, addresses, and the discussion of subjects relating to Forestry and rural economy. 7. It might establish at its central office, a reference library, and collections for illustrating the various subjects pertaining to Forestry ; and it might very materially aid, by advice and otherwise, in the formation of similar means of reference and information,, at institutions of learning, and other agencies of public utility. 8. And, finally, it could carefully study the subject of Forestry, as it may grow in importance, with the view of recommending for legislative action such measures as may be deemed proper for meeting the wants of the country in this matter, as it comes to be better understood. It is presumed that intelligent, capable, and public-spirited citizens might readily be found in every State, who would be willing, without pay, to give reasonable attention to this subject, by attending stated meetings of a board, their actual expenses being paid. With a capable and intelligent secretary, devoting his whole time to his duties, upon rea- sonable pay, we might confidently expect that such a board would in due time become a centre of influence, and an important agency for good ; sustaining the expectations that gave it being, and abundantly repaying its cost in an advancement of the public welfare. Upon suggestion by the President, tha^his memorial might be transmitted from the Department of Agriculture, with its suggestions tending to give it greater effect, upon motion of Dr. Hough, seconded by Prof. Northrop, it was so referred, and the report was accepted and adopted. The Hon. H. G. Joly, of Quebec, from the committee appointed to report upon Forest Fires, and the injuries to Forests by cattle, made a partial verbal report. He stated that copies of the report of the committee appointed at the last session of the American Forestry Congress (August, 1882), for the purpose of drawing the attention of Government to the question of protection to the forests, were sent to the Federal and to the Provincial Governments of Canada, several of whom took immediate action. Ontario passed a law for the encouragement of the planting of fores^ trees, and voted a consid- 18 [f. a] 262 erable sum for that purpose. Quebec passed a law, as recommended by the Forestry Congress, for classifying public lands under two heads : Lands for cultivation and lands unfit for cultivation, but growing pine and spruce, which are to be reserved for lumbering purposes. Quebec furthermore amended the laws already existing for protection of for- ests against fire, adopting a great number of suggestions offered by the Forestry executive committee, among others, appointing a superintendent to watch over and guard against fires. The Province of Nova Scotia passed last winter a law very similar to the preced- ing, and designated an Arbor Day. Prof. Robert B. Warder, from the Committee upon Forestry Education, appointed at the Cincinnati Session in A.pril, 1882, made the following report, which was accepted and adopted : REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY EDUCATION. Many difficulties attend the discussion of this subject, many opinions prevail, and years will be necessary to work out in detail an educational system, in which the claims of Forestry shall be duly recognized. Your committee respectfully submits the following propositions : — I. One or more special schools of Forestry may eventually be organized, modelled in most respects after those of Germany, but (like other American technical schools) de- manding a less amount of general information, and linguistic training for admission. For the present, however, the business openings offered for trained foresters, are not such as to encourage a suitable number of students in such a course, even with the modi- fications proposed. For this reason, among others, we believe that it is not best to urge the immediate establishment of such a school. II. We may expect the interests of practical Forestry to be promoted incidentally by those engaged in agriculture, rather than by those who are exclusively foresters ; hence we recommend that courses of instruction in Forestry, as full and practical as circum- stances admit, should be offered in the various schools for the promotion of agriculture. III. Practical lectures before farmers' institutes, promise to be effective in commu- nicating a large amount of practical information among those who will appreciate and apply it. it may be very desirable for State organizations to employ lecturers, and co- operate with the various local societies in this work. IV. Local Experiment Stations, in which intelligent farmers unite in specified inves- tigations, will have a real educational value, — both awakening a more general interest, and affording object lessons upon practical Forestry. V. With increasing intelligence, and general information among the American school teachers, we believe they may do very much unofficially, to impart a love of trees, and habits of observation. An Arbor Day, designed for school children, as in Ohio, is a valuable educational means, though quite distinct from the arbor day designed for for- est plantation, as in Nebraska and Minnesota. VI. The agricultural press affords a wide opportunity for pioneer work in Forestry education. Much has been accomplished by the Forestry manuals in Minnesota and Kansas, and by the Iowa Forestry Annuals. It is a cause of regret, that so excellent a periodical as the American Journal of Forestry should be given up for want of pat- ronage. We believe that monthly or bi-monthly Forestry leaflets, published as cheaply and scattered as widely as possible, may have a very useful influence. Such a publica- tion may be offered in quantities to the local horticultural and agricultural societies, at the bare cost of paper and printing. We believe that a guarantee fund of $300 would suffice to insure such publications for one year. Signed on behalf of the Committee : Robert B. Warder, Adolph Leue\ 263/ Mr. Minier said that he wanted to see the interest in forestry become as contagious as the small-pox. Let American homes be made cheerful and interesting, he said, and we fear not for the future welfare of the people. Mr. Burson spoke of the existing ignorance upon the subject of trees, and urged that measures should be taken for educating the people in a knowledge, not of tree cul- ture merely, but of the trees themselves. Elizur Wright referred to the progress which has been made in Europe in this matter, through the schools established there. This was an enterprise, he said, in which the old countries had gone ahead of progressive America. Mr. Minier believed in commencing the teaching of forestry to children at an «arly age. Dr. Hough stated that forestry schools had been established in every country in Europe, upon the continent. The report of the committee was adopted. It was ordered that a committee upon Schools of Forestry be appointed, and the fol- lowing persons were named as this committee, viz : Prof. B. G. Northrop, Prof. It. B. Warder, Mr. G. W. Minier, Mr. D. W. Beadle, Prof. J. L. Budd, and Dr. F. B. Hough. Mr. G. W. Minier presented the following recommendation, which was adopted : — "In view of the widespread and happy results of the observance of Arbor Day in many States, this Congress recommends the appointment of such day in all our States, and in the Provinces of the Dominion of Canada." Pending the adoption of the preceding, remarks were made by Messrs. Burson, Egleston, and Minier. Judge Warren Higley presented a report upon the organization and operations of the Ohio State Forestry Association. Dr. Franklin B. Hough presented a verbal report of the action which had been taken in the State of New York, in reference to Forestry, which may be briefly summar- ized as follows : — In 1872, a law was passed naming seven citizens of the State as a State Park Com- mission. This Commission consisted of Horatio Seymour, Patrick H. Agan, George H. Baynor, Wm. B. Taylor, Richardson, William A. Wheeler, Franklin B. Hough, and "Verplanck Colvin. They were instructed to make inquiries with the view of reserving or appropriating the wild lands lying northward of the Mohawk, or so much thereof as might be deemed expedient for a State park. It is believed that the leading motive in this was, to secure the benefits to be expected from woodlands, in the maintenance of the water supply for the State canals, and for hydraulic power, which had been material- ly injured by clearings. It was found, upon inquiry, that the State had only about 40,000 acres then in its possession in that region, the rest having been sold at nominal prices to timber operators and a railroad company. As soon as it was understood that the lands were wanted by the State, their owners showed a tendency toward combination, for the enhancement of values, and as the commission did not propose to become accessories to this speculation, they simply recommended a law forbidding further sales of these lands, and their reten- tion when forfeited for the non-payment of taxes. In 1883 — eleven years after this first law — the action then recommended was taken. The prediction had been verified, as now more than 600,000 acres belonged to the State, from neglect of taxes by the owners. This is only the beginning of a system of Forestry, since nothing was as yet provided for the management of the lands, except in one county only (St. Lawrence), where an agent 264 has been appointed to look after the interests of the State in the forests of that county. The law relating to tree planting along the highways has been very recently modified, and the germs of something that may grow into a kind of forest management, may be found in several local laws in various parts of the State, which provide that waste lands upon which taxes are not paid, shall become the property of the counties. Very recently a call was issued for the holding of a convention for the formation of a State Forestry Association. The proceedings were merely preliminary, but three per- sons had been named to attend the present Congress and make a report. The speaker (Dr. H.) was the only one present. Dr. Hougii further remarked, that in the State of Vermont and New Hampshire, commissions had been appointed by law, and incipient measures were in progress for as- certaining the duty of these States, with reference to the Forestry question. As no representatives appeared from these States, he was not authorized to say what had been done, or what was intended. The Hon. Mark H. Dunnell, for many years member of Congress, and mover of the principal Acts that have been passed relating to timber culture and investigations upon Forestry, being introduced, addressed the Congress at some length, upon these sub- jects. Mr. D. A. Robertson presented the subject of publication of the proceedings, and sug- gested the appointment of a committee to memorialize Congress, with the view of procur- ing an appropriation for that purpose. Discussion arose thereupon, pending which the- hour for recess having arrived, the Congress adjourned until 2 o'clock, p.m. Afternoon Session, August 9th. The Forestry Congress having been called to order by the President, at the hour ap- pointed, Dr. Franklin B. Hough, from the Commission appointed at the Montreal Session, in August, 1882, to report upon the subject of " Legislation in Relation to For- est Fires," made the following REPORT. The Executive Committee of this Congress was instructed, at our last meeting, to refer certain subjects for report on the present occasion, and, among these, " Legislation in Relation to Forest Fires," has been assigned to me for consideration. We find, already, legislation of some kind, in nearly every State and territory of the Union, in Canada and other British colonies, and in every country in Europe. With the view of ascertaining what had been done in this line, I carefully collected our existing legislation upon this subject, and it will be found in my third report, in which this subject is considered with much detail. The fact that prohibitions are imposed in any law, upon any subject, assumes that something is or may be wrong ; and when we find penalties, the presumption is that they can or should prevent this wrong or injury from being done. We find neither pro- hibitions nor penalties against what is unavoidable; they are enacted only in cases where it is presumed that they will prevent some injury from being done, which might happen without them. Without spending a moment upon the origin of forest fires from natural causes, and which are fortunately of rare occurrence, we may attribute the greater part to human agency, and as originating either from intentional motives, or through carelessness or accident. We find that fires are intentionally kindled, with the expectation that they will spread to more or Jess extent, in the following cases : — 1. In clearing land of its timber, as in the beginning of all settlements in wooded 265 countries, and occasionally, from time to time, in the ordinary operation of cutting off wood lots, and in lumbering. 2. For agricultural improvement, in the burning off of stubble and rubbish, to clear the ground for cultivation. 3. In certain operations in the woodlands, where it is desirable to get rid of the underbrush, by the aid of ground fires, so as to render it easy to get around, as in woods worked for turpentine, etc. 4. For improvement of pasturage in woodlands and waste places, by burning off the dead and dry herbage, and to favour the growth of the succulent grasses. 5. For exposing the ground, as in search for nuts or fruits, in prospecting for min- erals and ores, and the like. 6. For clearing the ground of materials that might favour the spreading of ground fires, to the peril of buildings, fences or inclosed fields. 7. From a wanton desire to see a " big fire," but without intention to do injury, or with the expectation that no great harm will ensue ; or, 8. With malicious design, and for the purpose of destroying property, or of conceal- ing a trespass ; or, in the case of hostilities, as a war measure, to injure an enemy. The spreading and destructive fires, originating from carelessness or accident, may be kindled from any of the above mentioned causes, except the last, the escape being sometimes unavoidable, or beyond the means at hard for control ; and sometimes from want of common prudence and forethought, in leaving a fire, or some burning object, in places where a fire may catch and spread, as in throwing down a burning match or cigar, or in the use of gunwads in hunting, that ignite and retain the fire. They may spring from a neglected campfire, kindled for cooking or warming, or from a coalpit where charcoal is being made, or from fires or sparks dropped in any manner as notably in the case of sparks or coals from a passing engine on a railroad. The extent of the disaster, however it may be started, will depend upon a variety of causes, chiefly the condition of the soil as to drought, and the force of the winds. A great deal will also depend upon the nature of the soil itself, and upon the kind of timber and other vegetation that grows upon it. Light sandy soils, when overgrown with ever- greens of the coniferous species, and with the undergrowth that usually accompanies them are particularly liable to spreading fires ; while a heavy clay soil, or fertile loam, under- laid by limestone and shales, may favour the growth of deciduous trees, and a rank and humid undergrowth, in which a forest fire could scarcely be made to spread, and in which a disaster of this kind is scarcely ever known. We also find that the season of the year has much to do with forest fires. They are seldom or never known in winter ; but in the early spring months, after the ground has become dry, and before vegetation has made much progress, we find the conditions dan- gerous. It is the same in a dry summer and autumn, and especially in times of exces- sive drought, and in high winds. At such times, when this aridity was intensified, the memorable fires of the Miramichi in 1825, and the forest fires in Michigan and Wisconsin in 1871 and 1881, occurred, with destructive energy, and wide spread ruin, consuming millions of dollars worth of property, and destroying great numbers of human lives. We have started with the theory that prohibitions and penalties imply an avoidable cause. Let us consider, separately, how this will apply in the several classes of causes that have been above enumerated : — 1. In the clearing of land, a little judgment will enable the careful man to avoid a time- for the burning of his brush when there is great liability to the spread of fires beyond control. But as some men have not this "little judgment" and this "care," it would be an effectual check upon their carelessness, if we had a law requiring them, before applying fire, to get a premission from some proper town officer, such as the supervisor, the selectmen, the trustees, or such other officers as the State laws recognize as the guardians of the public intrests of the town, and who would presumably be men of prudence and good judgment. They should also be obliged to notify their neighbours of their intention, so that proper watchfulness might be awakened, where the possibility of danger to adjacent woodlands might be apprehended. They might be still further 266 restricted absolutely from setting fires in certain months known to be dangerous in common or exceptionally dry years. In this matter of burning brush, it should be more generally known, that it is not a very difficult thing to dispose of it gradually as the clearing progresses, by getting a fire well started, and then throwing the brush upon it. In the case of resinous woods, this may be done at once, and in the deciduous kinds, as soon as they are somewhat dry, but before they have become like tinder. 2. The danger from field fires, in the burning off of stubble and dead grass in fall or spring, as on the prairies of the west, may be greatly lessened by ploughing two belts of land and carefully burning off the rubbish on the strip of land between them. Where this precaution is taken, it is not difficult to keep these fires away from stacks of grain, buildings, and plantations, and it might, in these States, be well to require this to be done by law. Here, as in the case last mentioned, there is great need of prudence and caution, and in case of the least uncertainty, the advice and aid of others should be obtained. In this, also, there should be a prohibited season, wherever there is need. 3. In cases where it is thought necessary to clear the ground of underbrush, the need of caution and counsel is quite evident, and the subject should be placed under the restrictions of law. 4. The custom of burning off woodlands, especially in mountain regions, is one of the worst that we have to contend with in certain portions of the country. It is often practised by those who have a few cattle but no land, and who depend upon finding subsistence for their stock upon the unenclosed lands of others, or upon the public domain. There is nothing more likely to arrest this practice, than an efficient stock law, requiring every owner of stock of whatever kind, to keep them upon his own premises, under the penalties that may result from their trespass and damage upon the lands of another. Where an owner thus sets running fires on his own' lands, to improve the pasturage for his own stock, there should be a legal prohibition as to dangerous seasons of the year, and ample responsibility for the payment of damages that may result from his fires upon the property of others. The penalty of a fine is generally effectual, in the case of a land- owner ; for the possession of an estate implies a certain degree of care, industry, and forethought in the owner ; and such a person would realize the responsibilities of the situation, if fully known beforehand. But there is a class of men, and unfortunately it is a large one, who, having neither care, industry, nor forethought, and therefore no land, would care nothing for a fine, because they have nothing that the law could reach, if its collection was attemped. For this reason, any law imposing a fine as a punishment, with respect to the setting of fires that escape from their lands to the injury of others, should end with the clause: "or imprisonment for a period of days, unless the fine is sooner paid." 5. The clearing off of leaves by fire, for the purpose of exposing the ground, is most likely to be practised by boys in search of nuts, and who do not realize the danger that may result ; or by those prospecting for ores and the like, who care as little for the conse- quences as the common tramp. It may not be a very common or a very important cause of these fires, but it should be forbidden on lands not owned by the person who sets the fire, and should, in this case, be coupled with penalties where it injures another. 6. In light sandy regions, and in cases where the pitch pine and other resinous woods form the principal forest growth, there are seldom many years together in which we do not hear of distressing accounts of woodland fires. They have been particularly disastrous upon Cape Cod, in the interior and eastern portions of Long Island, and in southern New Jersey. In these fires, we often hear of the burning of farm-houses, fences, bridges, mills, and other property, and they generally leave the soil greatly impoverished. In such regions there is a continued liability to the recurrence of these fires, whenever the con- ditions are a little more favourable to their spread, and nothing but continual care and watchfulness can prevent them. In such regions, it is undoubtedly a good practice to keep the borders of the wood- lands along the railroads, and around buildings, clear of rubbish and litter, by carefully burning off a strip of land in the winter, and when the fire can scarcely be made to 267 spread, and is easily controlled. Where this is done every year, the amount of combus- tible material is slight, and the risk is reduced to next to nothing. It is, therefore, advised that legal provision should be made, requiring railroad com- panies to keep the rubbish and dead herbage, that might be liable to spread the fires, burned off every year, and forbidding them to allow piles of old ties and other combus- tible materials from accumulating or being left along their roadway. 7 and 8. From wanton and wilful burning, we have no hope of escape, except in the execution of proper laws against malicious mischief and deliberate crime. Before considering the measures that might be recommended in our country for pre- venting by legal enactments the spread of forest fires, let us briefly notice what has been attempted, and what has been accomplished elsewhere. There is a district of country in southern France, some forty or fifty miles in extent, between Nice and Marseilles, and fronting upon the Mediterranean, that has, in former years, suffered often and severely from forest fires. The conditions were peculiarly liable to the occurrence of these fires, as well in soil and climate, as in the vegetation that covered the surface. The soil is rich, resulting from the decomposition of schist, porphyry, and granite. It is exposed to a ardent sun, and watered by abundant rains at the season most proper for giving excep- tional vigour to forest vegetation, and, as the result, an abundant accumulation of litter. But it is also liable in certain seasons, to protracted drought ; and in such a time, the least spark of fire, in a strong wind, would start a conflagration which nothing could stop, until the tinder upon the ground was burnt off. The forest trees in this region were chiefly chestnut, cork-oak and the maritime pines, and the undergrowth various species of broom, heather, and herbaceous plants that become dry and inflammable in a drought. The repeated and ever-recurring damages resulting from these fires, led the Govern- ment in the autumn of 1868, to send the director-general of forests (M. Fare) to make a careful study of the causes of these disasters, and, if possible, to devise the remedies for their prevention. Having prepared a list of some two hundred names, selecting the principal pro- prietors and industriels of the district, he first addressed a circular of inquiries, and then convened as many of them as could attend, for the discussion of the subject, and the col- lection of data upon which conclusions could be formed. The results in the way of oral evidence and written opinions were published in detail. There were also separate publi- cations upon the subject, the more important one being by M. Charles de Bibbe, who deals with great intelligence upon questions relating to the causes of these fires, their history, and the measures that should be taken for preventing them. It was noticed, as to ownership, and incidentally as to the effect which this had upon surveillance and prevention, that the richest portion, and that chiefly devoted to the cork- oak, belonged to many small proprietors, while the poorer parts, covered with the maritime pine, and largely devoted to resinage, was owned by a few persons, some of them having tracts of several thousand hectares each. It was natural to expect that the former were better cared for, and that the greatest precautions had come to be adopted for preventing the origin of fires. But on the other hand, this parcelling out into small properties, is not favourable for concerted effort ; as, in case of danger, every man would be most anxious to save his own, while the wealthy owners of large estates could more easily associate in the adoption of measures for their common welfare, and that a more systematic effort might bring a better result. But, in the present instance, although there was a great diversity in ownership, and the woodlands were for the most part contiguous, or at least with no large clearings inter- vening, however diverse the local interest might be, they were menaced with a common danger. The inquiries undertaken in this instance, brought out, as might have been ex- pected, a great variety of opinions as to causes and prevention, as each one reasoned from his own standpoint, and from the little circle of observation around him. They very generally agreed in this, that means should be devised for preventing their neighbours' fires from running over their own possessions, but were more or less widely variant as to the remedies that should apply to the whole. As to the causes, M. Fare arranges them under two classes : — The one purely intrinsic and belonging to all woodlands, and the other exceptional, and produced by the special circumstances that have been already noticed. It was chiefly to the latter that these 268 sweeping disasters might be attributed, since two-thirds of the department, having a dif- ferent soil and forest growth, but otherwise the same rains and droughts, and the same exposure to the sun, suffered no inconvenience from this cause. The fires are generally started by careless hunters, by smokers, by charcoal burners, and very often from a practice of setting fires for the purpose of clearing off the mosses, herbage, brambles, and rubbish, in which it was generally intended to keep the fire smouldering under a covering of turf, but which in a dry and windy time might easily escape control.. This inquiry resulted in the enactment of a law, limited to twenty years from April 1 3th, 1870, the date of its passage, the leading features of which were as follows : — The Prefect, with the advice of the General Council, was to fix the time in each year, within which no fires were to be kindled within the woodlands, or - within 200 meters of their borders, for any pretext either of forestry or agriculture. Notices of this order were to be posted fifteen days previous to the forbidding season. At times not included within this season, fires might be built, provided the space be inclosed by protecting trenches. Between adjacent properties, a cleared avenue should be maintained, at the joint cost of the owners. The power of arresting offenders was extended, and vigilance, especially in the dangerous season, was increased. The fines were to be not less than twenty nor more than 500 francs ; but these were to be in addition to the damages that might ensue. At a somewhat later period, frequent and disastrous fires occurring in the region of Landes, in south-western Franco, in the young pine forests, led to another investigation by direction of Government, by M. Fare, and an extended report was made, but not leading to any special law. In visiting this region in 1881, I learned, upon inquiry, that these fires had ceased to be troublesome, and was told that they had probably been set for a malicious end, a certain family owning extensive tracts of pine, being the heaviest losers. Through some financial failure, great numbers, acting under the advice of members of this family, had lost their little all, and to revenge this grievance, these fires had been set. But returning to the question before us, as it is presented in the United States and Canada, and reasoning upon the assumption that destructive fires are very generally avoidable with proper caution, I will attempt to draft a bill, that with some modifications might be made applicable in any of the states, territories, or provinces, and which, if sustained by public sentiment, and properly enforced, could not fail to render these dis- asters less frequent, if they did not hinder their occurrence entirely. I will give it the title of— " An Act to Prevent The Occurrence op Field and Forest Fires." Be it enacted, etc. Section 1. It shall be the duty of the Board of Supervisors (County Commissioners, or other authority in charge of the public business of counties), in districts liable to suf- fer injury from forest fires, to establish rules restricting the setting of fires in fields or woodlands, and forbidding them entirely, in what experience has shown to be a dangerous season of the year. These rules may be revised annually. § 2. In every township, the inhabitants, when assembled at their annual town meet- ings, may elect as many Fire Wardens as they may determine by a public vote. If there be more than one, the district of each one shall be described by roads or natural boun- daries, a record of which shall be made in the office of the town clerk. 1 § 3. It shall be the duty of the Fire Warden, in case of a spreading and dangerous fire, to take the chief direction of measures for arresting its progress, and he may order any citizen to assist in this labour, under the penalties hereinafter mentioned. § 4. In the absence of the Fire Warden, the supervisor (or other officer in charge of town business) may designate in writing some person to perform the duties of such Fire Warden, and the person so appointed shall have the same authority as if duly elected. § 5. In cases of great danger, a Fire Warden, with the approbation of a justice of 269 the peace, may order back fires to be set, or property to be destroyed, to stop the pro- gress of the fires. Any structures so destroyed shall be paid for as a county charge. § 6. The expenses necessarily incurred in stopping the progress of a forest fire, shall be audited and paid by the Board of Supervisors (or other county board, as the case may be), as a county charge. It shall be lawful for the inhabitants at town meetings to fix the rate that may be paid for services in arresting a spreading fire, and to limit the total sum that may be paid ; but in no case shall any allowance be made for services to any person through whose act or negligence a fire originated, nor shall payment be made for losses incurred, otherwise than as mentioned in the last preceding section of this Act. § 7. No person shall, at any time within the season prohibited under the first sec- tion of this Act, set fires in any field or woodland, for the purpose of burning brush, or clearing the land for agricultural purposes, or for improving the pasturage. § 8. No person shall, at a season not included in this prohibited period, apply fires in any field or woodland, for the purpose of clearing or improvement, without first ob- taining permission from the Fire Warden of his district. He shall also notify any neighbours who may have fields or woodlands adjacent, and liable to injury, at least one day previous to the setting of such tires. § 9. No person shall kindle any fire in any woodland, or within two hundred yards of its borders, unless the combustible materials be first cleared away within six feet of the place where it is kindled ; nor shall any such fire be left, until it is fully extin- guished, or safely covered. § 10. In the making of charcoal, there shall be provided at least one barrel full of water to each pit, with pails in readiness for use in the case of a fire escaping and liable to spread. All combustible materials shall be cleared away to a distance of fifty feet from the pits or kilns in which charcoal is made. § 11. It shall be the duty of railroad companies, to cause the dead herbage, and other inflammable materials within their right of way to be carefully burned off once a year, at a time when this can be safely done, and with a sufficient force in readiness to prevent injuries therefrom. § 12. In districts where it is a common custom to provide against the spreading of field fires by ploughing strips of land, and burning off between them, such strips may be ploughed and burned once in a year, along the boundary of adjacent properties, and along lines of railroad, at the joint expense of the owners. In case that either of said owners, upon request from the other, shall neglect to do his share of the labour, it may be done by the other, and one-half of the cost thereof may be collected, as in an action for debt. § 13. And whereas, experience has shown that great benefits result from the main- tenance of cleared avenues in a forest, for the control of forest fires, it is hereby enacted, that wherever a line of property between two owners runs through a woodland, and whenever the Fire Warden shall deem the measure necessary, he may direct the owners to clear and maintain such an open space, of not less than fifty feet in width, half of it being on each side of the line, and the expenses to be equally borne by the owners thereof. § 14. It is forbidden to throw down a burning match, or any lighted cigar or other burning object, in any field or woodland, without immediately extinguishing the same. It is also forbidden to use tow, or other material liable to hold fire, as a gunwad. It is further forbidden to discharge any' firearms within a forest, during the period that is designated as dangerous by the Board of Supervisors (or other county authority). § 15. The following penalties are imposed for each violation of the provisions of this Act : For disobeying the orders of a Fire Warden, from $5 to $50. For setting running fires in the forbidden season, from $50 to $500. For setting fires in the season not forbidden, but without permission from the Fire Warden, or notice to neighbours, $5 to $50. For kindling fires in violation of § 8, or for neglecting the requirement in § 9, from $5 to $50. For neglecting the requirement in § 10, from $5 to $10 per mile. 270 And in case of non-payment of fines, the person upon conviction may be impris- oned in the county gaol one day for every $2 of the fine imposed. § 16. It is further provided that in addition to the foregoing penalties, every rail- road company, and every person, through whose act or negligence a field or forest fire originates, shall be liable to pay the damages which such fire may occasion. § 17. And be it further enacted, that the Board of Supervisors (or other county authorities), may cause printed notices, stating the times when running fires are prohib- ited, and the varions penalties mentioned in this Act, to be posted in each school-house, and at such places as election notices are posted, throughout the county, or in such towns as they may deem proper, and the expenses of this may be made a county charge. § 18. All penalties incurred under this Act, shall be prosecuted by the Fire Warden of the district before a justice of the peace, and in the name of the people. The moneys recovered are to be paid into the county treasury, to be applied first to the payment of expenses incurred under this Act in the extinguishment of forest fires ; and if any remain over, for the support of roads and bridges in the towns where the fines were incurred. § 19. This Act shall take effect immediately. I have thus presented the outlines of a plan of legislation, which I think might be modified to meet the wants of every part of the country. It embraces the following principles : — 1. A local option in the county authorities, who would be best able to judge of local wants and circumstances. f 2. A recognized authority in directing operations, as in the case of city fires, where the chief of a fire department, or his representatives, may compel assistance in case of fires. 3. A county charge for necessary expenses. This is justified and allowed in the case of property destroyed by a mob, upon the principle that the county owes protection to its citizens, and that having provided an agency in its civil officers, for the prevention of crimes, and the protection of property, — which may be expanded to meet an emer- gency at any time, — it is bound to exercise this power for prevention and protection, or pay the losses that may happen from failing to do so. 4. Personal responsibility in the use of fire, and penalties for carelessness, whether damages ensue or not. 5. Responsibility for damages resulting from fires, as a matter of common justice, and upon the general principle, that if any person injures the property of another, he shall pay him for it. 6. A pecuniary fine for carelessness and wrong doing, which may, within certain limits be proportioned to the offence, . . or a personal punishment in default of payment. In studying this subject, we cannot fail to notice, how much of these calamities is avoidable, with due caution ; how much might be saved, by a little timely thought and habitual care ; and how much might be gained, by instilling into the minds of the young, in our families and our schools, those habits of caution and prudence, and regard for the rights of others, that would in future prevent so many of these losses that we now deplore. The following report was then read by the recording secretary, the writer being absent. THE MANAGEMENT OF BURNED FORESTS. By Bernhard E. Fernow, Slatington, Penna. It is evident that in the management of a? burned forest, i.e., the efforts to repair the damage done by fire to the standing growth as well as to the soil, the prospective value of the forest, must depend not only on the requirments of the species, of which the forest is composed, and the system of management, to which the forest has been subject, but also on the intensity of the fire and the degree of injury, which has been suffered by the growth. 271 We have to study the influence of the fire on the soil and on the standing timber before we can decide upon the treatment. When we contemplate the method of the prairie settler or the Kassack of the Russian steppes, burning over his grazing lands with a view of encouraging the sprouting of new grass, and of enriching the soil for a more luxuriant verdure, we might be tempted to consider the burning over of a forest tract, if only kept in bounds so as not to injure the timber, as beneficial after all to the growth of trees. But here we are drawing a mistaken analogy, for whilst the production of grass and herbs, in fact all agricultural vegetation depends mainly on the mineral richness of the soil, in forestry this factor of the growth takes a very different part. The tree lives mainly from the air ; the bulk of its substance is undoubtedly made up from the decomposition of the carbonic gas of the air and of water. The influence of the soil on the forest growth is almost entirely based on its physical properties, and of these especially its capacity of absorbing and retaining nioisture, the main agent of successful tree growth. The yearly fall of leaves and dead branches or twigs, not only returns to the soil the greatest part of any mineral substances, absorbed by the trees, and thus sufficiently renews, if that were necessary, the richness in inorganic elements, but by the decay of this vegetable mould a soil cover is formed, which eminently possesses the desired quality of receiving the atmospheric precipitations and returning the same to the trees as needed ; besides this vegetable mould or humus being a bad conductor of heat, it counteracts the drying effects of the scorching sun, wherever the crown cover of- the thinly foliaged species or of the thinly standing trees does not afford sufficient protection. Now, this cover is first attacked by the devouring flames, and is converted into ashes to a greater or less depth according to the season, when the fire occurs and the consequent relative humidity of the soil. And by its destruction all the inherent favourable physical qualities are destroyed. Especially where the natural conditions of the under-lying soil are of a poor description, such as the dry sands of the diluvial plains, the destruction of the humus, accumulated through many years, may seriously affect the capacity of the soil for successful forest culture. And when, to crown the disaster, the protecting cover of the trees themselves has fallen a victim to the ravaging element, thus giving access • to parching sun and wind, the ingenuity of a forester will indeed be taxed to the utmost, to restore the necessary conditions of forest growth, nay, it may become almost impossible. Although the fire may not have attacked the standing timber, yet the injurious effect will be visible years hence, when the trees are cut ; one or several annual rings or layers of wood following the years after the catastrophe will note the consequent decline of growth, or to express it in a financial' way, a reduction of the yearly dividend. The vitality of the trees may be impaired by the action of the scorching flames on the cambium, and even if utilized at once, the injured butt logs, the most valuable ones, will often count a considerable deficit in the lumberman's estimate. In hardwood forests, where the reproduction is expected from sprouts, the reproductive power of the stocks is injured in proportion to the degree of heat developed by the fire. In the pineries, where reproduction is expected from the seed, the young seedlings fall the first victims of the merciless foe. Where the fire kills the original growth or causes the speedy death of the same, the conditions for forest growth are at once changed, and those alternations of species occur, which are a natural consequence of the change of these conditions. The shade-loving and the shade-bearing species find no favourable inducements ; the light-needing, especially the light-seeded ones, which produce seed plentifully and give it to the distributing winds, take the place, excluding by their rank and vigorous growth the existence of their more pretentious and slow-growing brethren. Unfortunately the latter are the more valuable kinds. Yet we must be thankful that the tribe of birches, poplars, cherries, willows, will be satisfied with the unsatisfactory conditions presented to them by the burned forests ; because their decaying foliage, what cover they afford to the soil, recuperates in time the powers of the same to bear a better crop, and recalls to useful production the lost area. 272 I may be allowed here to quote Prof. C. C. Sargent's happy description of this process. " If a forest is destroyed by fire, which kills the trees and undergrowth of shrubs and herbs of the same species, except in the case of some of our least valuable trees, they rarely spring up again. Let us take the case of a white pine forest. If a forest of white pine is destoyed by fire, this tree does not spring up again. The land if only a part of the trees had been cut, would have continued to produce pines indefinitely, is not covered again with any growth of trees for a considerable period. The fireweed makes its appear- ance. The light seed of this plant is often blown for a long distance, and falling upon the bare ground germinates quickly, and finally covers the burned surface with vegetation. Birds drop the seeds of raspberries and blackberries, which find sufficient nourishment (?) and light for germination. These, as they grow, cover the ground and afford protection to the stones of the little mountain cherry, dropped by birds also, or the light seeds of the gray birch or some of the willows or poplars, which are constantly blowing about, and which germinate anywhere upon unshaded ground, however barren. "These are generally the first trees, which succeed a white pine forest destroyed by fire ; but years often elapse before the ground is covered even with such trees. Nature works slowly, and the wounds made by fire on the earth's covering of trees are only healed under most favourable conditions, through the gradual growth and decay of many gener- ations of plants. The cherries, ' and the birch and poplars are short lived ; and unless burned up, when the same process of recovering commences again, are succeeded by more valuable broad-leaved trees. Squirrels and other animals deposit acorns and nuts in the ground, and the wind brings the seeds of maples, ashes, and the valuable birches. Such seeds find protection among the poplars and willows which had sprung up on the burned land, and as these die, the more valuable trees get a chance to grow and gradually occupy the ground. This new forest of hardwood trees, if protected from fire, will long occupy the ground, and the original pine forest will not appear again until the land long enriched by an annual deposit of leaves has been again stripped of its tree covering and mellowed by years of cultivation. Such land, nearly all over New England, if freed from the plough and the scythe, and guarded from fire and pasturage, grows up again with pine. The different processes, however, by which white pine land, on which the forest has been destroyed by fire, has been again brought into the condition to produce spontaneously another crop of pine, have occupied a long period of time — so long, indeed that it must extend through generations of human life. The forest fire then which destroyed the pine trees growing upon the land, destroyed also, the capacity of the land to produce again, during a period which may be set down at from fifty to one hundred years a similar crop of trees." What now can human ingenuity do to meet these disastrous effects and to recall to profitable use a forest so destroyed, so withdrawn from the production of valuable timber; what is the best management of a burned forest? Before answering these questions let me recall to you the old adage that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, and never more so than in this case; where, what it took decades and centuries to produce, may be destroyed in a day through criminal carelessness and inexcusable neglect. What may, and ought to be done by legislation to prevent these dangers, will be discussed by another member of this Congress. Let me only call attention to some advisable means, by which the forester may secure his pro- perty, or at least lessen the danger and risk of fire, such as are adopted in other countries. Whatever may be done in regard to a vigilant firewatch, to careful handling of fires outside and inside of the woodland, the following methods are successfully applied to re- strict the spread of eventual fires. In the plain and especially in pineries a forest district is divided into blocks of any desired area, by openings of from one to two rods width. In a well regulated forest management, these blocks serve more than one purpose. Not only do they enable the confinement of running fires in the limits of the block, the open- ings or fireguards presenting convenient lines of defence, and points d'appui for counter- fires, etc., but they also form the basis of an orderly division of a large area, i hey enable easier areantation by numbering the blocks, they give chance for a closer estimation of the stand- ing timber, they reduce, if opened up in time, the danger of storm-falls, (as the outside trees accustom themselves to the swaying wind and take firmer hold with their roots) and 273 they facilitate the access to any one point of the forest. In fact it is advisable to ar~ range these openings so that they may eventually serve as roads. The size of the blocks may depend not only upon the size of the area so to be divided, but upon the thoroughness of the management and especially upon the degree of danger from fires ; for the latter reason resinous woods should be cut up into the smallest blocks. In Prussia the blocks comprise generally 100 to 200 acres. The form may, in the plain, be most con- veniently an oblong, facilitating the removal of the timber. In the mountains it is gen- erally adapted to the configuration of the soil. If in this country the conditions of development do not yet call for such orderly management, the time will not be far when, at least in the Eastern States and near wood- using centres, similar attention to detail will be requisite, and the economy of such order will be appreciated. Where the risk of fire is occasioned by the proximity of railroads, and as long as efficient spark arresters are not invented, or their use not enforced, recourse may be had to the formation of a safety belt along the endangered line. Such a belt consists of a space say sixty to seventy feet wide, along both sides of the railroad, cleared of all timber which, where opportunity offers, may be put to agricultural use. In Prussia very often the track-walkers use the ground for their potato patches, etc. Or if the soil cannot be spared from timber-culture, the growth of a thin foliage, deciduous species like the birch, may be allowed on such a belt, taking care, however, to clear away any casual under- growth and little rubbish, which, by its inflammability, would breed danger. The plough- ing up of a few furrows or a ditch between the belt and timber is a cheap additional pre- caution. The practice of burning the rubbish after clearing can be recommended only where no other precaution against the spread of fire will do, or where, as sometimes in pine- woods, the additional danger of destructive insects may be increased by offering a breed- ing place in the dry litter. Otherwise, as has been said before, any firing must be con- sidered injurious to the capacity of the soil, especially on sandy soils with only a thin humus cover may it preclude all possibility of reforestation. In regard to the management of a burned forest it must not be forgotten that the consideration of this question jinvolves a financial as well as a purely forestral problem. In this country, especially where the desire of realizing all the value for the present without regard to the future is prevalent, the distance and the fastidiousness of the market, the lack of demand for inferior grades and for firewood, may preclude all efforts to exercise any systematic forest management. Considerations for the financier would be the following : — The possibility of utilizing the remaining timber at any profit, or at least at the cost of working it. The value of the loss in accretion by the impaired vitality of the timber. The loss of soil rent for the time from reforestation to growth to the size of the destroyed forest. A change of system, for instance, from timber forests to coppice, or the reverse : or from forest to agriculture. Choice of a more valuable or quicker-growing species instead of a slow grower or a less desirable timber. Setting aside the financial question, which is of a local character, the treatment depends on the species constituting the forest, and on the system of management adopted. In the coppice when the stems have been not only blackened but partly burned, the only right plan is to clear at once at the proper season. Otherwise decay will set in and the vitality of the stocks will be greatly impaired. Besides, with the impaired vitality of the stocks, the yearly accretion would fall below an average rate of growth, and it would therefore make the continuation of the same growth unprofitable. The same rule may be best applied to young plantations of deciduous trees up to fifteen or twenty years ; the new sprouts will, if properly thinned in most cases and with most species, soon replace the cover. It is, however, in the further treatment of these, to be considered that the rate of growth of the coppice — i.e., where the growth is originated from stocks, is different from that of seedlings ; and that though the sprouts of most species will show a thriftier 274 growth in the first year, their height accretion relaxes earlier, and they attain their greatest accretion and their maturity sooner than seedlings. The rotation of such forests therefore must be shortened. As regards the retaining of such trees or groups of trees as were not injured by the fire, this is a temptation to which we must yield only with caution, as their shade might .prove injurious to the surrounding young shoots and impeding their growth. In larger growths, intended for timber forests, if the injury does not extend to a total destruction or nearly so of the trees, it must be kept in mind that a fire induces earlier maturity ; and where a healing from the effects of the fire cannot be expected, the utiliza- tion with a view to natural seeding or else clearing, followed by immediate reforestation, should be adopted. Where the destruction is a total one, no wiser plan than immediate replanting can be recommended. * This is especially the only measure with resinous trees, which are almost certain to lose their ground entirely, if after a fire left to themselves in the struggle for existence. It is not to be forgotten that the dead trees remaining offer the very best opportunity for an increased development of injurious insects. In forests of deciduous trees, where the heat of fires generally is not as intense as in pinewoods, it may be a cheap plan to await a new growth from the stocks, and by carefully nursing the more valuable species, cutting back the less valuable ones, eventually filling up bare spots by planting or seeding shade-enduring species, to recover in time the lost ground for the valuable species. In this, as in every other problem of forestry, it is impossible to prescribe definite rules that will cover all requirements of particular cases. A thorough elementary know- ledge of the conditions of forest growth alone will enable the forester to decide what methods to adopt for the restoration of the lost growth, and to repair the damage inflicted by fires upon the soil and the forest. Dr. Franklin B. Hough then read the following paper on ASSOCIATION OF INTERESTS IN FOREST CULTURE. In the management of landed estates generally, there is perhaps more than in any oth- er kind of investment, the need of direct personal supervision, and that attention to detail which an owner can best bestow. Still, in agricultural affairs, it is sometimes necessary for several owners, having lands adjacent, and needing a common improvement, to seek an organization under the protection of a law, where individual enterprise could not se- cure the result required, even though it becomes necessary for an unwilling minority to unite with them in sharing the expenses and the benefits. We find an example of this, in the drainage of swamp lands, the reclaiming of tracts submerged or liable to overflow, and especially in regions that can only be cultivated under irrigation. In these cases, and others that could be cited, there is often a large expense to be incurred, before any benefit is realized. It is sometimes necessary to em- ploy skilled engineers ; to acquire right of way across lands that are not benefited, or that may be injured by the work in prospect ; and sometimes to obtain the consent of a public authority before the work is begun. For most of these cases provision has been made in the several States, under general laws; and special legislation, in the absence of such laws, has seldom been denied, when the enterprise was reasonable and proper, and the owners of the property were able and willing to incur the expenses. We cannot but congratulate ourselves, at one advantage in our favour, as compared with most countries upon the continent in Europe : we have no rights of common usage to conciliate. What a man owns is his ; and his neighbour has no right to question him in its enjoyment, so long as he affects the rights of no one else, and so long as a public interest is not injured by his occupation. This is of course qualified by the conditions imposed upon all citizens, of yielding the right of eminent domain as it becomes neces- sary for public use, and of assisting in the maintenance of a common government. But there are other instances in which a common interest requires a common effort, beyond 275 that which is so naturally and so often manifested'; by consultation, voluntary associations for the discussion of special subjects which concern all their members, and other meas- ures tending to promote the general welfare. In the matter of forest management, we find at times a convenience, amounting sometimes to a necessity, for the association of the interests of adjacent owners, in the profitable management of the property, which at a future time cannot fail to require the protection and regulation of law. In the planting of groves and of wind-breaks upon farms, there is of course no occasion for public notice, any more than there would be in respect to a common grain- field ; but in the matter of adjacent woodlands belonging to many owners — perhaps of large aggregate extent, but difficult of access — sometimes inaccessible without crossing the lands of others, there are points to be considered, that we may have to notice. We find an instance at hand that will illustrate the subject. About fifty years ago, in Rockland county, New York, there was found a wild broken tract of forest among the highlands, extending into two adjoining towns, belonging to a considerable number of owners, and collectively known as the "Big Woods." It was found that the common interests of these owners, required a union of effort in which a majority might control for the common welfare, and an Act was procured March, 13, 1835, entitled " An Act to Enclose a Tract of Woodland in the County of Rockland." It was a special Act, and after describing the tract by metes and bounds in detail, it named three of the owners as trustees, until others were elected at an annual meeting to be held by all the owners on an appointed day. These trustees were to cause the whole of the tract to be enclosed, each proprietor being allowed to build a certain portion, according to the share of his interest ; or if this was neglected, it was done at his expense. In places where the boundary was along lands not thus enclosed, their owners were of ■course required to build their share as on common partition lines. A record of proceed- ings was to be kept, and a report made at the annual election of trustees. No person whatever, whether an owner or not, was allowed to turn any of his domestic animals into this common enclosure, unless upon his own part — which was to be separately fenced at his sole expense — under penalties that might be recovered by the trustees in an action of debt, and for the common benefit. In short these trustees were vested with corporate powers, in so far as concerned the maintenance of the protection of the combined estate. In this instance, it does not appear that any of the parties included, dissented from the arrangement. If there had been, it should afford no reason why the law should not have been passed, at the desire of a controlling majority. There would be no difficulty in arranging a general statute, in any of our States, that would meet all the contingencies likely to arise in cases of this kind ; and if such a law provided that each owner should have in person or by proxy, a voice in the elections in proportion to his interest, and if the elections and accounting were annual, there appears to be no reason to suppose that injustice could be done. In Prussia, a law was passed in 1875, after several years of discussion, which secured very effectually not only protection but management of the common interests of adjacent forest lands of different owners, after a proceeding which I regard as better -calculated for guarding the rights of all parties concerned, than anything we have in use in this country, and for this reason I will present it as concisely as possible. This law provided that where woodlands adjoining could not be worked conveniently, except by a common association, a majority might apply for measures having this object in view ; might agree upon articles specifying the object, plan and organization, and submit the same to a district tribunal, of the district where located, with all the informa- tion necessary for its full understanding. A time and place being appointed for a hearing, and all parties having an interest being notified, any one of them may appear and state his reasons for or against the proposed union. Those not attending are presumed to accept the decisions of the members present. If approved, a formal code of regulations is prepared and signed, in which the rights of every member are carefully stipulated, including rights of servitude, and the indemnities to be allowed for their extinction ; and when these formalities are concluded, the com- pany is declared fully organized, to continue until dissolved by a similar appointment 276 and proceeding. As such a tract of woodland might be of very unequal value, as well in respect to soil surface and location, as the condition of the timber that might be growing upon it, the values as well transient as permanent, are carefully appraised, and each owner is credited with what is found due. There are obvious economies to be realized in the management of large tracts of forest land, quite as great as those from associated capital invested in large commercial or manufacturing purposes. I am well convinced that the problems concerned in this sub- ject will at a future day become a matter of careful study in this country, — when the time shall approach, be it near or more distant, that the present great sources of our timber supply shall have been spent. Should it be found practicable for capital to monopolize and control our lumber sup- plies, as it does our railroad system, and in various departments, our manufacturers, our financial institutions and our commerce ; we need not doubt but that every advantage in the way of scientific principles and economical methods will be sought, and that the most will be made from the opportunities under control. The time may not be near, but it is none the less true, that these advantages are worth seeking by every owner of a forest estate ; and it is capable of proof that in many sections of the country, and especially in the broken and rocky portions of the Atlantic states that are unfit for agricultural purposes, as well as upon fields exhausted by impro- vident tillage, there is no form of investment that promises a better return. There is certainly no form of cultivation, that, after the beginning, requires less labour, and none which with proper protection is more sure of a profitable return. These opportunities are offered in increased degree upon the prairies, with the additions due to a better soil, greater convenience in working, and often with a nearer market for the products, besides all the incidental advantages resulting to agriculture., which their presence would bring. The Hon. H. G. Joly, of Quebec, read a paper on THE STUDY OF FORESTRY AS AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTOR TO PRACTICAL EDUCATION. There is a danger, in treating this subject — that of exaggeration — which will damage the best cause. The fact that we have met here from such widely distant sections of North America — that many of us, leaving our homes and occupations, have travelled hundreds and hundreds of miles to attend this Forestry Congress — is a strong guarantee that every effort made to raise in public estimation the study and practise of Forestry, will meet with your hearty support. But I wish to appeal to your reason rather than to your sympathy, and to satisfy the judgment of the thoughtful men, who are ready and willing to join every earnest effort, if they can once see that its results will be beneficial to mankind. What is meant by practical education 1 Training the child, his body, his mind, and his heart for the work of life. It is a general preparation for it. When you begin the education of the child you do not know what his future occupation in life will be. A good educa- tion is like a solid foundation built on the rock, ready to receive and support with safety any kind of superstructure that may be erected upon it. Education is training. — There is mental gymnastic to train the mind, as well as corporal gymnastic to train the body. A man is not often called upon in after life to repeat the performances learnt as a boy at the gymnasium. He may even forget them, for want of practice ; but he will preserve through life some of the strength and activity thereby acquired. The aim of practical education or training ought to be as much as possible to choose 277 for the training of children such exercises as will be directly applicable and useful in after life ; and I think the study of forestry fulfils these conditions to a great degree. Timber is in request, more or less, all over the world. The Esquimeaux is about the only man who dispenses with it, not from choice, but because he cannot get it. His winter residence is built with blocks of ice, and he braves the angry waves of the North Seas in a leather canoe, ribbed with the bones of whales. Everywhere else you will find wood, sometimes only the palm tree, or even the bamboo, but everywhere in the wildest as in the most civilized countries, you will find wood in daily use. Where the natural growth of timber is abundant the people will waste it, if they are not brought up with a due consideration of its value. As a Canadian, I can speak with some experience on that point. In such countries people ought to be taught the value of timber; which trees to cut, which to preserve, how to thin their forests with judgment, so as to increase their value, while deriving a good revenue from them. On the other side, where the timber is scarce, or where there is none, like in the western prairies, people must be taught how to grow it. They must learn what kinds of trees are best adapted to their soil, their climate, and their wants, and how to grow them. It is wonderful how little the country people in general know about forest trees. Let them begin to learn when they are young. The best mode of instructing a people is to begin by instructing the children. This is the surest way of reaching the people at large. You will say : " You are speaking of a general system of education ; remember that what you propose will only apply to the country, and not to the cities." By far the great majority of the human race live in the country, and those who are condemned to live in the cities generally look forward, as a happy deliverance and reward for their labours, to the time when they will leave, town and live in the country. Take the most devoted townsman and ask him if the forest trees are not the finest ornament of his streets. But let that distinction stand as between country people and city people, if you like. I will now attempt to show that the proposition enunciated in the title of this paper applies to both cases, and that the study of the elements of forestry can be made an important con- tributor to practical education. How can you teach a child a better lesson of foresight, observation, patience, care for the smallest details, and perseverance, than in teaching him to plant a tree 1 He will soon learn that he can only transplant his tree with hopes of success, in certain seasons ; that, if he does not take it up with care, carry it with care, replant it with care, it will not grow. He will soon find out that, by weeding and cultivating the ground, carefully staking his tree, pruning it judiciously, it will prosper. Speak of the training of young trees 1 Has not that very example of the careful training of a young and tender tree, been taken in all ages, in all countries, as the best example for the education of childhood 1 There are not many schools, even in the cities, where children could not be taught to plant, every year, and attend to at least one tree each. If there is no room on the school grounds, there is room along the streets, the roads, the squares, the uncultivated hills, stony patches, waste ground in the neighbourhood of cities, where trees would always be welcomed. The fact is that in several schools the practice has been already introduced in observation of Arbor Day. It is good work for the body and the mind, and I do not fear to say for the heart, too. What a lesson you could teach a child when he asks : " How long will it take before that tree I am now planting is big enough to be cut down 1 " if you answer : " It may take twenty, thirty, forty years or more ; that is a terrible long time to wait, is it not 1 You may die before your tree is big, or go so far away that you will never see it again. But your work will not be lost, my child. If you do not profit by it others will, and you will have done more than many a grown up man has done ; you will have left something useful behind you." A communication was received from Gen. Hermann Haupt, Manager for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, inviting the Association to an excursion upon their road. The thanks of the Congress were voted to Gen. Haupt for this courtesy, and Mr. J. Fletcher Williams was requested to ascertain the details of arrangement. 19 [F. G.] 278 Prof. Wm. R. Lazenby, from the committee appointed the day previous, to report upon Tree Planting, made the following report : REPORT OF COMMITTEE UPON TREE PLANTING. Forest Trees exist mainly for use, and no knowledge pertaining to the subject of Forestry is more essential than to know how to raise them. Trees may be planted for at least three distinct and special purposes : (1.) For Timber. (2.) For Shelter (an object too often overlooked), or, (3.) For Ornament. Your Committee would emphasize the fact, that the variety of trees grown for any of these special purposes, the manner of treating the seed and raising seedlings, the method of transplanting and after cultivation, will depend very greatly upon the conditions of soil and climate. Hence the success or failure of tree planting in one section, will be no criterion for success or failure in another. So variable are the attendant circumstances, that nothing except a very general report upon the raising and management of trees will be given. PROPAGATION BY SEEDS. No specific time can be given for securing all kinds of tree seeds. "" As a rule, they should be gathered soon after they are ripe, placed upon the ground and covered to a greater or less depth with soil ; the depth depending largely upon the amount of moisture. All seeds which have a porous covering, like the elm, ash, maple, etc., should be sown in a carefully prepared seedbed, immediately after they are gathered. Seeds which have a firm hard covering, like the locust, retain their vitality for a long time, and may be kept in a cool, dry, equable temperature. Such seeds should be thoroughly soaked before being sown. In many sections of the country, seeds like the walnut, acorn, hickory- nut, etc., can be successfully grown by planting them where the trees are to permanently stand, rendering transplanting unnecessary. PREPARATION OF SEEDBEDS." For nearly all hardy deciduous trees, any open ground is suitable, provided the soil be deep, mellow and rich. For evergreens, and a few deciduous trees like the elm, the seedbed must be shaded. In propagating forest trees, it is well to grow several varieties at the same time. Some insects, atmospheric trouble, or ill-understood con- dition of soil, may cause a failure of one or two varieties, where others live and thrive. If all should do well, when you come to transplant, those that are the most valuable may alone be used. TRANSPLANTING OP SEEDLING TREES. As a rule, this operation should be performed after the first season's growth. For some cases, if the season has been unfavourable, the variety a slow-growing sort, and the seedlings are not crowded, it may be better to leave them in the soil till another year. Trees may be transplanted in the fall or spring ; these are points that must be determined by the exercise of judgment. In Forestry, as elsewhere, nothing should be absolutely trusted but your own senses. HINTS FOR PLANTING AND CULTIVATION. (1.) Plant thickly in rows, with full purpose to thin and prune as circumstances shall dictate. (2.) Never plant a tree that has any dead or diseased roots. (3.) Upon a heavy clay soil, never plant seedlings any deeper than they were in the seedbed. On a deep porous or drift soil, they should be planted several inches deeper. (4.) Good cultivation is just as essential in a young forestry plantation, as it is in a cornfield. 279 PRUNING FOREST TREES. A straight stem is always desirable, and to secure this some pruning is often necessary. Trees that are planted for ornament or for shelter should usually be allowed to branch low. Those grown for timber, should be trimmed up, i. e., all the lower branches should be removed. Care should be taken, however, not to carry pruning so far as to check growth. All suckers should be annually removed from the base of trees. CHOICE OF VARIETIES. The varieties most valuable for any given section, will depend upon location, and the demand in the nearest market. Locust, Catalpa, Chestnut, Soft Maple, Box-Elder, Cottonwood, Willow, etc., are varieties which will give the most speedy returns. White Pine, Black Walnut, Butternut, Ash, Oak, etc., while not yielding so speedy returns, will prove in many sections the most profitable in the end. Remarks upon the report last presented, were made by Messrs. Burson, Minier, G. W. Wright and Northrop. Mr. Minier, presented some observations from his experience in the preservation and planting of seeds. He remarked as a general rule, a seed should be placed in the soil to a depth equal to three times its length. Mr. Northrop strongly deprecated the planting of large trees. Mr. Geo. H. Wright thought that soft maple seeds should be planted the same day that they were gathered. Mr. Beadle inquired concerning the planting of black walnuts, and particularly as to the necessity of their being frozen in order to their germination. In the discussion that followed, Messrs. Burson, Beadle, Minier, G. W. Wright and Loring participated; the latter thinking that continuous moisture alone was sufficient. Mr. J. G. Knapp then read the following paper on the EFFECTS OF CLIMATE UPON THE FOREST TREES OF FLORIDA. By the Hon. J. G. Knapp, Simona, Florida. In the discussion of any product of Florida, the peculiar climatic conditions of the state must be constantly borne in mind. In most regions latitudinal, isothermal and isohyetosal lines give clues to natural growths ; and also to what exotics may reasonably be expected to succeed therein. The temperature and rainfall of regions to be compared as homogeneous, must be as nearly identical as possible. It is not enough, that the mean temperature of all the months in the year be equal ; because, such an equality may be reached by very high degrees at one season of the year, and very low ones at another season. The same mean temperature for the year, may be thus obtained as well as if all the seasons had been more equable. So too, the isohyetosals for the year, may be the same in two places, and yet in one region the rainfall may be distributed very evenly throughout all the months, and in the other, all the rains may fall in a very few months. Under both these conditions, there will be the same annual temperature and rainfall ; but vegetations will not be the same. The one may have killing frosts, and the other be nearly frostless. The one may have des- tructive rains and floods at one season of the year, and be parched and rainless at another ; the other region may have the same amount of rainfall, but spread over the entire year. The mean is the same in both, but the extremes differ. Some of these differences, which characterize Florida, will crop out as this paper proceeds. 280 The soil of Florida does not essentially vary from the maritime portions of the other Southern States ; therefore differences of forest growths must be traced to some differing conditions of the climate. In an excellent paper, read at Montreal last year, " On the Distribution of the more Important Forest Trees in the Gulf Region," Dr. Mohr noticed a deviation of forest tree growth from the latitudinal lines, east and west of the Mississippi river. He instanced the long leaved pine (Pinus australis), as having its northern limit at 32° in Texas, while in Alabama it is found two and a-half degrees further north ; and he might have added, that in North Carolina, its northern limit is four degrees further. The over cup oak (Quercus macrocarpus )} is common in the bottoms as far south as 29° in Texas, yet it is even doubtful if it grows in Mississippi or Alabama. He very properly attributes these differences to the changed climatic conditions of the region west of the Mississippi, and mainly to the chilling influences of the north-western winds sweeping with unmitigated force over the vast expanse of treeless plains west of the forest region ; and to the diminished precipitation of atmospheric moisture. Here is a rule which must not be lost sight of in considering any aspect of Florida — an equable distribution of rainfall. Homogeneousness of climatic conditions causes homogeneousness of vegetation. So heterogeneousness of climate causes heterogeneousness of growths. It is not enough that there be the same isotherms and the same isohyetosals in the regions compared, but temperature and rainfall must correspond in months and seasons. San Antonia and Brownsville, in Texas, correspond in latitude and isotherms with San Augustin and the Ten Thousand Islands, in Florida, but the temperature and rainfalls vary essentially. In Texas the summers are hot and dry ; in Florida warm and wet. The Texan winters have severe northers, which, even at Brownsville, would kill the orange tree. In Florida the frosts do not kill them as far north as San Augustin. The rains fall most in winter in Texas, and in Florida they occur in all the months, but most in summer. The dry season of Texas, often a drought in summer, is met in Florida, at the same season, by an average of four showers in a week and a rainfall of three or four feet. In this is found the main cause of the difference of forest growths in the two States. Below the 33rd degree of latitude, the atmosphere may contain the same absolute degree of humidity, or insensible water held in suspension, over Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia or^Louisana and Florida ; yet there may be a great difference in the amount of precipitation in the different localities, owing to a difference in temperatures. The winters of Florida are warmer than in the other States, and the rain and dew are less because the warm atmosphere can retain the moisture. On the other hand the summers are warmer in those States than in Florida, and the latter has wetter summers than the former, which make them suffer from summer droughts. This variation of temperature and rainfall, is one cause of the variation of forest growths. Add to this cause the variation of timber growths already mentioned, which places Texas north of the belt of the long leaved pines, and it is not difficult to suppose most of Florida south of the same belt, and the heterogeneousness of the Florida forest as compared with those of Alabama and Georgia may be accounted for notwithstanding latitudes. DIVISIONS OF FLORIDA. In Florida the isotherms and belts of rainfall have such a parallelism east and west, that the most convenient method of considering its forests is by the lines of latitude. The State extends into seven degrees of latitude, and I shall consider it under seven divisions or belts. 1 Northern, 2 North Central, 3 Central, 4 South Central, 5 Southern, 6 Semi-tropical and 7 Tropical. NORTH FLORIDA. This belt lying between 30° and 31°, embraces all the northern counties, and extends from the Perdido [Partido f\ river to the Atlantic, As far east as the Suwanee river, it is mostly in what Dr. Mohr designates " the great maritime pine belt of the eastern Gulf States f the timber trees of which he has so ably described, as to leave 281 little need of further notice. On the older formations of Gadsdon, Leon, Columbia and Jefferson counties, besides the pines on the most silicious portions, are found the more southern forms of hardwood trees and some of truly Florida growth. Mingled with these are seen a few of more northern growth. These last contain the blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata), red maple (acer rubrum), basswood (Tilia Americana), mul- berry (morus rubrus), sassafras (S. offinale), sour gums (JVyssa multiflora and unaflora), sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua), the magnolia grandiflora, acuminata, and glauca. Among the oaks are the live oak (Quercus virens), willow oak (Q. phellos), swamp white oak (Q. lyrata), swamp oak (Q. Michauxii), water oak (Q. aquatica), turkey oak (Q. Gats- baei) and blue jack (near tinctoria) ; the pignut (Garya porcina), and water hickory or bastard pecan, (G. aquatica.) Dr. Mohr describes many other trees of great value which are found in this belt. The lands on which the hardwoods grow, are denominated " hummucks," or " hammocks," as distinguished from pinelands, and are esteemed the richest soils of the State. The richness is in part due to the character of the soil, but more to the fact that the forest fires seldom run on them to consume the fallen leaves and grass. But this richness has had the effect to destroy these same valuable forests, in order to make fields for cotton and corn. Near the Atlantic coast and east of the Suwanee river the land is more level, and much of it is at times submerged, giving rise to the expression " flat woods." On this land the long-leaved pine (P. australis), loblolly (P. tceda), and swamp or bastard pine (P. cubensis) are found. But owing to the fact that these lands are not sufficiently drained to allow the long tap roots of the yellow or long leaved pine to penetrate the subsoil, these trees are small and low, as compared with those of the dryer lands. The swamp pines are also less than those described by Dr. Mohr, further west. Much of the timber, such as it was, near the railroad lines, has been already stripped off, and the land is left a prey to the devastating fires that during the dry seasons annually sweep over it, and destroy any young trees that might otherwise grow. This belt contains many small swamps, called " Bay heads," filled with small bays, swamp ash (Fraxinus platycarpus), and small cypress trees, few of which are of any value as timber. The cabbage palmetto (sabal palmetto) is common in those flat swamps, but are generally small and short, from some defect in the soil or climate. On places best drained the pines are largest, and the live oaks and water oaks appear. The last on the lower St. John's and St. Mary, become large trees, of little value as timber and short lived as ornamental trees. The causes spoken of by Dr. Mohr as diverging the timber belts from the parallels of latitude, operate in this portion of Florida, and cause the eastern portion to show a range of timber trees of warmer character than in the western portion ; so much that that portion may be considered south of the great maritime pine belt. All of north Florida possesses a very decidedly warmer temperature than even the adjoining counties in Georgia, fitting them to excel in early market gardening. East of the Suwanee the orange is largely cultivated. The wet lands of this belt are not unhealthful, because there is little alluvium in the soil, and the fresh water in the swamps and marshes does not become stagnant. All can be completely drained, and when so done, the cultivation of crops adapted to the soil and climatic condition will become profitable. Before leaving this belt, it should be stated that in Gadsden county, near the town of Chattahoochee, and confined to a small locality, grows the Torreza taxifolia, or stinking cedar, the most indestructible wood known ; also the Florida yew (Taxus Floridiana) grows near the same place. The first is a small tree, but deserves the attention of the arboriculturists in the south. Like the Sequoia, it has come to us from aeons of the past. THE NORTH CENTRAL BELT lies between the 29th and 30th parallels, at the base of the peninsula ; and is affected by the winds from both gulf and ocean. A great climatic change takes place here. In the eastern half of the belt the sweet orange trees are seldom severely injured by frosts, though frosts are seen every winter. The cold atmospheric waves prevent the growing 282 of the lemon, citron, and lime. The oranges in this belt do not contain the same amount of sugar as those grown further south, and the grape fruits and shaddocks are not con- sidered edible. The forest growths, however, wear a decidedly warm aspect. The short- leaved and loblolly pines are seldom met with. The white oaks, magnolias, elms, and gums diminish in size and number ; the black walnut (Juglans nigra), and some other trees disappear from the forests, and other and more southern trees have taken their places in the forest growth of the belt. The climate is becoming more decidedly Floridian. The cold waves are less frequent and injurious in winter. Sufficient rains fall during the colder months for such agricultural products as can be grown. The months of May and June are the dry portion of the year, though they can scarcely be classed as droughty. The summer rains are more frequent than in the northern belt, and the flat woods more often covered with water. These rains have been known to destroy the yellow pines and turkey oaks, in the water lands. Some of the richest hummocks in the State are found in this belt ; but not unfrequently, as in the higher portions of the northern belt, these have been sacrificed to corn and cotton. Some fine tracts of pine lands are found in this belt, but they are being sacrificed to fire and cotton. THE CENTRAL BELT lies between the 28th and 29th parallels. Being near the centre of the peninsula, and under the influence of the Gulf and Atlantic winds, a further climatic change has taken place, and the Floridian character is more fully established in this belt. The parallel of 28°, and the isotherm of 72° nearly coincide, only separating on account of the greater altitude and distance from the ocean and gulf in the middle of the peninsula. Cold waves do not reach this belt with destructive force every year ; and it may be truly said no one can be prepared to speak of the climate and productions of Florida, who has not made himself thoroughly acquainted with this region in all its part. On both coasts are found the mangroves, butterwoods, ironwoods, and other trees of decidedly tropical origin. The sweet orange, both in tree and fruit here approach their highest perfection. In this central belt lie the counties of Hernando, Sumter, and Orange ; the southern portion of Volusia, and the northern portions of Brevard, Polk, and Hillsboro. The backbone of Florida is still found in the counties Hernando, Sumter, Orange, Polk„ and Hillsboro. It is supposed that the highest point in the state is in this belt. Some very rich hummocks lie in it ; and there is much first-class high pine land, on which the orange trees thrive well ; and, as they are never killed by the cold waves, they promise to be durable and prolific. Oranges and other fruits are more profitable than cotton raising, which is yearly increasing in area ; and it is to be hoped that the destruction of the forests for the purpose of cotton growing will not continue. Nearly all the wet lands of this belt may be drained sufficiently to grow sugar cane and rice, and make excellent pastures and meadows. Such improvements may put an end to the firing of the woods and consequent destruction of the forests from that cause. THE SOUTH CENTRAL BELT lies between the 27th and 28th parallels. Wherever the land is sufficiently dry in this belt, is the region par excellence of the semi-tropical fruits. In it lie the counties of Hillsboro, Polk, Brevard, and Manatee. The backbone of Florida extends across the counties of Hillsboro and Polk. Though there is a large area of flat land on which more or less water lies during the rainy season, all may be drained, and made valuable land for agricultural pur- poses. Much of this land is too wet during the rainy seasons for a healthful growth of the long-leaved pine ; and the fires in the dry seasons have destroyed many trees that might otherwise have grown. The cold is never sufficient in this belt to kill the leaves of the sweet orange, grape fruit, and shaddock trees ; and the more tender lemon, lime, and citron are seldom cut by the cold waves. The growth of the citron family is continuous, and they all thrive on soils adapted to their growth. All these fruits can remain on the trees until fully ripe, and they have matured their full supply of grape sugar. Hence the best seedling fruits of the state are found in this belt ; and it is confidently believed that a large proportion 283 of the dry land, from which the wild forests shall have been removed, will be again covered with fruit trees, and thus all the climatic advantages of forests be secured. The wet lands are more subject to winter frosts than the dry ridges, and therefore should not be selected as sites for winter gardens, or for the growth of the more tender fruit trees. The high grounds of the southern terminus of the backbone of the peninsula tend to bend the thermal lines of winter further south in the centre, than on either shore of this belt. The climate of this belt is decidedly Floridian in character, and cannot be compared to anything bordering upon the Mediterranean. From the vernal to the autumnal equinox, the winds, seldom more than the most gentle breezes from gulf or ocean, vary vary from the west by the south to the east ; not unfrequently from all these directions on the same day. The two months before the summer solstice are the dryest, and the three months following that date are the wettest portion of the year. It would therefore be advisable for gardeners, nurserymen, and orchardists to secure the means of watering their crops in that dry period ; while the wet season will admonish them to avoid those lands on which water can accumulate on or near the surface, as to all their crops, except sugar and rice ; or to provide the means of draining them at that season. " Bayheads," abounding in rich muck are frequent ; and valuable marls and rich phosphates are abundantly scattered over it. By the use of these the dry grounds impoverished by the fires that have devastated these lands for years, may be* restored sufficiently to produce crops of grass and fodder plants for the support of stock, upon which farmers here, as elsewhere, must finally depend for the means to keep up the fertility of their lands, and give nourishment to their fruit trees. Notwithstanding the large amount of wet lands in this belt, there is a tract contain- ing more than 2,500 square miles, where mosquetoes are no more troublesome than in the farming lands of the older northern states, and biting gnats are unknown. The fact is mentioned, not accounted for. The forest growth of this belt has undergone a further change. The white oaks have disappeared from the woods ; the basswood, elm, magnolias, ashes, sassafras, the short- leaved pines and many others are seen for the last time. Two pines not mentioned by Mohr are found. On the keys and mainland are found the mangroves, the sea grape (Goscoloba uvifera) ; gumbo-limbo (Bur sera gummifera) ; several varieties of eugenias or iron woods, white buttonwood (Conocarpus erecta) ; black buttonwood (Laguncularia racemosa); sea bean (Dolichos puniens) ; the sweet and sour saps, and several others of the custard apples (Anonas) ; the prickly ash (Xanthoxylan pterota) ; the hog plum (Ximenia Americana) ; the whitewood (Sapindus saponaria) ; the wild fig (Ficus aurea), whose juice forms a kind of India-rubber ; the Spanish dagger ( Yucca aloifolia) frequent the coast, but may be transplanted to the dry lands, and constitute a hedge impervious to man and beast. Single trees will form a body straight as an arrow, twenty feet high, crowned with a spike of a thousand white liliaceous flowers, and its wood assumes the double form of an endogens and exogens, like Dracaena, whose antique form is found in the fossils, clathraria and sternbergia. These are a few of the many trees, shrubs and plants of a truly tropical character, found on both coasts and far into the interior. With this almost tropical climate, and vegetations approaching the tropical, no portion of the state is naturally as free from malarial diseases as this ; and its general salubrity and advantages must guarantee a dense population to this belt. THE SOUTHERN BELT lies between the 26th and 27th parallels, and is embraced in the counties of Manatee, Monroe, and Dade. Its north line passes just north of Charlotte harbour, through the centre of Lake Okeechobee, and a little north of Jupiter Inlet. Its only harbours are on the west side. The few settlements, generally by cattlemen, are confined to the banks of the Miakka, Peace, and Caloosahatchee rivers, to the western keys and the rocky ridge along the eastern shore. The known forests are confined to about the same limits. The peninsula in the southern central belt has been gradually flattening, and the rainy season covers much of this belt with water, without sufficient drains to discharge it into the 284 ocean. Wet prairies are the result, on which only water plants can thrive, though at some seasons these are dry, and for many years they have suffered like the balance of the state by the insane practice of the incendiary's torch ; and all the young trees have been killed as fast as they may have attempted to grow. This, together with the water cover- ing the ground in the wettest and hottest season of the year, has most effectually prevented much of this region from making only a small forest growth. In this belt the influence of a yearly six feet rainfall, and a tropical heat during summer, have caused a complete absence of all truly northern varieties of trees. The live oak, the southern pines, and a hickory near the Pecan, with a very hard shell, are about the only trees of more northern origin found in this region. The cypress is still seen in the swamps ; but, as in the belt next north, it is not the large valuable timber tree of Alabama and Mississippi. The cause of diminished growth is not explained, unless the climate is uncongenial ; and it is only found here because trees better adapted to the climatic conditions have not found their way hither. Frosts are seldom felt in this belt, and all plants that can endure a minimum temper- ature of 40° will succeed on all lands suitable to their growth. On both shores are found cocoanut palms, and other trees of decidedly tropical character, and we may safely con- clude that many other valuable trees may be introduced successfully from abroad. This belt, almost without exception, is sufficiently elevated to admit of perfect drainage. It is now healthful. What effect drainage may have in that respect remains to be determined. I incline to the opinion that it will not be injurious. THE SEMI-TROPICAL BELT embraces all the balance of the peninsula, with the east and west keys. Its harbours on the west are Calvareo Bay and the Ten Thousand Islands, entirely unexplored and unmapped, and Bay Biscayne on the east. The trees are almost exclusively tropical, including the royal, thinax, and cocoanut palms, the cinnamon tree (Ganella alba), the quassias ( Simaruba glauca and S. amara), satinwood ( Chrysophyllum oliveforme), torchwood (Amyrio sylvatica), that will blaze like a candle when fresh cut from the green tree, lignum vitse (Guiacum sanctum), horn wood (Condalia ferrea), the hardest and heaviest of all Florida woods. Mahogany (Sweetenia mahogani), crab wood ( Schcejferia frutescens ), manchineel (Hippomane mancinella), poison- ous to cut or work even when dried, the joe wood (Jaquinia armillaris), the most curious- ly grained and ornamental of all timber, the Bastic (Dipholis salcifolia), the mastic ( Si- deroxylon mastichodendron ), the lancewood (Nectandra willdenoviana), the wild tamarind ( Lysilonra latisiliqua), the tallowberry ( Byrsomena lucida), and many others of great commercial value and commendable qualities. From these trees we have plain indications that other valuable trees may be here produced by cultivation. Except the shores and keys, this belt is unexplored. Most of the Indians left in Florida are hidden in its unknown recesses, where whites have never penetrated. The accepted opinion is that it is uninhabitable by Europeans, or even Africans. No reason is assigned for the opinion. These Indians reach it by land, but are never guides. Neither cattlemen, surveyors, nor naturalists have penetrated into the interior — into a region larger than the States of Connecticut and Rhode Island. What forests may be hidden in its everglades, or what new and old varieties may be found, we know not. Whether it consists of tangled jungles like India and central America, from whose labyrinths men can only extricate themselves by the use of a compass ; or, if it be deep morasses of tall water grasses, and tropical reeds, no one can do more than guess. We only know that most of it may be drained, and converted into extensive sugar grounds and rice fields, with grain-bearing bamboo plantations ; while its drains shall form water ways to the markets of the world, and return to its people such things as they may need. It is health- ful now, as far as known, and the copious rains that fall on it, with the sea breezes that always fan across it, will in all probability prevent any unfavourable results from its drainage and cultivation ; seeing that all its water-ways should be lined with balsam bear- ing trees. 285 TROPICAL FLORIDA consists of the Southern Keys. These are narrow islands washed on every side by the warm waters of the gulf stream. No winds can reach them that do not pass over those warm waters. They are of coraline rocks, and elevated but a few feet above the level of the ocean. Winds reach them unbroken, and storms dash the salt spray across some of them, and waves roll over others ; so much that the firm rooting mangroves cannot obtain a durable foothold, and make a shelter for other plants and hold the sand and wind. On the higher keys are palms and the trees and fruits of the West Indian Islands. The water in the ground is salt, and the inhabitants must always depend upon the clouds for their water to drink. All trees except the palms must be short. The population must find employment in gardening, wrecking, and fishing, and live in fields rather than villages and cities ; and being on the very verge of the trade winds, these keys must be of great value on account of their climate as residences, and for their productions, though from their narrowness and rocky soil they may never be covered with forests of large trees. NUMBER OP TREES IN THE UNITED STATES. There are said to be four hundred and twenty varieties of trees in the United States, and of these full one-half are found growing on Florida soil. More than fifty varities are confined exclusively to this State, more ornamental woods than in all the other States. The climatic conditions we have thus rapidly sketched, the heteroclitical character of Florida, as compared to the balance of the continents of America, Europe, Africa, and a very considerable portion of Asia,becomes apparent, and the trees peculiar to Florida in a great measure demonstrate thisWharacteristic. Those who may desire to introduce other varieties of trees, whether for the timber, fruit, or ornament, will, by an understanding of these climatic conditions, have a clue to the locations from which the desired trees are to be derived ; as also the kinds that will be likely to succeed in this climate. Selections are not to be made from the extremely dry regions of Mexico or California, from the semi-parched coast of the Mediterranean, or the Cape of Good Hope, in Africa, or from the parched peninsula of Persia in Asia, where ir- rigation is absolutely required for production. Rains are as abundant, and in the hottest seasons of the year in central America, and in Brazil, along the Congo, Niger and Sene- gal in Africa ; in the islands of Ceylon, Java and Sumatra, as they are in semi-tropical Florida ; but most of them have a dryer winter. In those places are many trees of great value, which may find a home in Florida, such are the cocoa (Theobamba cocoa) from whose nuts chocolate is manufactured ; the cow tree, (Galactadon utile) which, when tapped, as we do the maple, yields a thick glutinous milk, without acidity, that is drank and eaten as if it were milk from the cow, and is equally nourishing ; the Brazil nut, ( Berthelletia excelsa) whose nuts are so well known, may be grown near the southern shore of the peninsula. It delights in wet marshy lands. The baobab (Adansonia digi- tate) one of which is the oldest tree known upon the globe, and produces the monkey's bread, which is both food and a remedy in putrid fevers ; the bread fruit ( Atrocarpus in- cisa) with many of the higher orders of spice-bearing trees may prove equal to any cold that may occur in our two southern belts, if they may find a foothold in our coraline rocks, and the salt spray not be uncongenial to their growth. Experiments should be made with many of these trees to determine their adaptability to Florida. There are other trees, like the date and other pinnated and thorny palms, upon which sufficient ex- periments have been tried to show that they can be grown as far north as Brooksville, latitude 28° 30'. The cocoa-nut palm will thrive near the coast as high as 27° 30'. Al- though these palms may require twice as many years as the sweet orange before they will bear fruit, yet, when they shall have reached that stage, they will not be less valuable, and with the other valuable trees, will give all the beneficial results, as would the preser- vation of the natural forests, in retaining to Florida its healthfulness, and afford the people even better shades, and the soil better protection. Among the many valuable trees native and exotic, that may be profitably extended to the warmest regions of the State, the pecan (Carya oliveformis) and the mulberry should not be forgotten. The former 286 will follow the bitter pecan ( Carya porcina ) to Charlotte Harbour ; and the moms multi- caulis and morus rubra will nourish all over the State. The latter is a rapid growing tree of valuable timber, and the fruit of both may be made of mercantile value. The olive, as far as tried, thrives well in all parts of the peninsula. A REGION FROM WHICH TO CHOOSE. In casting about for a region nearest assimilated in climatic conditions to our Flori- da, none seems to approach so nearly in its summer rains, equability of temperature and semi-tropical heat, as does the region found near the foot of the Himalaya ranges in upper British India. Here are found some of the largest and most valuable of timber trees, also trees whose fruits are more valuable than the timber itself. Here is the magnificent teak (Tectona grandis) whose timber is preferred by the cabinet-maker to mahogany, and by the ship builder to the live oak. The mango and mangosteen are trees nearly as large as the teak, and their timber is nearly as valuable, while their fruits hold a high rank. The tamarind, and the orange with its congeners are natives of this region. These make large and valuable timber trees, and their fruits are too well known to need description. The orange is known to succeed in nearly all of Florida, and the tamarind is found as far north as the twenty-eighth parallel. Some others have already been introduced, and suc- ceed in the southern belts. Others will do the same. Some will thrive on the drained morasses and everglades ; and others will cover the dry lands, from which the pines shall have been removed, with more valuable timber and fruit trees and shades, and fill the at- mosphere with equally balsamic odours. The tall, straight bamboos, whose seeds equal rye for food of man and domestic animals, can take the place of the tall worthless saw grass and aquatic plants of the morasses, and give their annual yield of seeds and reeds for ages without cultivation. These gigantic straws ar^brought to our ports by the ship load, and are familiar to every fisherman and boy. Florida might and should supply the United States. The peninsulas of Siam and Cochin China, even China and Japan must be searched for treasures with which to fill our Florida. ONLY ONE FLORIDA. The whole earth has but one Florida, and the United States own that. There is only the Florida peninsula in all this world, washed on the west, the south and the east by that greatest of all rivers, " the great river in the ocean," the warmest water of that ocean ; but one region in America, if in all the earth, over which devestating cyclones and tornadoes do not pass ; but one semi-tropical spot over which siroccoes do not blow and parch ; but one region daily fanned by ocean breezes, and whose atmosphere is the breath of flowers and balsamic odours — that region is our Florida. The general Government may therefore well afford to give a few dollars to the ex- ploration, to the study of the capabilities of Florida ; and to place on its soil such trees and plants of value as are adapted to its climatic condition. Florida has in its climate, and may have in its productions, such treasures as none of its sisters can possess — treasures that should be most carefully fostered. Good statesmanship requires the most careful yet liberal legislation on the part of Congress and the State to protect and improve this best inheritance bequeathed by the Father to man, till Florida, from an unknown and much slandered region, least of states in estimated value, shall be ranked among the first of states, not only in her rich productions, but in being the home of a healthful and happy people. Professor Daniels, of Saint Paul, read a paper on HOW TO ENLIST THE SCHOOLS IN AID OF FORESTRY. He spoke of the prevailing ignorance upon the subject of forestry. In creating an interest in the matter, he would first ask the co-operation of the school-teachers, but this also implied an interest on the part of school boards and the State. The first step would 287 be to summon all the teachers to enlist themselves so far as to know trees by sight, so as to be able to call them by their proper names ; for the teachers as a rule were not better informed in these matters than the general public. The essayist went back to the olden time, when country life was more prominent than city life, and when the children, living as they did in the midst of forests, were acquainted not only with the varieties and uses of wood, but of all plant and animal life. The conditions were now changed, and our cities were swarming with people who knew nothing at all about these things. How was such knowledge to be imparted 1 It must be done through the public schools. Every teacher should be able to teach at least the names of the trees passed by the pupils on their way to school, in the public parks and about their homes. To these should be added the fruit trees. The essayist believed it would be proper for the Legislature to require boards of education to require of the teachers sufficient knowledge to teach these things. In time, when the pupils become more advanced, they should be taught concerning the germination of seeds and the setting of trees. The essayist also suggested the plan of having tho pupils cultivate little patches of trees from the seed. If it was urged that the schools were already overcrowded with studies, he would propose that some of the ornamental studies be thrown out and forestry substituted. It was announced that the excursion upon the Northern Pacific Railroad would start from the Union Depot at 8.30 a.m. on the day following, and that the tickets would be issued to Mandan, Dakota, and return. A donation of cut flowers from Messrs. Underwood and Emery, of Lake City, to each member of the Congress was then announced, and upon motion of Mr. Joly, a vote of thanks was returned. The President having an engagement that would prevent further attendance, made brief remarks upon retiring, and the Congress adjourned until 7.30 p.m. Evening Session, August 9. The hour for meeting having arrived Mr. H. G. Joly, First Vice President assumed the chair. Professor Adolph Leue, of Cincinnati, Ohio, read a paper entitled FORESTRAL EXHIBITIONS IN CONNECTION WITH FORESTRY CONVENTIONS. Professor Leue commenced by saying that forestry conventions in this country have a double purpose — mutual instruction on the one hand and the arousing of a popular- interest in the cause of forestry on the other. Nothing should be left undone that may tend to make a forestry convention both instructive and attractive. Instructive to those who earnestly seek information in matters pertaining to forestry, and attractive especially to those who have heretofore persistently remained in that peculiar state of apathy towards our forests, which so advantageously distinguishes the people of this country from those of Europe. The question, How can these be reached, was a problem which at all times had engaged the attention of friends of forestry, and which had never been solved satisfactorily. Forestry, in treating of trees as individuals, of trees in their relation to one another, to the soil, to man, in fact, to all nature, was an extremely interesting study, of which only those who had given it special attention had any idea. In order to reach the indifferent, and create an interest in this study among the people, we must take the forest to them, applying as it were, the advice of Malcolm, when he says : " Let every soldier hew him down a bough, And bear't before him." 288 Not only boughs/bub anything of the forest, that may be instructive, beautiful or even odd, should be brought. Such a collection which the friends of the forest might easily bring together, will, if properly arranged for exhibition, attract the attention of the people, excite their curiosity and induce them to come and see. Seeing will beget a desire to learn, questions will be asked and discourses listened to, in short an interest will be created and the object is attained. Such an exhibition at each of our annual conventions can not be valued too highly as a means of education. It will stimulate researches, im- press upon the mind certain truths, remove doubts, correct errors, become the testing stone of our forestal knowledge. Professor B. G. Northrop, of Connecticut, addressed the Congress at some length upon THE NEED OF A DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY IN COLLEGES. Professor Northrop stated that he had agitated tree planting in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and that now there was not a homestead in Connecticut that had not been beautified by tree planting during the past fifteen years. What was most needed was to popularize and diffuse the sentiment of trees. Men were more readily reached by senti- ment than in any other way. The place to start is at the beginning, and that important fact seemed to have been neglected. There was a school of forestry in Ames, Iowa. There was an arboretum connected with Harvard, but aside from this few steps had been taken to encourage the education of the youth in forestry. In Europe it was one of the rudiments of an early education, and a person destroying a tree or shrub in France or Switzerland would be looked upon as a miscreant just as much as one who would poison the public drinking fountain. What was most needed was to instruct the youth of America in the sentiment of trees and then there would be no need for special legislation to protect the beautifiers of our homes, and we would not be troubled by the starting of forest fires. The value of trees for the reclamation of waste land was not understood, but has been found to be very effective even in Europe. On the shores of the Bay of Biscay terrible storms of sand were continually blowing, and trees were ultimately planted. They protected the habitations on the coast, and where these terrible storms prevailed with such disastrous effects there now stood a beautiful forest over 100 miles long. Thirty years ago Daniel Webster influenced tree planting on Cape Cod, then a barren waste, and to-day there were hundreds of acres under forests. This tree planting had become a matter of vital importance even in China, and recently several trees were planted as an experiment to reclaim waste land near the city of Tine-Tsin, on the property of Wing Ho Tong, president of the Chinese Merchant Steamship Navigation Company. The tree that he was experimenting with was the European larch. This led to a discussion upon certain points suggested, in which Mr. Thane, Professor Budd and others participated. The Growth of Various Trees. Mr. George W. Minier, of Illinois, gave the result of some measurements he had made of forest trees in that State, measuring the circumference- at two feet from the ground, as follows : — Balsam fir, twenty-two years setting, twenty-four inches in circumference ; Norway spruce, thirty years setting, thirty-one inches \ white elm, thirty years, from seed, seventy-two inches ; white ash, eleven years, from seed, twenty inches ; hard maple, twenty -one years setting, thirty-three inches ; tulip, twenty -three years setting, fifty-two inches ; Scotch pine, twenty-one years setting, forty-six inches ; hemlock, eighteen years setting, twenty-two inches; European larch, twenty-one years setting, thirty-eight inches ; white pine, thirty years setting, sixty-three inches ; Austrian pine, thirty years setting, 289 forty-three inches ; red cedar, thirty years setting, thirty-seven inches ; white cedar, thirty-one years setting, thirty-seven inches ; soft maple, thirty-one years, from seed, thirty-three inches ; black walnut, thirty-two years, from seed, twenty-eight inches ; butternut, thirty-two years, dead, thirty-two inches ; butternut, thirty-two years, living, twenty-nine inches ; white willow, eighteen years from cutting, sixty inches ; chestnut, five years from seed, twelve inches ; soft maple, thirty-one years setting, sixty inches ; red elm, eight years from seed, twenty-four inches. Mr. Minier stated that the trees were not selected for their size, but the object in the measurement was to take the trees as they averaged in the State. ARE THE CONCENTRIC RINGS VISIBLE IN THE WOOD A CORRECT INDICATION OF THE AGE OF THE TREES'? Ex-Governor Furnas, of Nebraska, stated that the concentric rings of trees is no criterion of the age of the tree. As a rule Mr. Furnas said the number of rings were in excess of the age of the tree, but he had found one specimen, the age of which was abso- lutely known, which bore less rings than the age of the tree. He had another specimen which contained two rings for every years' growth. Prof. Budd, of Iowa, invited attention to a specimen of white poplar, grown on the Iowa Agricultural College farm. It was a close grained timber, does not warp or shrink, and thought it would be a good "substitute for the white pine. The specimen showed more than thirty rings, while its actual age was not more than fifteen years. In answer to a question, Prof. Budd said his experience in propagating this poplar from twig cut- tings had not been very encouraging. Root cuttings, however, were of quick and strong growth, and twig cuttings put out in the fall generally did well. Mr. Foster, of Iowa, said he had found in trees he had raised and cut — the catalpa — the rings corresponded with the age of the tree. He noticed, however, that there was a great difference in the width separating the rings, but he was not prepared to say that the rings were unerring indications of the age of the tree. Mr. Foster also stated that he had grown a white pine, not yet thirty years old, which was twenty -seven inches in diameter, which convinced him that that timber could be successfully grown. Professor Budd said that he had noticed that in dry seasons trees would produce two rings. Mr. Minier, of Illinois, said he had cut this spring two pine trees he knew to be thirty years of age, in which the rings corresponded with the age, and in his opinion if the gentlemen would look a little further they would find that the timber in which the rings did not agree with the age, they would find it was in cultivated timber. Nature never produced a double flower. Cultivation did that. So, in his opinion, was the ring question, cultivation did the business. As to a substitute for white pine, he thought the reproduction of that wood itself was the cheapest and the best. Professor C. E. Bessey, of Ames, Iowa, took the position if two rings were pro- duced in one season, there must have been two separate and distinct periods of growth that season, and he asked that each member of the Congress resolve himself into a com- mittee of one to study the subject in readiness for the next meeting. 290 Professor Wm. Saunders, of London, Ontario, read a paper on the INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE WHITE PINE. This paper is embodied in the report of the Entomological Society of Ontario for the year 1883. Mr. Elizur Wright, of Boston, Mass., read a paper on THE HYGIENIC VALUE OF FORESTS. In comparative computations this is perhaps the least of the values attributed to the woodlands, while possibly, it is the greatest. Health is of the greatest interest to every organ- ized being. The necessary condition of health to all that breathe is, that the atmosphere shall be reasonably pure. It must consist simply of oxygen gas diluted with about four times its volume of nitrogen. Any other gas vitiates it, and, especially if the air should contain as much as one per cent of carbonic acid gas, it becomes intolerably unwholesome. Geology teaches us that previous to the formation of the coal beds the atmosphere was so mixed with this deleteorous gas, that such breathing animals as men could not have ex- isted. It was necessary to deoxodize the carbon that existed in that gas, before the higher forms of animal life could exist. And this was done by that vegetation which extracted carbon from the air, and left it in the form of coal. But no sooner was the air by the paleozoic forests made fit for breathing animals, than these, in the act of breathing, poured more carbonic acid gas into the air, so that the trees or some other powerful deoxodizer must still keep at work purifying the air, or the breathing animals would be stifled ; for be it remembered that carbonic acid though it mixes freely with common air, is so much heavier that it is always found in the largest proportion near the surface. Well, however it may have come about, what exists to-day is, that animals and vege- tables are dependent upon each other. The warm-blooded animal is constantly pouring out of his blood, through his lungs, waste carbon, in the shape of carbonic acid gas, and the tree is constantly absorbing that carbon through its leaves and releasing the oxygen. We must not argue from the vastness of the atmosphere that the animals can get along with- out the trees. Where is any other deoxodizer that works on a sufficiently large scale 1 Observe that men and domestic animals not only multiply by millions on the face of the earth, but they are disembowling the earth of its coal and burning it by hundreds of mil- lions of tons a year, which means that they are doing much to put the atmosphere into that condition in which only saurian monsters could live. The tall chimneys carry much of the carbonic acid far above our heads, and the kind winds waft it away to the mountain sides, where it feeds the hungry trees. The great Hebrew legislator plainly recognized the hygienic value of trees, where in his Deuteronomy he wrote : "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them : for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege." Deut. xx. 19. The true doctrine, including the mode of operation, of the interdependence of men and trees, is quite a modern one. Its real discoverer died only six days before the pres- ent speaker was born. He was a particular friend of our Benjamin Franklin. Nearly nine years ago, at the unveiling of the statue of Joseph Priestley, at Birmingham, Prof. Huxley used these memorable words : " He laid the foundation of gas analysis, he discovered the complementary actions of animal and vegetable life upon the constituents of the atmosphere, and, finally, he crowned his work this day one hundred years ago, by the discovery of that pure ' dephlogistica- ted air ' to which the French chemists subsequently gave the name of oxygen." For human welfare, was there ever a more valuable discovery in the annals of time 291 Yet Priestley was persecuted for his humanity and really driven from his own country to ours. His country honours itself with his statue. Let ours honour itself with the glorious forests of the future, whose cause he pleads. All vegetables absorb more or less carbon from the atmosphere, but plainly, trees the most, for wood consists mostly of that substance. A white pine will grow on a slightly covered rock, when the soil accessible by its roots could not possibly contain enough car- bon to make a cubic foot of wood till its grand trunk contains 500 feet or more. That trees do not get their carbon from the soil or the water therein, the negative evidence is partly complete. That they get it from the carbonic acid floating in the atmosphere, I will adduce authority from the highest scientific minds of the age. Prof. Balfour, of Edinburgh, after citing and considering all the various opinions and theories of naturalists on the subject, says : — " From all that has been stated, it would appear that an absorption of carbonic acid by the leaves of plants and an elimination of oxygen takes place during daylight, and that this process ceases in a great measure during the night. The exhalation of carbonic acid by healthy leaves is still doubtful, and the appearance of this acid gas may in many of the experiments be traced to an abnormal condition of the leaves. The great function of the leaves thus seems to be deoxydization, by means of which they are instrumental in keeping up the purity of the atmosphere. This function of plants is antagonistic in its results to animal respiration ; for while the latter takes oxygen from the atmosphere, and replaces it by carbonic acid, the former removes carbonic acid, fixes carbon, and gives out oxygen. The processes of respiration and combustion are pouring into the atmosphere a large quantity of carbonic acid gas, while the active leaves of plants are constantly re- moving it, and, under the action of light, substituting oxygen. While plants thus get carbonaceous food, the air is by them kept in a state fitted for animal life." Prof. Ferdinand Cohn, of Breslau, says : — " The leaves are cell- villages which perform their daily tasks in the air and in the light. Their principal business is to obtain coal, which is the chief constituent of the vegetable body. Our atmosphere is an enormous coal mine, many miles in thickness, that cannot be exhausted in thousands of thousands of years. The coal, indeed, is not found pure in the air, any more than the metal in the ore, but is in combination with oxygen as a trans- parent gas, carbonic acid, and a peculiar art is required to separate it. " In the mining districts smelting houses are erected beside the pits, where the noble metal is extracted from the impure ores. The green cells of the leaves combine the art of the miner with that of the smelter, and have the power of extracting the pure carbon from the atmosphere. In order to perform this work they must be shone upon by the sun, for the sunlight alone can excite in them the marvellous faculty. Having extracted the carbon they combine it with water and with the mineral substances that have been drawn from the soil, and prepare from them the living matters out of which the plant it- self builds up its cells, and which, taken up into the body of an animal, are transformed by it into flesh and blood." Hence, I think we may safely concluded that only decaying or unhealthy vegetables ever give out carbonic acid by day or night, and that forests do nothing to speak of in re- gard to the atmosphere, but to absorb the impurities which animals and their arts are con- stantly pouring into it. It follows from this demonstrated fact that keeping up a fit proportion of forest to arable land, is the prime condition of human health. If the trees go, men must decay. Whoever works for the forests works for the happiness and permanence of our civilization. A tree may be an obstruction, but it is never useless. Now is the time to work if we are to be blessed and not cursed by the people of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The nation that neglects its forests is surely destined to ruin. 292 A paper by Dr. A. Eby, of Sebringville, Ontario, was presented by the recording ' Secretary, entitled : — HOW SHOULD WE MANAGE OUR NATURAL FORESTS. By Dr. Eby, Sebringville, Ontario, Canada. As our natural forests will doubtless be used as the bases of the future forests, it becomes us to consider well how we should manage them in order to achieve the best re- sults. In other words, how can we change our neglected, natural woods into forests culti- vated on scientific principles. Many people imagine that nature left to herself will pro- duce her best results ; but experience teaches us that though she may produce splendid specimens, her best results are only yielded when subjected to cultivation and managed according to scientific principles. Profuse and exuberant as nature may be, no one would think of comparing her products with the fruits of our gardens or our orchards. Who does not know the immense superiority of the cultivated strawberry over the wild fruit ; yet it is well known that this result has been attained by the cultivation of the wild plant. In a state of nature the potato produces tubers little larger than walnuts, but by continued cultivation our splendid varieties have been produced. Who does not know the difference between an apple tree left in a state of nature and one subjected to cultiva- tion. In the same way a far larger amount of wood and much more valuable timber can be produced from a given acreage, in a given time, in a forest subjected to cultivation by a scientific forester, than will be produced in the time from an equal area, in a forest left to itself. If we examine a natural forest, we find it consists to a large extent of trees that have reached a state of maturity. Giants, hoary with age, occupy a large extent of ground, extend- ing their roots and their branches widely in every direction. Some of them have doubt- less stood for centuries, and have long since ceased to grow ; and though still showing signs of life and health, are really slowly decaying and will finally die. Their wood, though still firm and sound, shows a looseness of texture not at all found in growing wood. Other trees, not quite so large or so old, are still slowly growing, though their annual increase may not be perceptible. Others again are hardly able to find a place to spread their leaves to the air and the light. These are still young and vigorous, and in the best years of their growth. But as they are, to a large extent over-shadowed by older and larger trees they make but little annual growth. As sunlight is essential to the growth and development of wood cells, small trees that are over-shadowed by those of greater age, grow very little until they are able to expose their leaves to the sunlight. There are comparatively very few small trees, or what are popularly called saplings. Though the old trees bear seeds abundantly, large numbers of which annually sprout, very few manage to find their way to the light. The dense shade of the older trees soon kills them off. Only here and there one finds sufficient light to grow upward, to where it can spread its head to the sun. As it is very difficult for young trees to get sufficient light for their development, comparatively very few reach a state of maturity. They mostly die of starvation. Though in the midst of an abundance of plant food, for want of some light and heat to change the chemical composition of that food, and thus enable the plant to use it for the growth and development of its cells, the plant sooner or later dies from want of sufficient nourishment. As the decay and death of mature trees is very slow, requiring ages for their removal, it requires very few young trees to keep a natural forest intact. As the removals are so slow, but few renewals are required. Very few natural forests contain sufficient young trees to make a dense or close growth if the old trees were all removed. I have seen forests a few years after a full seed year, thickly covered with seedlings which would have rapidly grown up if the overshadowing trees had been removed. But left to a state of nature those seedlings die in a few years, as the amount of light that reaches them is not sufficient to effect the chemical changes in their sap to adapt it to their growth. They die because they cannot get the light necessary to change the food that surrounds them, so as to adapt it for their digestion. An abundance of light is essential to plant growth. As the 293 overtopping trees that occupy nearly all the upper surface of the forest are mostly full grown, their annual increase in size is very small. At the same time the overshadowed smaller and younger trees are stunted in their growth from want of sufficient light. It will thus be seen that the aggregate growth each year of a natural forest must be much less than would be the case if the trees were all of the same age and still sufficiently young for vigorous growth. At what age our native trees cease to grow and the period of their greatest growth are subjects for future observations. Those points can only be decided after those trees have been extensively subjected to forest culture. The observa- tion of their growth in isolated situations, and even in gardens and parks will be of com- paratively little value to the forester. Trees grown in isolated situations have the advan- tage of a greater amount of light and air than those grown in a close forest. At the same time they are more exposed to droughts and storms than the latter. The first point for the forester to consider in taking charge of a natural forest is how shall he restore it to a state of vigour, so as to attain a maximum increase of bulk each year. This can in a measure be done by removing all the mature trees and leaving only those that are still young and vigorous. It can be done still better by removing all trees more than three or four inches in diameter, and even those of that size if they have been injured by the falling trees, or if they have been much stunted in their growth by overshadowing trees. Care should, however, be taken before the removal of trees to have the ground thoroughly seeded. If it is possible to await a year when the trees bear a full crop of seeds it should be done ; but if such cannot be done, or it is desirable to change the variety of the trees, seed or trees must elsewhere be obtained and planted in the vacant spaces between the saplings that have been left standing. A good many healthy sprouts can be obtained from the stumps if care is taken not to injure them in the cutting and the removal of the old wood. If it is intended to utilize the sprouts from the stumps in the growth of new trees, they should be cut as closely as possible to the ground. I need scarcely say that in a forest to be renewed great care must be taken against fire, which not only destroys the life of the stumps, and thus prevents their sprouting, but it destroys the seeds. Where it is necessary to destroy the brush and other rubbish, it should be removed to some vacant lot, where the fire can do no harm. If the area to be managed is small it may be as well to make the changes as fast as a profitable market can be found for the wood, unless it is intended to treat it under the copse system, when it must be changed in accordance to the system of rotation to be adopted. If the area to be managed comprises several hundred or more acres, it should be divided into such lots as it may be possible to replant each year with the help and resources at the command of the forester ; due regard always being taken of the wants of the wood market. If the future forest is to be allowed to grow up to the natural height of the trees, it will be well to divide the forest to be managed into lots corresponding to the number of years that the trees are expected to grow. One of these lots should be renewed each year. Thus a regular system of rotation will at once be established, giving not only a certain area of wood to be felled each year, but the replanting of the same area. Concurrently with the renewal of the annual lots, the large over-mature trees should be removed from the rest of the natural forest, as fast as it is possible to find a profitable market for the wood. If the existing trees are of such kinds as are valued for their timber, they should by all means be preserved, by obtaining a new growth from the seed or from sprouts. But if they are of inferior value or quality, it will be advisable to replace them, at least partially, by more valuable varieties. For example, it would be advisable to change a beech forest into one in which oak or some other more valuable wood predominates. Consideration should always be taken of the future wants of the district in which the forest is situated. If it be near a manufacturing centre, such woods as are in especial request by the manufacturers should be grown, if the soil and climate be at all favourable to their growth. This fact cannot always be known from the fact that the particular trees wanted grow in the neighbourhood or in the same latitude in other places. Some trees bear exposure to a moist or a salty atmosphere much better than others. Some, again, will flourish on a southern exposure, while others require the northern declivity of a mountain. If the district to be managed is far from a railway or other means of cheap 20 [F. G.] 294 transportation, while the inhabitants of the surrounding country follow agricultural pur- suits, the chances will be that fuel and building timber will be in demand by the time the trees will grow up. It will, therefore, in such cases, be well to plant trees valuable for fuel, with a lesser amount of such trees as will be valuable for building purposes. As building material will always be in demand, no one will go wrong by planting such trees, as pine, spruce, laurel, oak, elm, etc. ; which are most highly valued for building purposes. My remarks have hitherto been directed especially to deciduous trees. In pine or spruce forests a somewhat different course should be pursued. No trees less than at least sixteen inches in diameter should be allowed to be removed. Trees smaller in size than that mentioned are still in the best years of their growth, and should be permitted to grow on for future use. At the same time steps should be taken to have the vacant spaces well seeded. Care should also be observed that the ground is properly cleaned for the seed. If it is covered with grass or moss such must be removed before the seed begins to fall. Care should also be taken to have the tops and other refuse removed to some vacant space and burnt to prevent their becoming a source of danger by fire. In districts where fuel is scarce, it may be well to allow poor people to remove the stumps for the sake of the wood. They will thus not become a source of danger from fire when they become rotten. When it is not possible to get the stumps removed, care should be taken to have them cut as close to the ground as possible, so as to be out of the way of future operations. If the trees are cut before the cones have had time to shed their seed, they should be oarefully collected from the prostrate trees and placed on cloths or a tight floor in a dry, warm but airy room so that the cones will open, when the seeds will fall out if the cones be well beaten. The seeds so collected should be carefully sown over the vacant spaces in the forest. In Norway a few of the larger trees are left standing to seed the ground, but as the seeds do not fall very far from the parent stem, the young plants will come up very thickly near them, while the ground will be but sparsely, if at all, covered at some distance from the parent trees. Great care should be taken to have our great pine forests thoroughly reseeded after being cut over. This is a matter of so great importance to the future welfare of our continent that it should by no means be left to the chance of a nat- ural seeding. Where the pine lands are still the property of the government, they should be placed in the charge of an efficient staff of thoroughly qualified foresters, who should make it one of their duties to have the annual cuttings thoroughly reseeded so as to have them reforested as soon as possible. Where the pine forests have become private pro- perty, their reforestation becomes a question of greater difficulty. But as those lands are mostly of inferior quality or worthless for agricultural purposes and offer few induce- ments for settlers, it might be good policy for the state or provincial governments to ac- quire the title to them for the purpose of reforesting them. As forests they would again in a few generations, become sources of wealth to the people and of revenue to their own- ers, the government. Those lands if left in private hands will, from the poverty of the soil, in a few generations become a barren desert, totally worthless to their owner and a loss to the national wealth. I do not wish to be understood as saying that all pine lands are worthless for agricultural purposes, but it can be said of most of them. Many pine lands at first show a great richness of soil, but will gradually become worthless for farm- ing purposes. The vegetable mould that was formed by the decay during many cen- turies of the annual fall of leaves, soon becomes exhausted where the subsoil itself is of a poor quality. Once exhausted, such lands bring the husbandman but a very poor re- turn for the labour he is compelled to devote to them. Planted with pine they would produce a rich harvest and would be a source of wealth to the country, but for other crops they are almost worthless. It will be observed that I have advised the renewal of our natural forests. In my opinion they have reached their maximum growth, and the best thing to be done with them is to make them the basis of future operations. To continue them in thsir present condition is merely storing up the timber for future use in the same way as we store up grain in a granary. It does not gain in bulk, it merely keeps its own. What it gains in bulk by the growth of the young trees it loses in quality by the decay of the old trees. Our natural forests have reached a stage of maturity and the animal growth merely com- 295 pensates the continual decay. What is required is the decrease of the annual decay and the increase of the annual growth, so as to obtain a net increase of bulk. Just in proportion as the increase of bulk exceeds the annual decay, will the forest become pro- fitable. The cost of the land and the expense of planting may fairly be represented as an investment of capital. The annual increase of bulk should be regarded as the interest on the investment; and just in proportion to the annual growth will be the profit on the in- vestment of capital. It would not be advisable completely to remove our natural for- ests at once. Though it might be desirable to renew them as quickly as possible, it would be bad economy to cut them down faster than a profitable market can be found for the wood. At the same time the wood should not be placed so abundrntly on the market as to encourage waste. It is to be feared that such is but too often the case. The owners of our woodlands seem to be but too anxious to get rid of their wood, even if they overstock the market, as is very often the case. While we plant trees in order to create a supply for future generations, we should not forget to economize with the store nature has so abundantly provided for our use and make it last until the growth of our own planting can be utilized. Our people should learn so to economize with their wood that the consumption can be brought within the production, that is as much wood should each year be grown as is required for consumption. We have still a large amount of forest land on this continent and a great deal of waste land that should be reforested. But it cannot be denied that our forests are disap- pearing so fast as justly to afford thoughtful men cause for serious apprehension for the future welfare of our countries. In many of the older settlements wood is becoming so valuable that the people are carefully husbanding what is left to them, but little effort is however made in reforesting even waste and otherwise worthless lands. What is wanted is a thorough education of our people on the importance of always having a certain pro- portion of our lands covered by forests. So long as the Forestry Congress is not well supported by the public sentiment of our people, our forests will continue to disappear and no serious efforts at reforesting will be made until public opinion will compel our governments to take the matter in hand. Far however be it from me to say that our present labours are in vain. On the contrary, they are of the highest importance in edu- cating our people and creating that very public sentiment we are now wanting in order to attain practical results from our labours. When a forest is to be preserved, steps should be taken to make it accessible at all seasons of the year. In other words, roads should be laid out and graded to all parts of the forest, so that if it becomes necessary to remove any fallen trees or thinnings from the forest, it can be done without injury to the growing trees. A waggon driven over the roots of trees will injure them more or less, and will proportionally retard the growth of the trees injured. The question of forest roads may be a question of small importance in woods containing from ten to fifteen acres ; but is a matter of great import- ance when we have to deal with large tracts. It is also of importance where the forest is divided into lots for successive cutting as in copse culture. In such cases, unless the lots are very small, it would be well to have a road around each lot. Care should also be taken to have the forest cleared of fallen trees, and decaying logs and stumps, as these are a constant source of danger from fire. The forester should al- ways carefully guard his charge against fire. A fire of a few hours duration may de- stroy the growth of a life time. The forester should also carefully protect all insect eat- ing birds. Prof. B. G. Northrop, offered a resolution recommending the appointment of an Arbor Day especially for the schools, in the several States and Canada, which was adopted. Mr. Stewart Thane, then moved the following resolutions, which being seconded by Prof. Leue, and discussed by various members, were adopted, viz : "Resolved, That it be an instruction to the Executive Committee of the American Forestry Congress, to call a meeting of enrolled members at the opening of next session, prior to any general 'meeting, to receive reports and communications, and to arrange the order of business.' 296 " Resolved, That in the opinion of this Congress, it is advisable that some member of the Executive Committee, or some member or members deputed by them, shall proceed to the next place of meeting ten days prior to such meeting, to see that all necessary preparations be made for the reception of the Congress." Votes of thanks were then passed — To the Governor of Minnesota for his kindness in granting the use of the Capitol for the meeting of the Congress, and for personal attention ; To the Mayor of Saint Paul, and to the members of the Local Committee for courte- sies and attention to the affairs of the meeting ; Mr. J. Fletcher Williams, in an especial manner for his constant and efficient services prior to and during the session ; To the Burlington Cedar Rapids and Northern R. R. Co.; the Grand Trunk Railway Co. of Canada, the Chicago, Minneapolis and Omaha R. R. Co., the Saint Paul and Milwaukee R. R. Co., the Chicago and Alton R. R. Co., and the Michigan Central R. R. Co , and the Rock Island Railway Co., for the kindness shown to the members of this Congress, and for the concessions granted ; To the gentlemen of the press, who have attended and reported the proceedings. The American Forestry Congress then adjourned to the call of the Executive Committee. The Province of Ontario was officially represented by Messrs. D. W. Beadle and William Saunders ; and the Province of Quebec by the Hon. H. G. Joly and Mr. Stewart Thane. The following paper contains most valuable information upon the subject of NEW AND NOTEWORTHY TREES, SHRUBS AND CONIFERS. By W. C. Barry, Rochester, N. Y. [A paper read by request before the American Association of Nurserymen, Florists and Seedsmen, at their annual meeting, at Saint Louis, June 20, 1883.] During the last few years several beautiful and valuable new trees and shrubs have appeared. It is my purpose in this paper, to refer briefly to some which we have tested and consider most entitled to the consideration of planters. Taking up the family of Maples first, we have the Japanese species and varieties, which, after having been tried for some time in various soils and localities, have, so far as I can learn, proven nearly hardy. It affords me much pleasure to furnish favourable evidence relative to this important qualification, for when these maples were sent out a few years ago, many persons, myself included, doubted their value for out of door decora- tion, supposing them to be too tender to resist successfully the severity of our winters. However, being greatly interested in them on account of their extraordinary beauty, we imported fine plants of the choicest varieties direct from Japan, gave them a fair trial, and now have large specimens doing finely upon our lawns at Rochester, where they have stood out unprotected the last three winters. Our experience is that young plants, until they become well established are liable to suffer injury from extreme cold. Hence spring planting is recommended for them, thus affording the plants a chance to become well rooted before the approach of cold weather. Protection with evergreen boughs the first winter is also suggested, and judicious pruning is attended with the most satisfactory results. In the spring, just before the buds start to grow, every tree should be carefully examined, and the dead wood, of which there is always sure to be some, removed. If the specimens do not grow vigorously enough, give them more nourishment, and cut them back severely. These are simple hints regarding their treatment, but nevertheless important; and if the suggestions are carried out, success can be recorded in the future where failure has been experienced in the past. The best varieties for general use are as follows : The normal form or type, polymorphum, is a tree of small stature, medium 297 growth, and regular outline, having rather slender branches, and small handsome foliage of a pleasing green colour during the summer, but turning to, a rich crimson in the autumn. This species is, I think, destined to become very popular. The variety sanguineum, is a dwarf tree, having rich red foliage, which holds its bright colour till the middle of sum- mer. During the months of June and July a specimen is a very conspicuous and attra- tive object upon the lawn. Atropurpureum is another variety of modern growth, having purple leaves, and when planted with the above produces an effective contrast. Atropur- pureum dissectum, has slender branches, which show a strong tendency to droop, and its leaves are delicately cut, resembling fern leaves, and of a beautiful purple shade. Japon- icum is another very distinct species of medium growth, with large, handsome, bright green leaves, the edges of which are scalloped. It grows more vigorously than polymor- phum and its varieties, and bears some resemblance to the Red Colchicum Maple.' There are several other varieties and forms, but these are the most beautiful and useful. Now a suggestion with regard to the manner of planting. As these trees are what are termed slow growers, it takes some time for them to become effective. Hence, we advise the planter to arrange them in groups consisting of three or six plants. A very satisfactory effect will thus be quickly realized, and every year the group will become more elegant and attractive. For several years the propagation of these maples has been conducted on a very limited scale, owing to the difficulty of procuring stocks to graft upon, and the price of plants has consequently been quite high. These obstacles having been removed, we may hope soon to obtain these beautiful dwarf trees at a moderate cost. Two new varieties of the Norway Maple have recently been introduced from Ger- many, and promise to become important acquisitions. These are Schwedlerii and Reitenbachi. Both have the vigorous, elegant, clean growth, for which the type is so justly esteemed. Schwedlerii has bronzed purple leaves, which appear to the best advantage during the spring time and early summer. As the season advances the leaves change to a duller shade which is less attractive. But in this respect it differs little from purple-leaved trees generally, as they all lose their richest tints during the hot summer days. Beitenbach's maple is of quite recent introduction, and while its foliage lacks the richness and brilliancy of colour, for which Schwedlerii is noted, its purple shade is more enduring and lasts till late in the season. Lorberg's cut-leaved Norway maple is also quite new, but it does not differ enough from the old variety, dissectum, to be of much value, at least such is my opinion at present. Dissectum is a rare and handsome variety, and has always been scarce, owing to the difficulty which nurserymen experienced in ob- taining saleable specimens, its growth being always more or less crooked. Lorbergii seems to be a better grower, and as it can be propagated more successfully, it may displace dissectum. Among cut-leaved trees both deserve our highest regard, as their leaves are deeply cut, and they form elegant specimens. Woorle's golden-leaved sycamore, a recent novelty from Germany, has superb yellow-tinted leaves, which render the tree remarkably showy in spring and early summer. Planted with purple-leaved trees the effect is charming. The yellow hue is not of the character which indicates lack of health ; on the contrary, it has a richness and depth betokening extreme vigour. Still another interesting form of the Norway is the curled-leaf. The leaves are of the usual size, but the lobes curl and turn inward in a curious manner, giving to the tree a unique aspect. This variety must not be confounded with the eagle's claw from which it is very distinct. Acer Tartaricum ginnala is an ornamental variety of the Tartarian maple, of rather slender, yet vigorous growth, rounded, regular form and having small or medium sized foliage. Its health, freedom from insects, hardiness and handsome appearance combine to make it a desirable addition to the list of small trees. Acer velutinum is a species brought to notice recently, but its origin I am unable to give. In general appearance it resembles somewhat the sycamore, but the foliage is thicker, of a dark green colour, and the petioles are deep red. The impression I have formed, after examining a small specimen, is that it will prove to be a distinct tree of considerable merit. We have now studied the maples pretty thoroughly, and will pass to other interesting trees. Memminger's horse-chestnut is a comparatively new tree, having showy pale yellow 298 foliage, suffused or sprinkled with white. This shade, though peculiar, is effective and beautiful, and a well developed specimen appears to fine advantage, especially in spring. Later on the delicate tints of its leaves fade under the effects of scorching sun, and then it reverts te the ordinary form of the horse chestnut. Alnus tiliacea is a noteworthy tree, having the foliage of a linden and the growth of an alder. Indeed few would recognize it as an alder. Its fine pyramidal form and rich, glossy, dark green foliage render it an elegant tree. The large, double-flowering almond, although it has been known to some extent for many years, deserves mention on account of its rarity. As a flowering tree it has few equals. A specimen about five years old is now in full bloom on our grounds, and I can- not refrain from expressing my surprise that so valuable a tree should be so neglected. The specimen I refer to is a mass of blooms, every branch and branchlet being literally cover- ed with flowers of a delicate pink shade, and perfectly double like small roses. The double red, double pink and double white flowering peaches, are exceedingly showy and ornamental, and wherever seen elicit expressions of the highest admiration. How are we to account for their absence even in fine collections? Is it necessary to call them novelties in order to insure their recognition 1 At the present time I do not know any subjects more worthy of our attention and I strongly urge their propagation and dissemination. Cerasus Japonica, rosea pendula, a weeping cherry from Japan, lately introduced, is destined to wide-spread popularity. Grafted standard high, its slender branches droop like those of the Kilmarnock willow, and form a symmetrical head which is sure to please admirers of this class of trees. As the Kilmarnock willow has become pretty generally disseminated, this introduction has enough merit to be ranked with it, and no doubt public appreciation will be shown in its behalf, and a large demand created for it. Cercidiphyllum Japonicum is a distinct tree introduced lately from northern Japan , where it is said to attain large size. It is pyramidal in form, of vigorous growth, but slender and compact ; foliage small, heart-shaped and some what like that of the Judas tree. Specimens have stood out uninjured in our grounds for three years, and we have no doubt as to its hardiness. Its propagation is not easy, hence this promising addition will be rare for sometime to come. Variegated-leaved Tulip tree. We have in this variety similarity of likeness in all respects to the normal form, except in the leaves which are bordered with yellow, the effect of which is most pleasing. The young subjects which we have seen promise to grow in beauty as they acquire age, and a large well grown specimen will without doubt prove a most interesting object to lovers of rare and curious trees. Phellodendron amurense or Chinese Cork tree comes from Manchuria, where it is said to attain the height of sixty feet. In general appearance and rapidity of growth it resem- bles the ailantus. Some authorities claim that it is destined to take the place of the ailantus, being possessed of all the valuable characterists of that tree, without any of its objec- tionable features. . Quercus concordia or golden oak is a variety of the English, which will undoubtedly prove to be a great favourite with planters as soon as it becomes better known. It is a rapid, vigorous grower, and its leaves are of a rich golden yellow colour, even from the time they appear in spring ; and they increase in richness as the season advances, assuming their most charming tints late in the summer and fall. The colour is exceedingly grate- ful to the eye, and is so enduring that a specimen in perfection makes an impression which it is not easy to forget. Among golden-leaved trees there is certainly not another which can compare with it, particularly in autumn, and, when planted near a purple- leaved tree, the effect is grand. The Fastigiate Birch is still a rare tree, although it was disseminated some time ago. It has the upright habit of growth, and spiry, compact form peculiar to the Lombardy poplar ; hence it is quite unlike any other birch. It will be found useful to give variety to a landscape, and can be employed where the poplar could not, owing to the size which the latter attains. A real gem among magnolias is Halleana or stellata, which, though it was brought some years ago from Japan, is rarely seen. The Chinese magnolias, usually cultivated, are distinguished for their size and stately appearance, and are great favourites with the 299 public on account of their remarkable flowers. Halleana is quite different from the other varieties, being of dwarf habit of growth, and forming a symmetrical bush. Its blooms appear very early in spring, before those of any other magnolia ; a fact which tends to give addition I value to the plant for spring decoration. For the margins of groups or borders it w < Ube found extremely useful, and it is sure to gain numerous admirers wherever it is disseminated. Van Geert's golden-leaved poplar has showy yellow foliage, which renders it a highly effective tree in groups. For a long time we questioned the value of this variety ; but its bright and enduring shade makes it conspicuous, and we think it merits attention. The purple, myrtle-leaved Elm is a new variety of medium size, having small myrtle- like leaves of a dark purple colour. The foliage is pretty and the colour permanent. It has not been my good fortune yet to see large specimens : but judging from the small plants I think we have in this novelty an addition of high merit. The colour of the leaves is very much darker and more lasting than that of the old variety campestris purpurea. There are several other new and very promising kinds of elms, with variegated foliage, but I will defer a consideration of them until they have been better tested. A very well defined and curious variety of the English elm is that called monu- mentalis. Its habit of growth is erect, compact, and its form conical, resembling as its name implies, a monument. It grows slowly, and can be employed in small grounds advantageously. Ulmus Wredei aurea is a golden-leaved elm, which bids fair to become very valuable. The leaves have a rich, warm yellow tint, which is permanent, and consequently a fine specimen arrests attention and commands admiration. SHRUBS. The common red dogwood is much esteemed by planters for winter decoration, on account of its dark red or crimson coloured bark. The variety to which we now draw atten- tion is called Sibirica, and its bark is of a bright red colour. In the depth of winter the bark is brightest, and a single plant or several together form a most interesting feature in a garden. In the summer its beauty is also apparent, for the foliage is of a pleasing green colour and the white flowers which it produces in spring are followed with purple fruit. This is not by any means a new shrub, nevertheless it is rarely found. Its merits have been/withheld from the public long enough, and I trust it will soon receive the recognition to which it is justly entitled. Shrubs of this character are doubly valuable, being ornamental and effective both in summer and in winter. The crimson and red branches of these two varieties when placed in contrast, produce a very pleasing result. Cornus sanguinea elegantissima. In this we have a new claimant for public favour. Its origin I cannot give ; but when in Europe two years ago, I found it in one of the nurseries, and was much impressed with its beauty and value. Fancy a red dogwood with handsomely variegated leaves, or rather having its leaves broadly edged with silvery white. Cornus mascula variegata has long been held in high regard on account of its distinctly variegated foliage. In some particulars this new variety of sanguinea will surpass it. The variegation is brighter and the shrub more rapid and less formal in its growth, hence it can be made use of in a greater variety of ways. As a new shrub of high promise it will certainly receive a great deal of attention. Prunus pissardi, or purple-leaved plum, is a novelty sent out from Paris last year. Its leaves are purple, the colour is permanent, and I think this new plant will prove to be an acquisition. A pure white Weigela of good habit of growth, has long been sought after. During the last few years several so called white varieties have been ushered into notice, but the flowers, nearly always turned out to be blush and frequently rose-coloured. Hortensis nivea the old variety, which bears pure white flowers, and which is comparatively well known to nurserymen and florists, has not been disseminated, being extremely difficult to propagate. Its habit of growth also is quite unsatisfactory. Hence Candida, which 300 is a strong upright grower and an abundant producer of pure white flowers, will at once be pronounced a desideratum. It has the additonal merit of being a perpetual bloomer, flowers being upon the plants nearly all summer. Nurserymen will have no difficulty in obtaining a stock, as it can be easily propagated. Other new weigelas which appear to be very promising, are Lavallei, a variety with reddish purple flowers, the darkest of any. Its habit, however, is loose and spreading. Edward Andre, a latter introduction, bears flowers of a very dark shade, and is a better grower. P. Duchartre produces flowers of a clear amaranth shade, which contrasts finely with the yellowish foliage of the plant. Hendersoni bears medium-sized flowers of a red colour. Both of them have a good habit and are free bloomers. Spiraea cratsegifolia is not a new variety, but still quite rare. It resembles the well known lance4eaved, in colour, size, and form of the flower, but differs from it in foliage ; and it has the valuable characteristic of being more hardy. I consider lanceolata a grand shrub, and in localities where it is hardy it comes out in spring, loaded with pure white blooms, and a large plant resembles a mass of snow, affording a striking contrast with the profusion of green which prevails at that season. But it often happens that much of the flowering wood becomes injured, hence, an equally fine variety, possessing greater hardiness will be an acquisition. I think we shall realize the improved form in cratcegi- folia. While on this subject, I .should not fail to refer to another improved variety of lanceolata, which has given much satisfaction. It is called lanceolata robusta, which ap- pears to be more vigorous, hardier, and its flowers are larger. Spiraea Van Houttei is another form, distinguished for its hardiness. There is another addition to the family of spiraeas which is quite novel. It has received a rather indefinite name, being called species Japonica. It appears to be closely allied to the type callosa, and like that species, does not grow large, but forms a symmetrical bush and yields an abundance of flowers all summer. Its regular shape and small habit of growth will make it useful for borders of groups, and for planting singly on lawns of small extent. The golden syringa is a most charming golden-leaved shrub. When planted alone or associated with other shrubs in a group, its bright and delicately tinted leaves create a pleasing effect. We now come to the consideration of one of the most important acquisitions made recently, Xanthoceras sorbifolia, for this is the name of the new aspirant. It comes from Mongolia, or the centire of China, where it was found by the Abbe David, and brought to Paris about 1868 by a Frenchman named Pichou. It is of medium size, forming a shrub or small tree not exceeding ten to twelve feet high. Its leaves resemble somewhat those of the mountain ash and its flowers are five-petaled, white, and reddish copper coloured at base, and disposed in racemes. They appear in April and May at the same time that the leaves are developed. The flowers are succeeded by fruit. CONIFERS. Having now discussed the merits of the best new flowering shrubs, we will proceed to examine a few of the best new coniferous trees. First upon the list and perhaps one of the most important gains of many years is the Rocky Mountain Blue Spruce, {Abies pungens.) Its chief merits are great hardiness and beauty. So much disappointment has resulted from planting tender evergreens, that planters generally are commencing to lay great stress upon hardiness, and it is right that they should do so. What advantage is there in growing fine specimens of rare species, only to lose them as they reach perfection. Two years ago when in Paris, I saw in every section of that grand city, ruined specimens of noble and rare evergreens, which it had taken years of patent attention and care to develop. To be sure these extremes do not come every year, but as I stated in a former paper, we cannot place too much importance upon the qualification of hardiness. The blue spruce is the bluest of evergreens, and a well developed specimen is a sight that will charm every lover of beautiful trees. I would like to say something about the beautiful Retinisporas, plumosa aurea and argentea, and 301 filicoides. These are charming evergreens of moderate growth and medium size, and well adapted to plant in small places ; but they are tender with us, and must be protected with a few branches of evergreens, or they will suffer in winter. Those who are willing to devote extra care and attention to them should introduce them to their gardens by all means. But for the general planter in cold regions, we cannot yet recommend them. Pinus ponderosa, the heavy wooded pine of California, has proved to be a most valuable accession. It is perfectly hardy, of fine form, has long distinct foliage, and is a vigorous grower. Pinus Pallasiana has bluish f oilage, and is hardy and beautiful. Pinus Jeffreyi, from California, has also succeeded admirably, being hardy and very orna- mental. Abies parviformis is a dwarf spruce, of slow growth and small foliage. It is an excellent small evergreen ; very hardy and will be useful for small grounds. Abies nigra Doumetti, is a handsome form of the black spruce, of dwarf habit and compact growth. The Silver-variegated Japan Juniper, with foliage of a glaucous green colour, and the golden Japan Juniper, which has golden yellow foliage all the year, are two varieties to be commended. The Golden Yew, Taxus elegantissima should not be overlooked, nor should we for- get the pyramidal Arbor-Vitse or Geo. Peabody, with its golden foliage. The Golden Yew and Geo. Peabody are undoubtely the two best golden evergreens. And among the Arbor- Vitses there is nothing hardier or more handsome than the pyramidal. The new varieties of Arbor Vitses introduced by Mr. Robert Douglas, are very promising. I will not occupy your attention longer, but in closing I desire to say that it is a great satisfaction to those engaged in horticultural pursuits to know that there are always new pleasures to look forward to. With each year comes some new tree or plant to engage our attention, and demand our care, and our interest is never permitted to flag, even for a moment. What a gratification it is to aid in the dissemination of a really valuable article. Joy enters the home when the new plant arrives ; the new comer is welcomed, receives the best of care from loving hands, and if it proves worthy, affords genuine happiness to the household. But if perchance the great expectations should not be realized, and the high priced novelty should prove worthless, what sorrow and disap- pointment follow. Let us therefore exercise a care that we distribute only good things, and thus contribute to the welfare and happiness of our fellow beings. In the summer of 1882 Mr. Charles Gibb, of Abbotsford, Province of Quebec, in. company with Professor Budd, of the Agricultural College, of the State of Iowa, visited Bussia for the purpose of ascertaining what fruits, trees and shrubs, growing in climates similar to our own, could be procured from that country likely to be of value to us. On his return he prepared his Hasty Notes on Trees and Shrubs of Northern Europe ana Asia, for the Montreal Horticultural Society, which were published in the Eighth Beport of that Society, 1881-2. At the request of your committee, Mr. Gibb has kindly revised and enlarged his notes and furnished them to us for publication in this report. We take much pleasure in calling very particular attention to Mr. Gibb's paper, as being full of very interesting information of great value to all who reside in a climate of great extremes, as is that of a large part of our Province. Many of the trees and shrubs mentioned by him are worthy of extensive trial in Ontario, as being likely to prove of value for economic pur- poses, or for ornamentation, or for both. These trees, although botanically identical with those of western Europe, are more hardy. Seeds of these obtained from Russia and grown in Ontario will produce more hardy races than those we have hitherto obtained from England, France and Germany. 302 ON TREES AND SHRUBS OF NORTHERN EUROPE AND ASIA. By Charles Gibb, Abbotsford, Quebec. With notes added in December, 1888. The experience of the Russian horticulturists is just like our own. They have searched central and western Europe for new species, and have found among the many tried a few hardy and valuable. They have searched for new species on this continent, and in some instances, like ourselves, have received the southern forms of hardy species. Have you the Ash-leaved Maple 1 I ask Dr. Regel, the Director of the Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg. " Yes, but it is not hardy here." It is the only street tree in Winnipeg, I replied. " Then I have some Southern form," he said. Yes, such is his experience and ours, and such must continue to be our disappointing experience until we establish direct communication with our like climates in the old world. The Russian botanists had tried to find us years ago. They had endeavoured to get into correspond- ence with the botanists of the colder parts of Canada through their Consul at New York. They failed in this, but turned their attention to the cold climates eastward to the Pacific. In the Imperial Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg, we find the flora of the cold inter-continental climates of eastern Russia, Siberia, northern Turkestan, Soongaria, Mongolia, Mantchuria, and Amur, our own like climates in the old world. Europe may well be proud of her botanic gardens. The large outlay of the European Governments seems to have been money well invested. Botany in its relation to agriculture, horticulture and forestry is a science deemed too valuable to be suffered to remain untaught. Russia is in no way behind in this matter. At St. Petersburg what cannot be grown out of doors must be grown within, thence they have there the largest number of species under glass in the world. Not only in the larger cities, Moscow, Warsaw and Kiev, but in the smaller towns like Kazan, Voronesh, Orel and Penza (the last not visited by us), we find Botanic Gardens such as we might feel proud to own. A generation or two ago, when Loudon and Lindley were at work in England, the Royal Horticultural Society imported from all parts of the world the plants likely to be useful or ornamental in England. They sent agents to China. Robert Fortune, how- ever, spent much of his time at Canton, almost in the tropics. He was not in search of plants suited to the climate of Quebec, and yet some of our best hardy shrubs were brought to light at that time. This was probably the age of greatest horticultural interchange the mild temperate regions have ever seen, and upon it is largely based their present advanced horticulture ; and yet this work has been of only minor use to us. In the tropics, and in the sub-tropical climates, the British colonies have taken the lead in this matter of botanic gardens ; wherever there is a colony of any size there almost always is a botanic garden. Ceylon, India, (several), Singapore, Hong Kong, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, Mauritius, Cape of Good Hope, av ' many others which I am not sure enough to note have their botanic gardens. Also in the West Indies, Jamaica, Trinidad and Demarara. The East and West Indies have interchanged for over 100 years ! Read the reports of the Jamaica and other Botanic Gardens in the library of the Montreal Horticultural Society, and you will see that it is this botanic interchange which has built up the present enormous export trade of the tropics. Now there are two points to which I wish to draw special attention. I. We in the cold North have hardly begun to exchange with our like climates in the old world. II. In Canada we have no Botanic Gardens. As to exchange with our like climates, that will begin next fall. As to botanic gardens we must speak less hopefully. Our horticultural societies have done good work. Our universities do not neglect the science of botany. We have some fair 303 collections of trees, some horticultural gardens; but our Government has never seen the need of expenditure upon botanic gardens, as have the Governments of the European powers, and the Governments of other British colonies. That this great Dominion of Canada, which stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, should be without a botanic garden, or a series of such gardens, is a fact without parallel in British Colonial history. Note. — It was at a meeting in Winnipeg, in August last, at which Messrs. Joly, Saunders and Beadle urged the formation of the Manitoba Horticultural Society, that I was speaking of the good work which had been done by the Botanic Gardens and testing grounds of the other British colonies. Mr. J. R. G* Moffatt then brought to notice the interesting fact that it was not the British colonies who began this work, but the early Dutch, Portugese and Spanish colonies, in their earliest days, 200 and even 300 years ago. Mr. Moffatt had visited the Botanic Gardens of Wellington, Aukland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson, in New Zealand ; of Adelaide, Melborne, Sydney and Brisbane, in Australia ; of Hobart Town and Laun- ceston, in Tasmania ; of Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, in the Cape colonies ; of Colombo and Point de Galle, in Ceylon ; of Penang and Singapore. Yes, Mr. Moffatt had visited these, or most of these, and others (not British) as those in Java, Sumatra and the Philippines. He had studied their pro- ducts and their work. He urged the establishment of testing grounds, because he knew the value of them, and it is because I have personally examined the testing grounds in Jamaica, plantations upon high levels and low levels, on the dry scorching seashore, and on the misty mountain tops 6,300 feet above it, and because I have noticed how dependent the prosperity of this island has been upon this experimental work, that I said above, " that it is this botanic interchange which has built up the present enormous export trade of the tropics." Should this great government work be left mainly to private individuals ? Surely not. On the European Forestry plantations I must say a few words. The planted districts in France we did not pass through, but we obtained some idea of their method of work by visiting the Forest School at Nancy. One may get some idea of that work by reading their reports now in the Montreal Horticultural Society's library. In Ger- many we were continually passing extensive plantations of Scotch Pine {Pinus silvestris), bordered with Norway Spruce (Abies excelsa). The Germans are most economical in the use of wood, so that pine so extensively planted must ere long become an article of export. But where are the hardwoods needed for a thousand different pur- poses. Strange this exclusive planting of one species. So well are the forest plantations of Wurtemburg cared for, that the term tl high culture" could with justice be applied to them. Evergreens are easily and cheaply propagated in the climate of Germany, and hence the method of planting adopted is that of close crowded planting, which of course, necessitates continued thinning. In Russia the Government controls, in fact " works," a large proportion of the forests of the Empire. Of natural and planted forest the Government held in 1878 what is equal to 351,780,000 acres, exclusive of Siberia, besides about 51,590,000 acres of scrub at the far north. In 1878 they received from these forests an income of 10,648,000 roubles, and expended on new plantations, and working expenses, 6,400,000, leaving a profit for the year of 4,248,000 roubles, or about $2,124,000. The extent of the plantations in Russia I cannot state. I know, however, that in three of the Steppe Governments in Southern Russia, 22,880 acres have been planted within the last eight years. There are 762 forest stations under the charge of a like number of foresters; and as we journeyed over the prairie regions of Russia, we were continually coming across some forestry station with its surrounding plantations. Like the beet sugar factories they are scattered all over the otherwise treeless plains. Unlike the plantations in Germany the Russians have planted not only their native forms of the Silvestris pine and Norway spruce, but largely of Pedunculata oak, ash and basswood, and somewhat of larch, birch and poplar ; also in the southern steppe regions, yellow locust, maple, elm, honey locust and others. The Imperial Forestry Association was in session at Moscow at the time of our visit. Delegates from all parts of European Russia had assembled under the presidency of Dr. Arnold, Director of the Agricultural College, at Petrovskoe Rasumoskoe, near 304 Moscow. They meet biennially. We drove to the Government forests in coaches hold- ing eight persons each, on side seats, back to back, drawn by four stallions abreast. After luncheon I was called upon (my friend, Mr. Budd, was not present that day) to plant an oak, which is the joint property of the Canadian and United States Govern- ments, and which may be worth several hundreds of dollars some centuries hence. These foresters are a fine set of men. It was one of this staff who, of his own accord, and at his own expense, accompanied us through the fruit-growing peasant villages of Kazan, sharing' our discomforts and sleeping upon a bundle of hay when necessary. As to the climates of the places I name, I must refer to my report on " Russian Fruits." Had I had more time I would have shown what these climates are, not from meteorological tables, but from the flora in their botanic gardens. I would merely say that the mildness of central Europe one may judge by the trees growing in the well- sheltered Botanic Gardens at Warsaw. Here, in latitude 52|°, we find Sophora Japonica ten or twelve inches in diameter of trunk, growing from an old stump which had grown to a diameter of two and a-half feet ; Juglans regia had grown up with two trunks, each twenty- two inches across ; Tulip tree, large and low branched, measuring three feet across its stump at the ground ; Gingko, of eight inches diameter : Cornus mascula, twenty-five feet in height, and thirty feet across its extended branches. The horse chestnut grows luxuriantly, and attains very large size at Warsaw. I must say that these trees could not be grown in open exposure near Warsaw, for such is the ameliorating influence of a large city that the shelter it affords is equal to a difference of more than fifty miles in latitude. Proscau in Silesia, on account of its elevation of 720 feet, its open exposure and cold soil, is a rather more severe test of hardiness than the sheltered city gardens of Warsaw. North and east of Warsaw the climate soon becomes severe. These notes I have written as addenda to a somewhat lengthy article on " Ornamental Trees," written by me last year for the seventh report of the Montreal Horticultural Society, so that what I say is merely a jotting down of things not said then. Note. — This is a sequel to my report on " Russian Fruits," and should be read in connection with my notes on climate and table of temperatures. I would also urge the study of the reports written by Mr. Budd, Professor of Horticulture in the State Agricultural College, at Ames, Iowa, my fellow-traveller. His notes are of great value to the north, and I will freely quote from them. ACER— Maple. A. Campestre. — In my paper on "Ornamental Trees," I spoke of this as a tree or shrub that would prove hardy, if only we obtained our seed from northern stock. Its beauty in Central Park and other places had made me wish we had its northern forms. In the Imperial Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg, we find a fine specimen, eighteen feet in height, apparently quite hardy. Another in the Botanic Gardens at Orel, thirty feet ; this latter, however, not cork-barked. In the grounds of the Agricultural College at Petrovskoe Rasumovskoe, near Moscow, their stock did not prove hardy. It is a native tree north of Kursk, in central Russia, and runs thence north-west into the Baltic provinces. Further south it grows to larger size. In the Botanic Gardens at Warsaw there is a tree twelve inches in diameter of trunk, and at least forty-five feet high, not cork-barked, and in the Vienna Botanic Garden, twenty inches in diameter of trunk, and forty feet or more across its extended branches. This, too, is not cork-barked. A tree capable of standing drought well. I am at a loss to know what name to give this tree. English cork-barked maple will not do for a tree worthless to us if grown from English seed ; a tree not always cork-barked. Let us procure seed of this pretty shrub maple — seed of northern growth. We need direct communication with the botanic gardens, and nurserymen and seedsmen of our own like climates in northern Europe. A. negundo fol. variegatis argentum. — This is a variety of our ash-leaved maple, with white-edged foliage. It is very ornamental, and largely used, top-grafted in central 305 Europe. Further north, grown as a low shrub with slight protection, otherwise not at all hardy in extreme climates. Note by D. W. Beadle. — The foliage of this tree unfortunately is badly burned by the hot summer sun south of the line of the Great Western Railway, so much so that the tree cannot make a healthy growth. In my own grounds it has at last perished from want of sufficient leaf action to ripen the wood. A. platanoides (Norway Maple). — We did not find this tree grown in as large quantity in Russia as I had expected ; nor did we even find specimens of it as large as our own sugar maple. We find it as a street tree, and in gardens in all the Russian towns, but in limited quantity only. I noticed on the Volga, in the dry regions, that the trees growing there, trees looking just like the platanoides of western Europe, stood drought remarkably well. Var. dissectum. — This pretty thing we found in severe climates, and in Vienna we saw a specimen eight inches in diameter of trunk, with a dense, round head, nearly thirty feet in height, showing that it attains larger size than I had expected. Var. fol. digitalis we say only at the Pomological School at Proskau, eastern Prussia. A small tree with leaves still more cut than dissecta. Var. Reitenbachi a curious and a pretty tree. Leaves, dull brown in summer, and in spring, red. I do not remember seeing it north of Warsaw. Var. Schwerdlerii. — A maple with young shoots bright red. Quite hardy at Riga, says Mr. Wagner. We did not see it further north. A. Tartaricum (Tartarian Maple). — This tree is a native near Moscow, and may be seen in the botanic gardens and parks in the severest climates we visited. It is an " entire-leaved" maple, grows into a large bush, and is decidedly ornamental. It is a pity that the trees of it for sale in the States are not to be relied upon for hardiness. We must get northern stock. Var. Ginnala (tegmentosum of some catalogues.) — A very pretty shrub maple from Amur, noted as quite hardy at St. Petersburg, though only fairly hardy at Riga. My Moscow notes do not mention it. Hardy enough for Montreal, I should expect. JESCULUS AND PA VIA— Horse Chestnut. As we wandered from place to place we found decided variety in foliage of this tree. Mr. Budd used to notice the thickness of leaf of the trees in some districts, as likely to stand the dry air of the Iowa prairies. The best collection we saw was in the Botanic Garden at Munich. Here special attention had been given to making a large collection. Specimen trees at St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Volsk looked as if out of their latitude. One thing, however, we observed, and that is the hardiness of the Pavias or smooth- fruited horse chestnuts, and these Pavias, we were told in several places, were European, not American. ALNUS— Alder. There are some beautiful shrubs among the Alders. Imperialis is said to be the least hardy, and yet I would expect it to thrive in a sheltered city garden in Montreal. Incana laciniata has a dull, sombre tint, very unusual ; leaves deeply cut, and very ornamental. It seemed and was said to be, quite hardy in the nurseries at Riga. Incana pinnatifida or acuminata in the Botanic Garden, St. Petersburg, is a large bush twenty-five feet in height, with a trunk twelve inches in diameter ; foliage dull in colour and deeply cut. From my notes it must be very like Laciniata. A. glutinosa oxyacan- ihafolia is well named, and, like those above, bears no resemblance to an ordinary Alder. It is light and airy, and rather pretty, but sparse of foliage, and should be headed in to make it appear to good advantage. AMELANCHIER— June-berry. We found nothing of special value, but I must speak of kinds which have already found their way into the west, probably from Europe. A dwarf variety has been grown 306 by a German in Greene Co., Iowa, for the past twelve years. Mr. Budd, who visited the plantation, says " that the plants were literally loaded with a dark, nearly black fruit of good size and excellent quality ; " even the sprouts, not more than a foot in height, were bearing. The bushes when full grown were two to three feet in height, bore fruit the size of black currants, and all this time had been grown and marketed under the impres- sion that they were huckleberries. This variety was imported from Germany. Another colonist, near Davenport, Iowa, has had four acres of a somewhat similar berry, and has produced tifty to sixty bushels in a season from the bearing portion of his plantation. This has been over twenty years on trial, and its origin in not traceable. Again, Mr. Budd draws my attention to the Amelanchier alpina, received from Texas, and which is a native of the Andes of Mexico, and apparently quite hardy at Ames, Iowa. It grows a foot or more in height, and has been highly thought of in Texas, where it has been grown as a huckleberry. Note.— A variety of A. Canadensis oblongifolia, obtained the silver medal of the Massachusetts Horti- cultural Society. The plants were received from Davenport, Iowa, in 1874, and fruited abundantly in 1878. Mr. B. G. Smith, Treasurer of American Pomological Society, the worthy recipient, says the fruit is mild and delicate in flavour, and about the size of black currants. Possibly this may be the variety spoken of above. ARIA— White Beam Tree. This is a medium-sized tree, allied to the mountain ash ; somewhat like it in blos- som, and in the fact that it bears clusters of fruit. The largest collection we saw was in the grounds of Mr. Wagner, at Riga, and of these, Nivea specially struck me, on account of the snowy whiteness of the under side of the leaf. This tree would be specially beautiful in a windy situation. Of others, Aceri- folia has a very long leaf very much indented, and, I suppose, lobed. Corymbiflora, like laciniata, an indented rather than a cut-leaf. Cretica, leaf small, but white on under side. Eliptica, very broad leaf, white underneath. Glabrata, leaf glossy on upper sur- face, and quite unlike others. Lantana, leaf lanceolate, and white beneath. Latifolia atroviridis, leaf larger and broader. A. lutescens, of M. Simon-Louis, at Metz, is remark- able for the whiteness of the under, and even of upper side of leaf. ARMENICA— Apricot. Let us add the Apricot to our list of hardy fruits as soon as possible. Mr. Maximowitch, the Primus Botanicus of the Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg, who has spent many years botanizing that vast country eastward to the Amur, says that in Soongaria, in eastern Turkestan, at the eastern end of the Altai range, it is growing in quantity, and that there the boars, and the bears, and the natives, fight it out as to who is to have the fruit. The fruit is small, that is, about one inch in diameter, but sweet, and pretty good. In the southern parts of the Province of Mantchuria, there is, says Mr. Maximo- witch, a variety of apricot different from those in cultivation. They do not thrive well near the coast, but in sheltered situations inland they grow in great quantity. They are really good, and are sold in quantity in the Pekin market. Could we not get the pits of this apricot expressed to us by our Consul at Pekin ] Surely this might be done. *AZALEA| A. mollis has a large salmon-coloured flower, a variety brought by Mr, Maximowitch from high altitudes in Japan. It has proved quite hardy at St. Petersburg. I see that Ellwanger and Barry, of Rochester, N. Y., speak of the great beauty of A. mollis, but say it is only half-hardy and needs protection. What difference in hardiness there is in the offspring of plants of different elevations. 307 BERBERI S— Berberry. These I have not made notes of. However the seedless Berberry is recommended as an acid little fruit — good for preserves. The Chinese sweet varieties, which are said to be dried like raisins by the Chinamen, I' did not see. BETULA— Birch. The beauty of the Russian Birches is a matter of general remark by travellers. In general appearance they are not like our own, nor the birches imported from western Europe. The alba of Linnaeus, or pubescens of Ehrhart, has a leaf in shape like our canoe birch, but smaller and velvety. Sometimes it is very aromatic. It is probably the fastest growing, and is suited to moist soils only, and is the best variety for the far North. The trunk is mostly white, and that almost to the ground. These notes were given to me by a forester who had made a special study of the question. On the other hand, the alba verrucosa is a weeping or drooping tree, with triangular leaf, a leaf like our common white birch, and when over ten or twelve inches in diameter of trunk the bark becomes rough and covered with black clefts. This latter, this weeping form, is the one I wish to draw special attention to. It is the birch growing upon the dry soil of the Petrovskoe park near Moscow, that park which is the summer resort of the residents of Moscow. The most attractive feature of this park is its avenues, and groves of weeping birch. Some of these groves seem to have sprung up as though planted irregularly at distances of from six to nine feet apart, each way. Thus the one thing that presents itself is a vista of bright, translucent, white- barked trunks. The effect is almost magical, and could not be produced by plantations of our dull-barked birches. What an attraction to our Mount Royal park, Montreal, such a grove would be. It would become the haunt of our snowshoe clubs by moon- light, in summer the resort of picnic parties and pleasure seekers. How beautiful our Montreal park could be made by the judicious planting of trees of varied form and foliage. B. Dahurica, we saw at St. Petersburg, an oldish, slow-growing, rough-barked tree. Costata, too, usually noted as from the Amur. Much like our canoe birch in bark and leaf, but has a slow-growing, stunted look. CALYCANTHUS. Some northern forms, G. Sibirica, seems quite hardy at the Botanic Gardens, St. Petersburg. Flowers whitish yellow. CARAGANA. The most widely popular of the Russian shrubs is unknown, I may say, in Canada. In western Europe we scarcely notice the Caraganas, except in the botanic gardens. In central Europe they become much more generally planted ; even in mild climates like Prague, we find them common in the city gardens. It is a plant capable of enduring great extremes of cold and drought ; the best shrub for planting on the confines of the cold desert, and therefore widely popular in the cold, dry North. On the Finland road, that suburb which is the resort of the townspeople of St. Petersburg during their short, cool summers, the caragana is the eommon hedge plant. It and the red berried elder are the commonest shrubs. In the tea gardens of the Petrovskoe park near Moscow, where the Russians meet to enjoy their tea around their hissing samovars, the dividing screens are caragana. At Moscow and Kazan, it and the Siberian thorn are the common hedge plants. This arborescent caragana is known also as the Siberian Pea tree and in France sometimes called acacia de Siberie. It is a shrub usually from eight to fifteen feet in height, although at Saratof I saw it as much as thirty feet. It has a very small dark 308 leaf, and may be trained to grow in tree form. There are many varieties ; some catalogues offer thirteen or fourteen varieties. The most beautiful to my mind is pygmce pendula ; top grafted, it forms a delicate, pendulous head, very graceful and ornamental. I fear there is some confusion in the names given to these varieties. I have seen the names gracilis, microphylla and horrida given to what appeared to me to be this. C. ferox or spinosa is spiny, stiffer in growth, and has more foliage ; it, too, may be top grafted. Of other kinds I would mention G. altagana Dahurica, a straggling bush with leaf smaller than arborescens. Frutescens, a good shrubby little bush from the Altai Mountains and Turkestan, ft Jubata is from Mongolia, and from the cold district of that coldest of all countries, eastern Siberia. This, however, is positively ugly. CORNUS— Dogwood. One variety of the Cornus I wish to draw special attention to, the Cornus alba fol. variegatis or C. stricta of some catalogues. It is a low shrub with bright, white-margined leaves, very showy and attractive, and perfectly hardy. A very great favourite in the nurseries at Riga, a great favourite wherever known. There is also a white-margined variety of the Cornus mascula, very pretty indeed ; hardy at Warsaw, but not hardy at Voronesh or Riga. The ordinary Cornus mascula is not to say hardy at Riga. At Warsaw, in the Botanic Gardens, we find a tree of it eighteen inches in diameter of trunk and twenty-five feet high, and at least thirty feet across its extended branches. Andrew S. Fuller, in his " Fruit Culturist," recommended the introduction of the Cornus mascula as a fruit-bearing bush. At the nurseries of Simon-Louis at Metz, where they have six kinds, the C. mascula macrocarpa is considered the largest in size, and the best in flavour. This was corroborated at other places. It is worthy of trial at Toronto and southwards. CORYLUS— Hazel. On this I have nothing definite to say. At Vienna we saw a specimen of the C. colurna or Tree-hazel, thirty feet in height. Further south in Turkey it grows to a height of fifty or sixty feet, but is not hardy in cold climates. At Reutlingen Mr. Lucas showed us the fruit of a number of varieties bearing large nuts of different shapes, but I cannot say if likely to prove hardy here. In the extreme climate of Kazan we saw lots of wild hazel, but the fruit is small ; no improvement upon our native species. Nut culture has been tried at Riga, and Mr. Goegginger suggests that we should try the Giant de halle. COTONEASTER. We saw many hardy varieties. In the garden of the Agricultural Academy at Petrovskoe, multiflora, vulgaris and lucida seemed all right. In the Moscow Botanic Garden we saw one variety bearing red berries, and another blue ; both seemed quite hardy, so was lucida. Acutifolia grows to a height of six feet, and seemed quite hardy at some points in northern Russia. I saw many hardy forms, but did not take any trouble to look them up. CRATAEGUS— Thorn. The Oxyacantha, or Quick, is the common hedge plant of central and western Europe. On our way to Russia we passed thousands of miles of this hedge ; along the railways, along the roadsides, often separating suburban properties. We began to lose sight of it on the way to Warsaw. However, it is quite hardy there and is grown a good deal, but we cease to find it as a hedge plant beyond Yilna. At Riga it is not hardy, and from thence northward it is replaced by Sibirica. On our return journey we find the Oxyacantha again at Kiev, large trees of it in the Botanic Gardens, 309 such as one sees upon estates in England. The hardiness of this plant could no doubt be increased by getting seed from its north-eastern limits of growth. The Sibirica, or rather C. sanguinea of Siberia, is a good hedge plant. Much like some of our own thorns, but I think of rather faster growth. Good hedges of it at Riga ten feet high. In the College Gardens at Petrovskoe, Mr. Shroeder points it out as per- fectly hardy, so too is Crus-galli, Nigra also is all right. Monogama has a pretty cut leaf, and is fairly hardy, not as hardy as the above. CYTISUS— Laburnum. Here, again, are some hardy forms, although the same species from Scotland will not endure our cold winters. In the Botanic Gardens at Munich we found alpinus growing to a height of over thirty-five feet, with a dozen trunks from five to twelve inches in diameter. In the severe climate of Orel, in central Russia, we find a tree of alpinus which seemed quite hardy. The northern nurseries all grow cytisus, and these hardy varieties are well worth looking up. ELEAGNUS— Wild Olive. This is a race of bright, silvery leaved trees and shrubs of great ornamental value. In the grounds of the Pomological School at Proskau, we find a shrub three feet high with gray, silvery leaves three inches long and an inch or more wide. We saw it again in the Botanic Garden at Moscow, apparently hardy. It was not named. This is very ornamental and should not be lost sight of. E. angustifolia. In moderate climates this grows to a large size. At Warsaw we find a tree two feet in diameter of trunk and thirty feet high, old, and on its decline. In the cold climate of Orel we saw a tree thirty -five feet in height, but I do not remem- ber it farther north. It has long, narrow leaves, white on under side, bright and pretty. Of its blossom and fruit I cannot speak. E. longipe, of Japan, we saw at Kew ; a shrub six feet high, bearing large quanti- ties of spotted red berries, like oblong cranberries. At Verrieres, in the garden of M. Henri de Vilmorin, we again see this plant bearing heavily ; fruit red, a nice acid, fully equal to cranberries, and as free from seed. It seems a very abundant bearer, and well worthy of introduction as a fruit-bearing plant — a plant likely to yield quite as much of a fruit as good and as saleable as cranberry. The only question is its hardiness. It should be tried with us in sheltered corners, where the snow-drifts would be likely to cover it. In many nurseries this is known as E. edulis. FAGUS— Beech. The European Beech is not as hardy as our native species. It will not thrive at St.. Petersburg, whereas our own is found fifty miles north of the city of Quebec. I observed, however, that the cut-leaved beech (F. syl. incisa) is hardier than the purple-leaved, and may be tried in rather severe climates. There is a very fine specimen of the cut-leaved in good health on the grounds of Mr. Wagner at Riga. FRAXINUS— Ash. The foresters in Russia prefer the American ash to their native species. So do the Forest Schools in western Europe. The excelsior, however, grows to greater size ; one in the Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg rises from the ground with six trunks from five to fifteen inches in diameter. The American is said at several different points to be the hardier. This seems strange, for at the Botanic Garden at Kazan we are told that excelsior was indigenous in that government. The variegated form of our native ash (F. Am- aucubaefolia) we find at Moscow and other places. The single leaved ash (F. exc. mono- 21 [f. a] 310 phaylla) has grown to the height of twenty feet in the Moscow Botanic Garden, and seems quite hardy, whereas little trees of mine at Abbotsford suffer. The weeping ash ( F. exc. pendula) is fairly hardy at Riga. The young shoots are sometimes injured there. F. juglandifolia subintermedia may be seen in the Botanic Garden, St. Petersburg ; a tree twenty-five feet in height and apparently quite hardy. F. mantchurica, a fine tree, quite hardy at St. Petersburg, and grows to a diameter of three feet in its native land. GENISTA. Note. — Several species and varieties of this small shrub are worthy ofitrial. Genista pilosa plena, flowers abundantly in June ; G. tinctoria is hardy even at Moscow ; the double flowering yellow of Germany we did not see north, but it will no doubt prove hardy with us. GLYCYRRHIZA. G. echinata. — A shrub like a bastard indigo, bearing large balls of rough tufted -seeds. A very curious shrub, which we saw in the Botanic Gardens at Kazan. G. glabra is not so striking. HIPPOPHAE. The grey silky foliage of these shrubs makesjthern very attractive. " Are they hardy?" I asked Dr. Regel. "I received them from central Europe and they proved tender; I then procured seed from Siberia, botanically the same, and they are quite hardy." Such was Dr. Regel's reply, the same old story, his experience and mine, as far as I may be said to have any. The Hippophae salicifolla, which we saw at Proskau, was much like a rosemary willow, and lacking in that white lustre which others usually have. Sibirica is more like the arqentea of Proskau, bright and very ornamental. JUGLANS— Walnut. Note. — When at Saratof on the Volga, Mr. Budd and I saw two large trees of the so-called English "Walnut {J. regia), and let us remember that the winter temperature of Saratof is but one degree milder than the city of Quebec. We examined the trees carefully, and could not have easily been mistaken, as -we had watched this same walnut and noted it wherever growing for several weeks, through central Europe, -noting its variations in leaf in different places. The nuts which are for sale at all the little provision stalls along the Volga, are much like those shipped to the London market, but are harder in shell and slightly smaller, but whether these are grown on the lower Volga, the Caucasus, or in Persia, I cannot say. LIGUSTRUM. Ligiistrum foliosum. — The common English privet has not been found hardy in Iowa. The northern species named is equally beautiful, and stands the dry snmmers and cold winters at Voronesh, Russia. It is more than probable it will do good service as a border plant with us. LARIX — Larch and Tamarac. In the Riga nurseries we first saw Sibirica and Europcea growing side by side. 8ibirica much the faster grower in nursery, foliage slightly longer, more Iringy, and -clothing the branches better than on Europasa. This larch was from the Ural Moun- tains. Again at the Petrovskoe Academy there is a very fine avenue of Sibirica, a quarter of a mile or half a mile long. The foliage very light in colour ; the outline much less sharply conic than other varieties. An avenue of even-sized trees about thirty feet in height. In the Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg we see it in old age, a 311 few old trees about seventy feet high. Alongside of it is L. Dahurica, of equal size and age, but different in this way, that at a certain height Dahurica usually forms two or more trunks ; it is just as ornamental, but on this account not equal as a timber tree. In the far north, on the border of the tundra, Dahurica is a small stunted tree. Many years ago the Duke of Athol had imported larch seed from the forests to the south of Archangel. This proved inferior in growth and in quality of wood, and led us to suppose that there was no larch in the Eussian forest equal to Europaea, which is that of central Europe. The Duke of Athol's seed, too, may have been obtained from stunted specimens •on the northern limit of its growth. The L. Koempheri of Japan, Mr. Wagner, of Riga, says is not hardy at Berlin. LONICEBA— Honeysuckle. The following list is given by Mr. Budd : Note. — " Lonicera orientalis. — A hardy fine shrub, with large black fruit. " Lonicera cerulea. — Much like the above, but with large dark-blue berried, covered with a rich bloom. "Lonicera ruprectiana. — This has peculiar thick plicated leaves and is ornamental through the season. e< Lonicera alpigena. — This has the largest and finest leaves of the family, and the red berries are as large as Morello cherries. 11 Lonicera hispida. — A new species from Turkestan. It has very narrow leaves, and bears fine crops of showy white flowers. , " Lonicera xylosteum mollis. — An upright form of the Chinese honeysuckle, which is very hardy and ornamental. "Lonicera Kamschatka. — A large berried species, popular in all the parks of northern Europe." If I may I will add from my own notes which are very brief. The first four above named seem quite hardy as growing in the Imperial Botanic Garden at St. Petersburg. Coerulea and orientalis are from Siberia. Ruprechtiana is growing to a height of ten feet. It is from Amur. I saw a specimen of it twelve feet high somewhere, I think at Moscow. Sorbifolia is common at St. Petersburg. Alberti is from Turke- stan, and has foliage like a purpurea willow. Xylosteum, noted by Mr. Budd, and which I noted as hardy at St. Petersburg, is growing in bush form to the height of ten or twelve feet in the Botanic Garden at Warsaw. Kamschatka is also growing there to the same size. Maximowiczi is from Amur. It is said to be quite hardy at St. Petersburg and well worthy of introduction. MAGNOLIA. Mr. Maximowitch tells me that the hypoleuca, if the seed be procured from Hako- dadi, on the Island of Yezo, might be worth trying in rather severe climates. It becomes a large tree, and, I think, has a large blossom. The M. kobus is less beautiful, but probably still hardier. MOEUS— Mulberry. We made many inquiries about the Eussian Mulberry, but could hear nothing of it in the colder climates. At Voronesh, in the Botanic Gardens, we saw a variety in leaf much like it, though there not valued. In Odessa there are large mulberry trees, we are told, and in the Botanic Garden in Vienna, we saw not only large trees of Alba, but a specimen of Tartarica, fourteen inches in diameter of trunk and twenty-five feet high. The Eussian mulberry, however, as known in the States, is on extensive trial in the cold climate of Cottonwood county, Minnesota. It has been visited by horticulturists, and we shall soon have opinions upon its probable value. Mr. Maximowitch suggests that we should try the Mongolian mulberry, if we can manage to get it. 312 The following note by Mr. Budd gives the status of the case in a few words : Note.— On account of ease of propagation from cuttings, the so-called Russian mulberry has been intro- duced very suddenly and extensively. Its home is in southern Russia. We first saw it at Voronesh ancr Orel, where the above noted forms of the horse chestnut are perfectly hardy. The stories told about h> value as a timber tree were laughed at by Russian foresters. It is used in Russia as it will be here, as a small-sized ornamental tree, of some value as a fruit producer. It is worthy of trial, but not of the fuB& which is made over it by interested parties. PANAX. P. sessiliflorwn. — A shrub or small tree from Amur, well worth introducing,. There is a specimen in the Botanic Gardens, St. Petersburg, about fifteen feet high, and Mr. Maximowitch tells us that it blossoms well there, but does not mature its fruit. It grows in Mantchuria, but not north of lat. 49°. • PHELLODENDRON. Mr. Goegginger, of Riga, tells us that in the Botanic Garden at Dorpat, half way between Riga and St. Petersburg, there is a tree of this variety eight to twelve inches in diameter of trunk,, and twenty-five feet in height. Again, at Orel, in central Russia, we find a young tree about fifteen feet. Clearly hardier varieties than those now grown iiL United States. The tree I have at Abbotsford is not quite hardy. Note. — Seed might be obtained from Prof. Dr. Russoff, Director Botanic Garden, Dorpat. POPULUS— Poplar. The poplar is our most valuable tree where quick shade is needed. Different species abound in varieties ; some of the best we have not. P. alba. — The silver poplar is a tree of very wide habitat; the varieties indigenous in cold, dry regions we have not tried. In the Botanic Garden at Kazan, there is a row of eleven trees, in all in the garden twenty trees, about eighteen inches in diameter of trunk • trunk straight and tapering, the leaf larger than our varieties, and than acerifolia only where making strong growth. The quality of the wood of the white poplar is well known, but the trouble is the difficulty of getting a straight piece from the western European form. On dry soils the white poplar we have, becomes very small in leaf, and looks unhappy, while the varieties we find on the Volga, maintain large acerifolia leaf and good growth on very dry soil, and stand severe drought better than any of the Siberian poplars, better than any other tree we find there except the wild Volga pear. Cuttings from Kazan and other points in eastern Russia should be obtained, for these straight-trunked, drought-resisting, white poplars are very important, both as timber and ornamental trees. In the collection at Verrieres, near Paris, planted by the late M. de Vilinorin, two varieties maintain this straight trunk. Of the erect forms of white poplar, that which we find in the nurseries under the name of Bolleana, and said to be from Tashkent and Samarcand, seems the same as that at Busy Institute introduced by Prof. Sargent, and described by me last year as a species from Turkestan ; a deeply cut-leaved silver poplar, as erect when young as a Lombardy; a decided acquisition. I am told by those who have been at Astrachan, that the common white poplar along the Volga, from Tsaritsin to Astrachan, is upright like the Lombardy. Such are the variations in poplar seedlings, that in dealing with them we must consider that we are dealing with approximations. The P. alba and the P. alba nivea in the different botanic gardens of central Europe all differ somewhat. At Kew there is a grand specimen of alba pendula, three feet in diameter of trunk ; a lofty tree of fine weeping form. There is an alba pendula in the catalogues of Riga, and I think Metz, but I have not seen it. 313 P. monilifera. — This is the most largely planted tree in northern and eastern France, the most common country road-side tree in central Europe. Not only along the road-sides, but, especially in France, along all sorts of imaginary lines across the fields we find it in single rows, with side branches trimmed up and cut as they grow for faggots and even for sheep feeding. Loudon queried as to whether it was introduced from Canada or Virginia. At any rate botanists seem to say it came fron this continent. This favourite tree, with some variation of form, is our own native cotton-wood; universally planted in the north-western States, valued in Europe, scarcely known and never planted, I may say, in this Province. A most valuable, though an overlooked tree. Its wonderfully rapid growth at.Abbotsford has begun to attract notice there. P. nigra. — At Warsaw some of the roads are lined with grand old trees of what is there known as the Vistula poplar. We saw large spreading trees sixty or seventy feet in height, with a leaf much like our cotton- wood, and with bark rough except on limbs less than five or six inches. In the Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg are two immense trees, one nearly six feet in diameter, now in a state of decay, and said to have been planted by Peter the Great. However, at Riga and other places this tree is not a favourite on account of its tendency to decay or kill back in the tops of the branches, both on dry and moist soil, and as we get into severer climates, trees of this variety are often very unsightly, and thus it is not a favourite as is monilifera. A very different tree is the Nigra of the Botanic Gardens at Munich. A tall tree of small diameter, not spreading, and with very small leaf. A good healthy tree, unlike others, and worthy of trial. According to the Flora Russica, by Dr. Ledeborn, the Populus nigra is a native of Lithuania, Moscow, Kazan, the Caspian desert, southern Siberia, and the Altai. For some reason the Siberian balsamiferas have been planted instead of it in eastern and middle Russia. P. Eugenei. — This is a hybrid between fastigiata (or Lombard poplar) and monilifera; so we are told by Messrs. Simon-Louis, at Metz, who have a very large collection of the poplars of central Europe and who seem to have made them a special study. P. tremula. — Our own aspen is the' poorest tree we have, so short lived. The Russian form grows to much larger size, and does not appear to be short lived. In Botanic Garden at Munich there is a high, narrow, small leaved tremula, much like the Munich nigra. A good tree. ASIATIC POPLARS. Under this vague heading, for want of a better, I will group a race of poplars hardly known to us ; trees better suited to dry, cold climates than those of the monilifera and nigra types, at least one would suppose so from the fact that they are the street and garden trees from Moscow to Kazan, and south to Saratof, and in middle Russia. They do well •on dry soils, yet do not maintain anything like the same healthy foliage during extreme drought as the Volga forms of the silver poplar. Neither are they trees of great size, at least not in their native climates. They seem related to our balsamifera or Balm of Gilead, yet have leaves not pubescent but smooth, and whitish on the under side, and in some forms singularly narrow. P. laurifolia. — This, Mr. Maximowitch tells me, is a medium sized tree, usually thirty or forty feet in height, and one foot in diameter of trunk, as growing on the Altai Mountains. Mr. M. had seldom seen it larger. It is a common street tree in north-east- ern Russia. It is a fast grower, has narrow leaves curled very much on their edges, and has angulated branches. A specimen in the Botanic Gardens at St. Petersburg is nearly fifty feet in height, and I understood it to be but twenty-six years planted. It seems to be a faster grower than suavolens. P. suavolens is a native, says Mr. Maximowitch, of very cold districts in eastern Siberia, also of Kamtschatka and the islands of the coast. It grows to a height of fifty or sixty feet, with a trunk two or three feet in diameter, and is a good street tree. Branches round. Note. — The two above mentioned are botanic species. The following, mostly horticultural varieties named as in the Russian catalogues : — 314 5»Mrai_P. Berolinensis of Dr. Kegel and of the Riga nurseries is the P. Certinensis of Prof. Sargent, and which has been grown at Busy Institute, Jamaica Plain, Mass., and has thence found its way into some of the U» S. nurserymen's catalogues. I am not a botanist and am at a loss to know whether to class this as a Euro- pean or Asiatic poplar. It is a very fast grower, and a favourite in the Russian nurseries, but would seem to be a seedling of our own cot ton- wood. Leaf just like it but curled on the edges. Petrovskoe, as received from Chas. H. Wagner, and growing in the college grounds at Ames, Iowa, seems the same. P. Sibirica is another variety ; foliage slightly broader, and Mr. Wagner, of Riga, says it grows to be a good sized tree. This must be the Sibirica pyramidalis of some cata- logues, and is, I think, the tree we used so often to see planted in the gardens at the rail- way stations, and which looked at a distance very like a sweet cherry. P. Sibirica pyramidalis received by Mr. Budd from Mr. Wagner, of Riga, seems the same as the laurifolia of Mr. Sargent. P. balsamifera in leaf in nursery is just like the above, but is said to grow into a tree of different form. We saw a specimen of it in the Botanic Garden at Kazan fifty feet in height and two feet diameter. P. Sibirica suavolens. — A good sized spreading tree, Mr. Goegginger says like a tilia. Said to grow larger than S. pyramidalis. Of others, Wobsti, Mr. Shroeder, at Moscow, says, is a large as well as a good tree, with broad leaf. It is said to be from Turkestan. Note. — This has dark foliage of balsamifera type and brownish red shoots. This seems to be P. Noleati of Busy Institute. Petrovskoe, Mr. Goegginger says, is a Turkestan variety, growing at Petrovskoe, also a broad-leaved variety. Nigra horizontalis, said to be from Tashkent. Simonii, an Asiatic variety with red twigs and a close thin leaf the least like the balsameas. Effratica or diver •sifolia from Turkestan is a curious variety of irregular foliage ; so says Mr. Goeg- ginger of Riga, who has the largest collection of these poplars which we saw. Tristis is a variety with dark concave, thick, glossy leaf, which sprang up by chance in the Botanic Garden at St. Petersburg. These varieties are mostly variations of what Pallas called the Siberian balsamifera. They will not grow to as large size as our own Balsam of Gilead, which here is a lofty tree with a trunk three feet and even four feet in diameter, and which reaches a diameter of six to ten feet on the upper Peace river in the North- West. They are, however, so easy of introduction, so easily scattered, they differ so much in foliage and growth, that they must be looked upon as interesting and valuable introductions. POTENTILLA. Note.— Pretty little shrubs for the north. Dahurica bears white flowers, fruticosa yellow. PRUNUS— Plum. P. padus aucubaefolia (Variegated-leaved bird cherry). This and other varieties* quite hardy in the north. P. Maakia. — Hardy at St. Petersburg. P. spinosa. — The dwarf form on the Volga, seldom grows over three feet. I have seen bushes eighteen inches high loaded with bright blue little fruit. Very ornamental. PYRUS— Apple and Pear. Some very ornamental trees among the wild forms of the apple and pear. P. eleagnifolia. — A bright foliaged tree, nearly as white as salicifolia, leaf broader and growth more upright and regular. I do not know that it is a tree of northern habitat, still it is hardy at Proscau. We also saw a good specimen of it eight or ten inches in di- ameter of trunk at Warsaw. 315 P. salicifolia. — The most ornamental of the pyrus ; of irregular, eccentric growth, somewhat pendulous, and with branches intertwisted in all sorts of ways. The leaf is very narrow, and as white as the regalis willow ; a strikingly beautiful tree. It is a native of the Ural Mountains, and therefore should prove hardy. P. Ussuriensis. — The wild pear of the Ussuri in Mantchuria. I am not sure that I saw it. The tree is said to be quite ornamental, the fruit of fair size, but it does not soften even when cooked. The wild pear of the Volga and of middle Russia, I must mention as the best tree I know of for a cold climate, for maintaining a dark, glossy leaf during extreme drought. QUERCUS— Oak. Tender and unsatisfactory as are some of the English oaks, the pedunculata in Russia grows in climates quite as severe as the native oaks of this Province. The foresters tell me that pedunculata is indigenous in the Government of Moscow, also, I am told, in the Government of Kazan. From this latitude southward, wherever the soil is suitable, this oak has been planted in vast quantity by the Government forestry stations. Our red oak is a good, fast grower, but the wood is inferior. Our white oak is the very best of wood, but, I was going to say, it grows ; but watch a white oak for a few years, and if you believe your eyes you will declare it does not. This Russian pedunculata combines good growth with a good quality of wood. I find the Q. r. fastigiata, the upright oak, hardy as far north as Riga. Q. Mongolica, a variety with a very small indented leaf, is recommended to us for trial in our cold climate. RHAMNUS— Buckthorn. R. alpinus. — A variety with an immense leaf, and quite ornamental. At Riga, Mr. Wagner says, hardy but sometimes slightly injured. R. catharticus. — Hardy at St. Petersburg. R. Pallasii. — A pretty shrub with very glossy foliage, six feet in height. It seems hardy in the Botanic Garden at Moscow. RHODODENDRON. The rhododendrons extend from the Himalayas north, to the Altai, and east to Kamschatka, and are found,>in some cold regions. R. dakuricum is an evergreen variety with purple blossom, quite hardy at St. Petersburg. It does well on limestone soil. R. parvifolium, a smaller and more compact shrub with a small blossom ; grows well on peat or without it, and is very hardy far to the north. RIBES— Currant. R. alpinum. — A fruit and an ornamental shrub. The fruit is of fair size, a rich car- mine, quite sweet, but with a very slight bitter, yet nice, and quite productive, it would seem. It is from Siberia. Mr. Shroeder, at the College Gardens at Petrovskoe, seemed to value it highly. In Siberia, not only the currants, but some of the loniceras bear fruit, which is gathered for the table, and yet these same varieties ripened in the climate of St. Petersburg are not eatable. ROBINIA— Locust. The pseudo-acacia, or yellow locust, next to the monilifera poplar, is the most com- mon tree in northern and eastern France. We find it planted along the railroad cuttings and embankments to bind the earth. We find it a common tree in the streets and parks of Paris, We find it planted to cover waste tracts of land. As we enter Germany we find it a most popular tree in their streets and city gardens. 316 According to Loudon it was introduced into Europe in 1601 or 1635, and the tree planted at the latter date in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris is still living. A still larger tree, however, is that in the public gardens at Warsaw. This locust has run into endless varieties. The great favourite in central Europe is a top grafted, rounded variety, which, I think, must be the umbraculifera or globe acacia. Not quite hardy at Warsaw though grown there. Not likely to prove hardy here. In Europe this tree does not seem affected by borers, nor does it have the same seedy lobk when old that it does here. Its wood is most durable and valuable at any age ; its growth when young is rampant j it suckers very badly. At Abbotsford we have had no borers, and hence it promises to be the best fence-post and fence-rail tree we have. ROGERSIA. This I did not see, but Mr. Maximowitch speaks of it as a pretty shrub, which does well at St. Petersburg. The flower is small, but plentiful. ROSA— Rose. I wish to draw special attention to the Rosa rugosa, and especially its double form, /lore pleno, as a shrub perfectly hardy at St. Petersburg and Moscow. In this respect it is pointed out to us as a shrub of unlimited hardiness. It has a pretty double flower, and is a decided acquisition. It is a native of Japan. The R. villosa pomifera is so named because it bears a fruit two inches in diameter, and which is good for preserves. It is fairly hardy at Riga. It should be planted where likely to be covered with snow. R. rubrifolia is a red foliaged shrub. The flower is not special, but I am glad to know that this plant, which I had admired at Busy Institute, is hardy in the north. SALIX— Willow. S. alba var splendens. — In the Botanic Garden at St. Petersburg there is a fine speci- men of this bright silvery willow, a tree about fifteen inches in diameter, and thirty -five feet high, without any dead wood about it ; a tree of great ornamental beauty in contrast with dark foliaged trees like S. laurifolia. Throughout Russia we find willows more or less of this shade of colour. In France and central Europe many willows have this bright silvery tint. We intended to try the alba lucophylla of Messrs. Simon-Louis, at Metz, until we found at St. Petersburg a variety whose hardiness was already tested for us. S. alba of the Volga. — The first groves of this I saw were on low land on the bank of the Volga, some distance below Nijni Novgorod; lofty trees with straight narrow trunks, growing quite close, and therefore without lower branches. The foliage is quite narrow and feathery, the branches pendulous. Single trees maintain the same straight trunk. At several points on the Volga I asked what variety it was, and was told Salix alba. It is also known as "vertla." How different is the salix alba of western Europe, the great screen, wind-break and snow-break tree of the prairie States. This Volga wil- low is not suited for these purposes, but is a straight growing timber tree of great height, with feathery foliage. S. acutifolia. — This is the favourite willow for planting to stay drifting sands. In Mantchuria, in the woods, it is a large tree with a trunk four feet in diameter, used by the natives for canoes. In cold open exposures it is a mere shrub. It is the best weeper among the willows in the Botanic Garden at St. Petersburg. Of others, S. California, a small, broad-leaved, very bright silvery little shrub, quite hardy at Proskau, quite hardy, top grafted even, with Mr. Hoser at Warsaw. 8. cuspidata becomes a large handsome bush. It has a laurel leaf and yellow twigs, quite hardy at St. Petersburg. S. fragilis is, I believe, a widely scattered tree in north Europe and Asia. Large canoes are made of it in Amur. Rather ornamental and quite hardy. 317 SAMBUCUS— Elder. An ornamental race of plants, most of which are adapted to cold climates. S. nigra. — We find this as a small or even medium-sized tree in the milder parts of Europe. It has been grown at St. Petersburg, but is tender there. The S. nigra incisa, which we saw at Prague and similar climates, is a very dark, yet feathery cut-leaved shrub of great beauty. I think this is the Nigra laciniuta of the nurseries at Riga, which is fairly hardy there. S. racemosa. — The red-berried Elder is the favourite shrub in Russia ; more widely planted than any other, except the Caragana ; more common than the mountain ash, or any other tree bearing ornamental fruit. In the north it bears its clusters of bright red berries in profusion, and decorates the roadsides and gardens, where it is planted. The S. racemosa seratifolia is a beautiful cut-leaved variety of it ; fairly hardy at Riga, nearly hardy at St. Petersburg. There is also a variety plumosa, much like it, and about as hardy at Riga. SORBUS— Mountain Ash. As we journeyed from Proskau to Riga, during the first week in August, the Moun- tain Ash everywhere were full of clusters of bright red berries. This eastern form is not as straight and smooth a grower as the ordinary forms from western Europe, yet this .seems to fruit more heavily ; but here is the point, it colours its fruit a month earlier. SPIRAEA. I will again quote from Mr. Budd : — Note. —We have introduced very few hardy spiraeas at the west, and the few fine ones we have tested are not yet common in our nurseries. Yet, with the hope that we will soon have a specialist in this desirable line of nursery work, I will note a few fine species of the spiraea for the central and north part of the State. Spiraea oppulifolia. —While no better than our native species, it is a special favourite in all parts of Europe. It should be better known with us. Spircea Douglasi.—We have a fine spiraea under this name in the eastern nurseries, but the Russian form seems an improvement in plant and in the length and perfection of its.gpurple flower spike. Spircea cana. — This has fine graceful foliage much like our Thunbergia. It flowers freely in June and July at the north. Spircea, nobleana. — This is a fine hardy species with a profusion of scarlet flowers in July at the north. Spircea laviegata. — The only spiraea, it is said, which is strictly dioecious. The leaves are very large and the whole expression of the plant peculiar : very hardy. Spircea alba. — In the northern steppe gardens this species attracts the attention of all visitors. Spircea bella.— Hardy, fine foliage, and a profusion of fine, white flowers. Spircea chamcedri folia. — A steppe species, improved probably by crossing. It is popular as an orna- mental hedge plant in the north, and even as far south as Austria. It bears pruning, and in June and July it is literally a wall of pure white flowers. It grows readily from cuttings. Of the spiraeas, only the special- ly hardy are noted, as for milder parts of the State we already have a good collection. To the above list, by Mr. Budd, I would like to add fruticosa, a variety noted for its prolonged bloom, which is yellow. It is indigenous in parts of Siberia, Mongolia and Thibet, and would seem suited to dry climates. These varieties are all so well known by Mr. Maximowitch, that the list specially recommended by him must be given. It is as follows, amurensis, betulifolia, callosa Foxi, cana, carpinifolia, confusa, hypericifolia, Isevigata, sorbifolia, and triloba. SYRINGA— Lilac. Note. — The northern steppes seem the home of the large leaved lilacs of the Jo&ikcea race. In the large cities of central Russia, trees fifteen or more feet in height, with fine rounded tops, are everywhere common in public and private places. 318 TAMARIX— Tamarisk. This is a beautiful feathery shrub, unlike any other. 1 was always making enquiries to see if we could not find a really hardy species. The T. tetranda is a native of the Altai Mountains, yet needs shelter at St. Petersburg. Dahurica is very light in colour, and very feathery. Mr. Goegginger, at Riga, finds it a little hardier than Gallica or tetandra. Gallica seems to differ much in hardiness. In the Botanic Garden at Moscow it is said to be seldom covered. In Norway, Germanica grows wild in lat. 70°, about as far north as the sorbus and the trembling poplar. We cannot grow the tamarisk as a tree, as in the gardens of the Tuilleries, in Paris, but as a shrub, cut back each fall, grown in some corner where the snow is apt to cover it, there should be no trouble in the culture of this beautiful plant. Note.— In my search for a hardy Tamarisk, Mr. John Robinson, of the Arnold Arboretum, at Jamaica Plain, Mass., kindly comes to the rescue. He tells me of a T. Chinensis (?) received thirty years ago from an unknown source, and which has never shown any signs of winter injury at Salem, Mass. He even sends me a photograph of the tree, the top branches reaching the sills of the windows of the third storey, and yet the tree has been cut back many times to keep it in shape. Mr. Robinson also speaks of the readiness with which it grows from cuttings. TILIA — Linden or Basswood. The Linden is a very favourite street or park tree in central and northern Europe. It has long been a favourite, and hence we find avenues of grand patriarchal trees which have been the pride of generations. At Verrieres there is an avenue planted by the late M. de Vilmorin, trimmed inside in the form of a high narrow Gothic arch, with transcept, a prolonged Westminster Abbey. T. Europcea. — The linden of western Europe is hardy in Montreal, but its leaf is so fine and thin that it is sensitive to drought, and even in England its foliage is apt to wilt in dry weather. It is a favourite street tree on the Massachusetts coast, yet should not be planted largely in drier regions. T. Europcea var parvifolia. — As we proceed eastward this becomes the favourite, and finally, in middle and eastern Russia, the only tilia. The first specimen we noticed was at Reutlingen, in Wurtemburg, a largish tree with leaf no larger than an English shilling. It was growing very slowly, the foliage is always larger. At Salzburg, in Austria, the grand old lindens, centuries old, trees four or five feet in diameter of trunk, were all parvifolias. At St. Petersburg the finest street trees are lindens, and I believe most of them parvifolias. Here the ordinary Europsea is known as the tilia of Holland. At Moscow parvifolia is represented in the Botanic Gardens by a tree with a straight trunk over four feet in diameter. In Kazan we are told that the trade in basswood bark from that region is all from this parvifolia variety. Russian foresters view the enormous consumption of basswood bark much as thinking men do here our export hemlock bark trade, and consider it a destructive industry. Soon some other material will have to be found for peasants' shoes, rope and matting. Of the other varieties, nigra, which we saw in the Munich Botanic Gardens, struck, me as being a good tree, with dark, glossy leaf. The vitifolia, of the American nurseries, has a good leaf, but I did not see it in Europe. So has dasystyla. Grandifolia and a host of others have foliage too thin for our dry air. Begoniaefolia is not variegated, enough to be ornamental, not in dry weather. Aspenifolia is a great curiosity, leaves torn and slashed irregularly, folded and indented, with scarcely two leaves alike ; quite hardy at Proskau ; fairly hardy at Riga. This is sometimes noted as dissecta. Of the white-leaved lindens, the American, which I have noted as a native tree as far north as the Hennepin Islands in Minnesota, is spoken of at Riga as the hardiest tree, and the largest tree. I believe it is rather erect in growth. The Hungarian, known there as pannonica (I suppose the tomentosa of Messrs. Simon-Louis) is not as hardy, not as erect in growth, more bright in colour, more ornamental. Further south, at Vienna, in the Botanic Gardens, we find a variety marked heterophylla, of Ohio and 319 Mississippi, twelve inches in diameter, semi-upright, more bright and white in foliage than the T. argentea of Hungary alongside. The white leaved European lindens we did not see in the very severe climates. The alba of Hungary has not proved hardy with me at Abbotsford, still less so the alba pendula which winter kills at Riga. So we had better try the northern forms of the American white lindens. ULMUS— Elm. In Europe they have overlooked the grandest of all American trees, the white elm,. a tree that thrives in climates even more severe than St. Petersburg and Moscow. The campestris is not indigenous at St. Petersburg, as I had said, nor is it hardy there, but effusa is. In the southern part of the Government of Moscow, both effusa and montana are found wild, but the northern limit of campestris is yet further south. Effusa is a good and a hardy tree, but I never saw one of large size. At Petrovskoe, Moscow, Mr. Shroeder showed us a fine specimen of effusa pendula, so my notes say, but I have forgotten it. Montana, or the so-colled Scotch elm, is not so hardy there or at St. Petersburg. Some weeping forms of it of the camperdown type, seemed quite hardy at Riga, and were very graceful and ornamental. The pendula should rather be named horizontalis. They have a fine specimen in one of their public gardens, eight inches or more in diameter of trunk. Another is quite pendulous. We are much in need of a tree of this kind a littlehardier than camperdown. U. montana exoniensis is very erect in growth, has large curled leaves clinging around the stem — both odd and ornamental. U. m. Damierii is much like it, but said by Mr. Wagner to be less hardy. Adantifolia is like the urticaefolia of the American nurseries, but even more crinkled, and its recurved serrations are very curious. The U% suborosa (?) of Turkestan, is a small-leaved varietyr not hardy at Moscow. Under the name of Sibirica are several varieties unlike one another, and quite unlike that described by me last year. VIBURNUM. I again quote from Mr. Budd : Note. — Except the snow-ball and high-bush cranberry, we have no species of this numerous northern' family under cultivation in the State. The following should be introduced : Alnifohum, Dahuricum,. dentatum, lantanoides, macrophyllum, lantana Jlore pleno, lantana marginatum, lantana minor, prunfolium,. pygmozum, and pyrifolium. The lantana appeared quite hardy in the Botanic Gardens at Moscow. EVERGREENS Abies and Picea — Spruce and Balsam. Note.— The favourite evergreen in the Riga nurseries is A. Sibirica, known also there as pichta. A good grower and a balsam with rich, long foliage. I think the seed was said to have been brought from the Ural mountains. Picea pichta is common in the U. S. nurseries, but as I noted three years ago, is quite variable in different nurseries in its length of leaf and beauty. On the grounds of General G-reig, the Pre- sident of the St. Petersburg Horticultural Society, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, in full view of Cronstadt, there is a specimen about thirty-five feet in height and much richer in foliage than the Norway. In fact it was about the most ornamental in the whole collection. At Kazan and again in the Petrovskoe Park near Moscow, we saw much larger and older trees, trees without any decay of their lower branches, as is apt to be the case with our native balsam, and yet these trees were growing on dry soil. Of other varieties, Engelmanni of the Rocky mountains, a great favourite and always hardy. As Mr. Budd says, we must go to Russia to get a true estimate of its vatue in our own country. Nordmanniana,. a fine specimen, thirty feet in height,, in the Botanic Gardens at Warsaw, but not hardy further north. Pectinata, said not to be hardy at Moscow, and yet it would seem as though they had obtained their seed, from some southern source, as there are trees of it two feet in diameter at Kazan. Obovata, a hardy spruce 320 from the Urals, with foliage like the Norway, a lofty tree with very short branches, and therefore a tree of unusually small diameter compared with its height. I have seen trees which struck me very much, and supposed them to be Obovata or Shrenkiana. Oriental-it, no hardy varieties of it in the Russian nurseries, those so far tried not hardy. JUNIPERUS-Juniper. J. communis .—The common Juniper grows to a good size in Finland. Sections of the wood at the National Exhibition at Moscow were nearly a foot in diameter. We also saw a specimen in Kazan nearly the same size. J. sabina or Savin Juniper is a native northern plant, we saw it in the Botanic Garden at Moscow. General Greig tells us that it is commonly known as the Cossack Juniper. PINUS-Pine. P. sylvestris (Scotch and Russian Pine). It was through the kindness of M. Alphonse de Vilmorin that Mr. Budd and myself had an opportunity of studying the variations of the sylvestris pine at Des Barres. In 1822 the late M. de Vilmorin began that series of experiments which has been of such great service to the forestry of Europe, and here I would call special attention to the article " On the Riga Pine" in the U. S. report on Forestry in 1878-79, by Dr. Franklin B. Hough. Mons. de Vilmorin had been struck with the variableness of the sylvestris pine of France from a timber point of view. He therefore planted thirty-two samples of seed, seven of which were from Russia, the others from different parts of Scotland, France and Germany. Every sample of seed is now represented by its row or rows of trees, each having an individuality of its own. In the sylvestris of western Europe we find great variableness ; some have ascending branches, others horizontal ; some attain to good size, others not ; some have trunks almost straight, others wobble, if I may so speak. Of the seven samples of seed received from Russia, two were from Riga, and the others from Smolensk, Vitebsk, Vilna, Tchernigov, and Volhynia. All these trees had ascending branches remarkably straight, trunks with reddish bark, and though these different groups to the eye of a botanist like M. de Vilmorin each had an individuality of its own, yet they all combine those characteristics which make them first-class timber trees. It may be noted that these samples were all from western Russia, for the last two Governments lie to the north-east and north-west of Kiev, and yet for timber purposes they are fair representatives of the pines of European Russia. At the Moscow exhibition there was a collection of the branches, cones, seeds, etc., of the sylvestris pine, from nine different govern- ments of European Russia. A chat with a professor in charge, gave me the impression of the general uniformity of these pines for timber purposes. I also asked from which government he would rather obtain his seed ? He replied, if planting at Moscow my preference would be rather in favour of seed from one of the three divisions of the Archangel district, but from which division I do not know. This Russian pine seems to grow nearly as high as our own white pine, but is a tree of smaller diameter of trunk. Among the pines of western Europe one variety growing abundantly between the Loire and the Rhone was especially crooked and stunted in growth and worthless as a timber tree. These trees were pointed out by M. de Vilmorin as heavy seed producers, and hence the seed has been picked in quantity, and no doubt has come to this country in quantity. The experiments of M. de Vilmorin show clearly the great advantage of the Russian pine, which he says "not only grows more rapidly and to a larger size," but he adds "the timber is more elastic and valu- able when mature." The plantations of M. de Vilmorin are not confined to sylvestris pine. There are five varieties of P. laricio, a faster grower, but of doubtful hardiness here. Of Mugho, eleven varieties; of pines of different species, seventy-six kinds. There are sixteen varieties of spruce. Altogether about 117 varieties of ever- greens, and 296 varieties of deciduous trees. M. de Vilmorin began his experimeets with the Riga pines with the hope of growing on Freneh soil the masts for the French navy. The masts had to be brought from Russia. The French forests could not pro"" duce them. But this noble patriotism widened into a yet nobler universality, so that his experiments, now perfected by the lapse of time, are the grandest accumulation of forestry data that the temperate regions have ever seen. P. Oembra fVar. Sibirica). — This is the most ornamental of the pines in the Russian 'parks, more massive in its foliage than our native white pine. We find fine specimens at Gen. Greig's, and in all the botanic gardens and parks. We were told by the foresters that in the Koloninsky Park not far from 321 Moscow, there are trees of immense size, 600, or 700 years planted. It is a common tree in the Urals and in Siberia. Its seed and that of the sunflower are sold in all groceries, and are the peanuts of the Russian peasant population. TAXUS-Yew. T. baccata.— The common yew of central Europe is scarcely hardy at Warsaw. In the well sheltered Botanic Gardens, it has been injured so much as to be scarcely ornamental. N either is it at all hardy at Riga. However, Mr. Wagner tells us that there is a northern form found in the woods near Riga, and which I suppose is more or less hardy there. At Volsk, in the Botanic Garden, there are two large specimens of yew, nearly thirty feet in height,, with a number of branches or trunks ascending from the ground, different from anything we had seen elsewhere. In conclusion, I would say that I have written these notes when pressed with other work, but felt it was necessary that they may appear at once, that whatever is of value to us, should be imported next autumn ; for orders of plants from points north and east of Warsaw must be shipped in the fall. Seeds can be sent from or to Russia in bags under eight ounces. Scions I have sent safely to Warsaw by mail ; and scions sent by mail from Riga arrived in fair condition. Letters to central and eastern Russia (Moscow excepted) should be addressed in Russian. As an amateur, I cannot continue to give up to this work the time I have given in the past. My part has been an endeavour to show our Governments and our horticul- tural societies what may, what should be done. Let us carefully watch the work now being carried on by Mr. Budd, at the State Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa — work of the highest value to the cold climates of Canada ; that work which made our trip to Russia a necessity, that is, a necessity to fair progress ; a trip which enabled me in part to see with his eyes, and give you in some degree the results of his study and observations. Let us then follow out this scheme of interchange with our corresponding climates in the old world. The work has some difficulties. However, as we have the north- western States and the Russians as our allies, the difficulties may be overcome to our great and mutual good. 322 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE WHITE PINE Pinus strobus. By Wm. Saunders, London, Ontario. More than one hundred species of insects have been enumerated as destructive to the white pine, some attacking the wood, others the bark, twigs or leaves, and while some of them do comparatively little harm, others are very injurious. In the present paper reference will be made mainly to those which do the greatest injury to this our most valuable timber tree, briefly sketching their life history, and habits as far as they are known. The losses occasioned by the destructive work of borers are unfortunately too well known to those engaged in the lumber trade, although the sufferers in most instances know but little of the curious transformations which these insects undergo. These specially destructive species inflict their greatest injuries during the larval period of their existence, in which condition some of them continue their work for several years before reaching maturity. Most of these pests belong to one of two families of beetles, the longicorn, or long-horned beetles (Cerambycidce), or the serricorn, or saw-horn beetles (Buprestidce). The cylindrical bark-beetles are also injurious, but as they operate chiefly near the surface, immediately under the bark, they do not injure the timber to any .material extent. MONOHAMMUS CONFUSOR. Among the most formidable enemies in the family of long-horned beetles are two species belonging to the genus Monohammus, and known as Monohammus confusor and M. scutellatus. M. confusor is a large grey beetle, remarkable for the extraordinary length of its antennae or horns. This insect is shown in fig. 19. The body varies in length from an inch to an inch and a-half, the average size being over an inch. Its general colour is ashen grey, mottled with darker spots and dots ; there are also patches of a whitish colour on the head, thorax and abdomen, which are sometimes indistinct or almost want- ing, the colours being chiefly due to a covering of very fine, short hairs, which, as they are easily rubbed off, occasion these variations in the appear- ance of the insect. The antennae of the males vary in length from two to upwards of three inches ; those of the female are much shorter, and seldom exceed the length of the body. During the summer the female lays her eggs in the crevices of the bark of the white pine trees, fre- quently selecting those which have been scorched by fire or felled by the wind or the lumberman's axe. Fig. 19. 323 The larva when hatched soon eats its way into the wood, where it forms channels or galleries through and through the solid interior. When full grown it is a large, soft, white grub, nearly cylindrical in form and destitute of feet. The head is large, of a reddish-brown colour, and is armed with a pair of powerful jaws ; the next joint behind the head is flat and horny, and larger than the others, the body tapering a little from this point backwards. The chrysalis state is passed within the burrow, and the beetle appears late in June or during the month of July. As this insect lives a long time in the larval state, the beetle is often developed after the timber has been built into a house, when, suddenly emerging from its concealment, it becomes a source of wonder to the inhabitants of the dwelling. When burrowing into the wood, the larva makes a noise not unlike the boring of an augur, which on a still night may be heard in the woods for a considerable distance, and such noises occurring in a house where the cause has not been suspected has often given rise to superstitious notions and excited in the timid much alarm. This beetle is very generally distributed throughout the Northern United States and Canada, and in the lumbering districts is sometimes excessively abundant. One instance is on record where nearly three hundred of the beetles were seen at one time on a single pine tree. As these insects are partial to cut timber, they often greatly injure logs which are allowed to remain a season over in the mill-yard. MONOHAMMUS SCUTELLATUS. This beetle derives its specific name from its white scutellum situated at the junction •of the wing-covers with the thorax. It varies in length from three-quarters of an inch to an inch, and usually occurs most abundantly in June. In fig. 20 we have a very good representation of this insect. The body is black above and below, and thickly pitted with irregular impressions. On the wing-cases there are a num- ber of scattered whitish spots of various shapes and sizes, which, when examined with a magnifying lens, are found to be formed of dense clumps of short, whitish hairs, which often disappear by being rubbed off. On each side of the thorax is a thick, triangular spine ; the antennae are many- jointed, and in the female are about the same length as the l>ody, while in the male they are nearly twice that length. The larva of this insect is also a thick, white grub, without feet. The body is -divided into a number of well-marked segments, the head as in the species last described being furnished with a strong pair of jaws. This larva infests the white pine chiefly after the lumber has been cut or newly fallen, and injures it by boring large, oval-shaped cavities, which extend for long distances through the interior of the log. In some localities these insects are very plentiful, literally swarming on pine trees, They are common in the lumbering regions of Canada and the Northern States. Criocephalus Agrestis. Another injurious beetle belonging to the same family, but having much shorter Iiorns, is known under the name of Criocephalus agrestis. This beetle is of a blackish- brown colour, with three large irregular indentations on the top of the thorax and two ridges on each of the wing-covers. The antennae are about half the length of the body. The eggs of this insect are laid on the pine trees, and the larva when hatched bores into the wood, perforating the trunk in all directions, making a flattened cylindrical hole. When full-grown it is about an inch long, is white, footless, with a brown head. The anterior portion of the body is somewhat thicker than the hinder segments. The larva changes to a chrysalis within its burrow, and produces the beetle late in May or early in June. 324 The Lesser Orthosoma — Orthosoma brunneum. This is a long-horned beetle of a rather flattened form, about an inch and a-quarter long and about one-third of an inch broad — see fig. 21. It is of a deep red colour, darker anteriorly ; on each side of the thorax there are three sharp teeth and several slightly elevated lines on the wing-covers. The larva is about an inch and a- quarter long, cylindrical in form, and of a whitish colour. The beetles are very common during the months of June and July, and the larvae are frequently met with in decaying pine stumps. Since they feed chiefly on decaying wood they do but little harm. There are several other smaller species of longicorn beetles which injure pine trees, but as their habits are very similar to those of the larger species to which reference has been made, it will perhaps be unnecessary to speak further of them now. The Virginian Buprestis — Chalcophora virginiensis. Among the Buprestidse, or saw-horn beetles, the Virginian buprestis (Chalcophora virginiensis) will first claim attention. This is a large and handsome beetle, which measures from eight- tenths of an inch to an inch or more in length. It is of an FiS- 21- oblong form, and brassy or copper-coloured, sometimes almost black. The upper side of the body is roughly punctated, the top of the head deeply indented, on the thorax there are three elevated and polished thick black lines, and on each wing-cover two small, square, impressed spots, a long, elevated, smooth, black line near the outer margin and another near the inner margin, with several thinner, shorter lines between them. The under side of the body has a coppery lustre, and is sparingly covered with short whitish down. It appears towards the end of May, throughout June, and occasionally later. The larva is a flat-headed white grub, with its anterior segments very much enlarged, which bores into the sap-wood of the white pine, and sometimes girdles the tree ; its track begins as a narrow shallow groove on the surface of the wood, increasing in breadth as the larva grows, following an irregular course, and terminating in a large hole, at which point the grub changes to a chrysalis. The Liberated Buprestis — Chalcophora liberta. This is a closely allied species, much resembling the Virginian buprestis in all its stages. The beetle is about three-quarters of an inch long, of a brassy or coppery hue, sometimes glossed with green, in other specimens nearly black. The thorax and wing- oovers are deeply furrowed by irregular longitudinal depressions. It differs from Vir- giniensis in the width and character of the raised lines on the wing-covers. DlCERCA TENEBROSA. Is another member of the family of Buprestians which is an enemy of the white pine. This species in the larval state mines under the bark of the tree, where it occurs as a medium-sized whitish grub, with a flat head, brown jaws, and enlarged anterior segments. The beetle occurs late in the summer, is of an ashy-bronze colour, with the thorax and elytra more or less furrowed, and densely pitted. The under surface is copper coloured. This insect is found in most parts of Canada and the Northern United St; tes. The Golden Buprestis —Buprestis striata. This b^ecies also deserves mention here. It is a very handsome beetle, from six to seven- tenths of an inch long, of a coppery- red colour, with a broad bluish-green stripe on each wing-cover, which varies in brilliancy in different specimens. There are four raised smooth lines on each wing-case, and a wide, shallow groove along the middle of 325 the thorax. Both thorax and wing-covers are pitted with minute dots. The larva of this species, which i s very similar to that of tenebrosa, is occasionally found in sound pine logs, but much more frequently in decayings logs and stumps. Harris' Buprestis — Chrysobothris Harrisii. This lovely little beetle measures about one-third of an inch in length. The female is of a beautiful metallic green all over; the male has the legs and the sides of the thorax of a reddish-bronze, with a purplish tinge towards the tips of the wing-covers. The thorax has a conspicuous furrow down the centre, and is marked with some irregular indentations, which are repeated also on the finely-punctured elytra. The beetle is found on white pine saplings towards the end of May and in June ; the larva lives under the bark of young trees and in the smaller limbs of older trees. Cylindrical Pine Borbrs. Eight species of cylindrical bark beetles belonging to the family Scolytidce are known to attack the white pine, of which perhaps the boring Hylurgus {Hylurgus terebrans) is one of the most common, and since they are all very similar in their appearance and habits, this may be taken as a representative species. The beetle is about a quarter of an inch long, of a nearly cylindrical form, a chestnut-red colour, and is thinly clothed with yellowish hairs. It is found in abundance in May in pine forests and amongst lumber in mill-yards and elsewhere throughout the greater portion of North America. The larva is a small, yellowish-white, footless grub, with a yellow, horny head, which bores winding passages in many directions in the inner layers of the bark of the tree, and also in the outer surface of the wood. Xyleborus xylographicus (fig. 22) is another member of this family, which has proved to be a formidable enemy both to the white pine in the north and to the yellow pine in the south. The Pales Weevil — Hylobius pales. Among the weevils, or snout beetles, there are also several species which injure the white pine, one of them is known as the pales weevil (Hylobius pales). It is a dark chestnut-coloured or black weevil, from three to four- tenths of an inch long, sprinkled with dots more or less bright, which are found, on magnifying them, to be clusters of very fine, short, yellowish-gray hairs. These insects are quite common in May and June among pine trees, and lum- ber piles. The female perforates the bark of the tree with her snout and in the excavation deposits an egg, where it shortly hatches into a white or yellowish-white larva, which burrows beneath the bark, consuming its substance and loosening it from the wood. In the autumn the larva bores into the sap-wood, forming a cell nearly a quarter of an inch deep, arched over the top with a roof of sawdust and woody fibre. Within this enclosure the larva changes before spring to a pupa, from which the beetle escapes early in the summer. It is found from Maine and Lake Superior to Florida. The White Pine Weevil — Pissodes strobi. This is a common weevil met with at all times during the season, but most commonly in May. They affect the upper shoots of the trees, depositing their eggs in the bark of those which are young and growing thriftily. When hatched the young larvae devour the wood and pith, causing the shoots to wither and die. The leading shoots being destroyed, the trees become irregular in their growth and much disfigured. The larva is white, and about one-third of an inch long. The beetle (see fig. 23) is of an oblong, oval form, rather narrow, about a quarter of an inch long, of a dull dark brown colour, with two dots on the thorax, and a short, irregular, white band behind the middle of the wing-covers. They are also ornamented with a few patches of tawny yellow. 22 [f. g.] Fig. 22. Fig. 23. 326 The Woolly Bark Louse op the Pine. This is an insect which, in some localities, is very destructive to the white pine. Large patches are frequently found on the trunk and branches covered with a white, cottony secretion, under the protection of which live myriads of tiny lice. These puncture the bark with their sharp beaks and feed upon the sap, thus exhausting the trees, and sometimes causing their death. Large numbers of these lice are destroyed by lady-birds, who feed on them both in the larval and perfect state. Two species are especially useful in this instance. One is shown in fig. 24, where it is represented in its three stages. This is known as the painted lady-bird (Harmonia picta); the other is black, with two red spots, and is called the twice-stabbed lady-bird (Chilochorus bivul- nerus). The larva is shown in fig. 25. Pine Leaf Scale Insect — Chronaspis pinifolice. Another allied species is the pine-leaf scale insect (Chionaspis pinifoliw, Fitch). The leaves of the pine are sometimes found to be covered with innumerable elongate, snowy-white bodies, which, on examination, are found to be the scales of an insect; these when abundant give to the whole foliage a whitened appearance, and, if the insects are allowed to pursue their course unchecked, the leaves shortly become yellow or brown, and the trees languish and occasionally die. In fig. 26 is shown a tuft of leaves injured Fig. 25. JoanL&L Fig. 26. by this scale insect. The scale of the female, shown at 2c, is about one-tenth of an inch long, that of the male, shown partly grown at 2d and mature at 2b, is not more than one-thirtieth of an inch. Both male and female scales are much magnified in the figure. This insect has not yet proved troublesome in forests, but has chiefly affected trees in cultivation. It very closely resembles a species found on cultivated pines in Europe, and may possibly prove to be the same. The eggs are produced under the female? 32? scales, from fifteen to thirty under each scale ; they are oval in form and of a red colour. The larvae hatch early in May, and are also red. When first hatched the young females move briskly about until they have selected suitable locations for a per- manent abode, when they attach themselves thereto and remain fixed. The males are less active, and often attach themselves to the leaves in the immediate neighbourhood of the parent scales. This insect produces at least two broods in a year, perhaps more, and is found throughout the United States from New York to Florida. The White Pine Saw-Fly — Lophyrus Abbotii. This species belongs to the family of saw-flies, a class of insects which are said to have greatly injured whole forests of pine in Germany. This American saw-fly is abundant in Indiana, Illinois, and Mis- souri, and is generally distributed elsewhere through the Northern and Western States and Canada. Fig. 2? represents the insect in its several stages. The larva is from eight- tenths of an inch to an inch in length, of a dingy white colour, with a black head, and several longitudinal rows of black spots along the body, and is found most numerous in the autumn. When full fed they enclose themselves in oval cocoons, which are some- times spun up among the leaves on the tree, but more frequently among the fallen leaves and other debris on the ground. Within the cocoons the larvae remain unchanged g* '* until the following spring, when the pupa is formed, from which the flies issue in about two weeks The male measures, when its wings are spread, about half an inch the female two- thirds of an inch across. The body of the male is black excepting the under side and tip of the abdomen, which are yellowish. The female is of a honey-yellow colour, with the head and thorax a little darker, the thorax with the abdomen being slightly marked with black. The wings are transparent, with black veins. The larvae feed in flocks, and seldom leave a twig or branch until they have completely stripped it. When approaching full growth they consume a large quantity of food, and strip a tree of its leaves with wonderful rapidity. When disturbed they have the habit of throwing back the head and ninder part of the body, and if the tree or branch is violently shaken many of them will fall to the ground. A large proportion of these larvae are destroyed by a parasitic fly. The Pine-boring Pyralid — Nephopteryx Zimmermani. In the months of June and July branches of the white pine often show that they are suffering from the attacks of an insect by the pitch which exudes ; the wounds usually occur below the insertion of the smaller branches near the top of the terminal shoots. On cutting into the affected part, the injury is found to be caused by a small larva which, when full grown, is nearly three-quarters of an inch long. The head is shiny-brown, with black mandibles, the body blackish-green, naked, with a few black dots on each segment, from each of which arises a single rather stout hair. The larva devours the inner side of the bark, and making furrows in the wood, causes the exuda- tion which, when excessive and continuous, especially in the case of young trees, some- times proves fatal. In July the larva spins a thin, whitish, papery cocoon in the mass of exuding pitch, which seems to act as a protection to both larva and chrysalis. The chrysalis is smooth, and of a blackish-brown colour, and produces the moth in from ten to fourteen days. The moth, when its wings are expanded, measures an inch or more across. It is of a blackish-grey shaded with reddish, the hind wings are pale yellowish- white, and the abdomen greenish ringed with dull white. The species is probably single- 328 brooded. From the fact that the exuding pitch offers so much protection to the insect, it is scarcely likely that any remedy would reach it. The knife seems to be the only resource. A small foui-winged parasite attacks the borer in the larval state, the chrysalis being often found filled with the cocoons of this useful friend. Combtook's Rbtixia — Retinia Comstockiatm, Fernald. This insect as yet has only been ob- served on the pitch pine (Pinus rigida), but as it is probable that it will sooner or later be found to attack the white pine it will be briefly noticed. The perfect insect is a small moth of a light grey colour, varied with darker shades of rusty brown, which measures, when its wings are spread, nearly three-quarters of an inch across. The eggs are laid on the terminal shoots of the trees, and the larvae are found in the early part of the summer boring into the twigs and small branches, causing an exudation of resin, and sometimes girdling them. The larvae, when full-grown, are nearly half an inch long, of a yellowish colour, with a brown head, a patch of the same colour on the next segment, and a few polished brown dots on each ring, and from every one of these there arises a single hair. The larva changes to a chrysalis within the burrow from which eventually the moth escapes. In fig. 28 we have the insect represented in its several stages, also a small branch of an affected tree and a section of one of the bored twigs. The Pine Leaf-miner — Gelechia pinifoliella (Comstock). This insect was first described by Prof. Comstock in his report to the Department of Agriculture, Washington, for the year 1879. It has been found mining the leaves of different species of pine in many parts of the United States, and although as yet unrecorded in Canada, will very probably be found here. The larva is very minute, in the figure it is much magnified ; the line below indicates the natural size. It lives within the leaf on the soft tissues, and its presence is soon indicated by the change in colour which takes place in the part affected; it becomes brown, and on examining the leaf, or that portion of it which is discoloured, it is found to be entirely eaten out, and to contain, if in season, the insect, either in the larval or pupal condition. In fig. 29 the work of this tiny insect on the leaves is shown. The moth, chrysalis, and larvse are all represented, but much magnified. The larva, when full-grown, is about one-fifth of an inch long, of a pale brown colour, with a black head and a black patch on the upper part of the next segment. It is also sparingly covered with short, fine hairs. The change to a chrysalis takes place within the mined leaf, and in summer the moth escapes in about a fortnight. ^ The perfect insect, when its wings are spread, measures about three-eighths of an inch across ; it is of a brownish-yellow colour, dotted with fuscous scales. The fore- wings are crossed by three white lines, as shown in the figure ; the hind- wings are pale grey, rig. 28. 329 and both pairs are deeply-fringed. There are two or three broods of this insect during the year. In addition to those enumerated, there are a score or two of species of insects which are known to devour the leaves of the pine, in some instances injuring them very much. Unfortunately it does not yet seem to be within the power of man to do much directly towards limiting the destructive work of these enemies to our forests, yet this should not deter us from studying their habits and life history, as a knowledge of these may help us much more than we anticipate. A few trees, such as a belt or group planted for shelter or ornament, may be protected from the leaf -destroyers by syringing them with a mixture of Paris green and water, in the proportion of a teaspoonful of the poison to a pailful of water. Bark lice may be killed by the use of alkaline washes applied with a brush or broom ; such alkaline applications are also of use in preventing the borers from obtaining a lodgement in the trees, as these insects will not usually deposit their eggs on trees so protected ; but it is scarcely possible that such remedies can ever be applied over extensive areas of forest. It is gratifying to know that in addition to the number devoured by insectivorous birds, almost every injurious species is preyed on by predaceous and parasitic insects, which seek out and destroy the pests with ceaseless diligence. Were it not for these friendly species, the destructive insects would long ere this have rendered the growth of trees an impossibility. THE CHINCH BTJ G—Micropus leacopteriis. Say. By Wm, Saunders, London, Ont. This formidable insect pest has recently appeared in force in the adjoining State of New York, where it has within a limited area inflicted a very considerable amount of damage. That an insect so enormously destructive as this one is in the west, has domiciled itself so near us is sufficient to excite some alarm and induce our agriculturists to be on the alert and to use such defensive measures, in case of attack, as the science of economic entomology has suggested. During the last week in September a package of insects was forwarded to the New York State Entomologist, with the following statement in regard to them, from Mr. M. H. Smith, of Bedwood, Jofferson county, N.Y. : " I herewith transmit specimens of (to us) 330 a new and formidable grass- destroying insect, together with portions of grass destroyed by them, and also some of the soil, for the purpose of examination. If the insect is known to you, and there is any known way to exterminate it, please inform us at once. The evidence of its destructive work was first discovered in June of 1882, by Mr. H. C. King, of Hammond, St. Lawrence county. At haying time, about the middle of July, he noticed about three acres of his timothy grass to be apparently prematurely ripened. In the fall he observed that there was no aftergrowth, and that the stubble was as dead as if it had been boiled. Search was made among the dead roots without any discovery. The following spring the field was entirely barren of timothy, but some clover seeds and thistles occupied the ground where at least one and one-half tons of timothy to the acre, under favourable circumstances, would have been cut. In June of 1883, Mr. King discovered other fields to be affected in the same manner, and instituted a search which has recently resulted in the discovery of myriads of the insect, not in the dead grass, but at the edge of the live grass, where they may be scraped up by handfuls. They have destroyed about fifteen acres for Mr. King, and several acres for each of several other farmers of his vicinity. They are causing extreme alarm, and if you can give any relief from this calamity it will be gratefully appreciated. This is an important grazing locality. In addition to the timothy, June grass and wire grass are also destroyed." On examination this insect proved to be the notorious chinch-bug, a pest hitherto extremely rare in New York State, and never before recorded as destructive within that State. Prof. Lintner at once visited the district referred to, and thus records his personal observations made during the 5th and 6th of October. He says : " The cold weather of the past few days (ice was formed upon three nights), has doubtless driven most of the bugs to their winter quarters for hibernation, in crevices, beneath boards, rails, etc., in rubbish heaps, and to many other secure retreats, where such insects are accustomed to hide. Yet, upon parting the roots of the timothy, upon the borders of the killed portion, they were found in alarming numbers — in some spots sufficient to cover the ground with their bodies over an area of a couple of inches in diameter, being apparently congregated in such places. In one spot, upon the warm sloping side of a dead furrow, they could be seen, in numbers, running like ants over the ground. Elsewhere, they were concealed among the roots, near to and about the bulbs, upon which they appeared mainly to feed. Their presence in any spot could always be detected by bringing the nose near the ground by their peculiar bed-bug odour. This method of detection proved more convenient, and infallible than looking for them. " The invasion is more extended than was at first supposed. Nearly all of the farms in the neighbourhood of Mr. King have been attacked, either last year or this, and discoveries of attack not before suspected, are, upon examination, being made daily. A present range of about eight miles is indicated. It is believed to occur throughout most of the town of Hammond, and to extend into Alexandria. " Without any desire to play the role of an alarmist, I feel it my duty to say that, as the result of my observations, this chinch-bug invasion of northern New York threatens to be the most serious insect attack to which our State has ever been subjected. The following are my reasons for this belief: — " It has planted itself, maintained a footing and has shown a rapid increase under unfavouring, unpropitious and unnatural conditions, such as these : " First. — It is regarded as a southern insect (extending further northward, as do most animal forms, in the Mississippi valley), yet it has appeared in the most northern county of the State, and upon (if the report be reliable) the St. Lawrence river. " Second.— -Its attack has been made upon timothy. This seems to be its most unusual food plant, and therefore, we infer, the least suited to it. All previous accounts concur in giving it a preference for spring wheat above all things else ; next in order, oats or corn, and last the grasses. Timothy is only mentioned as occasionally attacked by it. " Third. — In all previous accounts, great prominence has been given to its being a hot and dry weather insect, dependent upon these conditions, not only for its multiplication, but for its existence. Heavy rains have been claimed to be invariably fatal to it. It could not abound, it is stated, in a wet season. Dr. Fitch had even made recommendation 231 O of Bprinkling it with water (an artificial shower), as the best means for its extermination. In the present instance, the bug obstinately persists in multiplying, contrary to all rule. The past year and the present have both been years of excessive rainfall in St. Lawrence county. Spring, summer and autumn have been exceptionally wet. In the spring, I am told that heavy and continued rains flooded meadows now showing the chinch-bug attack. At haying time, when the bugs were young, and, according to all the statements hitherto made, readily killed by wet, the rains were so frequent and severe, that the grass cut could only be secured with difficulty. Upon Mr. King's farm, much of it was drawn in, upon favourable days, by improving the opportunity of extending the labour into hours after nightfall. At the present time grass is lying in fields in stacks, which could not be gathered, owing to continued rain, and fields of oats are still unharvested." This insect belongs to the order Hemiptera, which includes all true bugs. These are all furnished with a sharp proboscis or beak by which the substance they feed on is pierced and its juices extracted by suction. This piercer when the insect is at rest is bent beneath the body. The chinch-bug belongs to a sub-division of the hemiptera known as the half- wing bugs (Heteroptera), and to this same group the well-known bed pest belongs, and they both give off the same disagreeable odour when touched. The accompanying figures will aid in making clear the life history of this species. At a and b (Figure 80) the eggs are shown much magnified, the short lines at the side of all these figures indicate their natural size. These eggs are about one thirty-third of an inch long, of a long oval form with the top square] y cut off. When at first laid they are pale in colour and semi-transparent, but shortly they change to an amber shade and finally in part to red as they approach maturity. The newly hatched larva shown at c in the figure is pale yellow, with an orange- coloured patch on the abdomen ; very soon the whole body becomes red, except the first two joints of the abdomen which remain yellowish. With the growth of the insect the red colour becomes quite bright and contrasts strongly with the pale band as shown at e and in a more marked manner at f. As the insect approaches full growth the head and thoraxJDecome dusky in colour, and the abdomen of a duller shade of red. At g the pupa is represented, in which stage the insect loses none of its activity but gradually becomes duller and darker in colour. At h one of the legs of the insect is shown enlarged and at j the tip of the same still more highly magnified, while at i the jointed proboscis or beak is represented. In figure 31 we have a view of the perfect insect, also magnified, the short line behind it showing its natural size. It is about one-tenth of an inch long and about one-third of its length broad. In colour it is black, and when examined with a magnifying lens the body is seen to be slightly hairy. The wing covers, which lie flat upon its back, are white with black veins and a black spot on each side about the middle and towards the outer margin. The feet and the outer swollen joints of the antennae are yellow, the legs and J ^UydlV \ *^e kasa,l joints of the antennae black. "^ t KM! ii ^ ^s s*ze seems *° ke quite out of proportion to its destructive / tfPl/ \ powers, and minute though it be it nevertheless inflicts an almost 1 Wpp R incredible amount of injury in certain years upon the grain and corn t" crops. Prof. Lintner states that " In 1864, its injuries in the State of Illinois to wheat and corn alone were computed at seventy-three [millions of dollars. This was a year of unusual excess, but it is fnot of rare occurrence that a State should suffer a loss of from twelve to fifteen millions of dollars in a single year. When the Fig. 30. Fig. 31 332 insect abounds, it is so numerous as to cover the ground ; it blackens the stalks of the plants upon which it feeds ; it fills the air when, at seasons of its mating, it takes wing for flight ; it marches to new feeding grounds in solid bodies, upon and over one another ; its invading armies sweep over and utterly destroy a wheat or corn field in two or three days ; and the nauseous bed-bug odour which they exhale sickens those who are compelled to breathe it. " As the past history of the insect has shown that parasites and other enemies have entirely failed to arrest its multiplication, we are compelled to believe, from present indications, that it has come to stay, and that it will do so, unless effectual means are taken to prevent it. Its capability of increase is wonderful. Under the most conser- vative circumstances, a single chinch-bug, depositing its eggs about the 1st of June, would be, in the following August, the progenitor of a quarter of a million." It is evidently most important that every practicable means should be employed in the endeavour to arrest as far as possible the progress of this mischievous foe, and to destroy it wherever found. Should it continue to increase, since it is already upon our borders, it will in all probability establish itself in force in the adjacent districts in Ontario, if indeed it has not done so already, and it may become to us a more formidable enemy than the wheat midge. REMEDIES. Where the insects are found among the roots of timothy, it is recommended to plough them under by turning over a flat (not overlapping) broad furrow as deep as possible, but not less than eight inches. It is said that the insect cannot survive this deep burial. Fire will certainly destroy it, and where the conditions of the grass will admit of burning, this measure should be resorted to j a thin covering of straw would prove a material aid in the burning. Where neither of these remedies can be applied the field should be heavily rolled as early in the spring as possible, for the purpose of preventing the bugs which have hibernated, from gaining easy access to the roots of the grass or grain on which to deposit their eggs. The use of common kerosine or coal oil has also been recommended, made into an emulsion by forcibly agitating it for a considerable time with an equal measure of milk, either sweet or sour, when it will become thick almost like butter, which, diluted with water, should be sprayed over the ground by means of a suitable pump ; or the oil may be emulsified by agitating it thoroughly with a larger quantity of soapsuds and applied in the same manner. REPORT op thE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO, FOR THE YEAR 1883 ^tlnUA ftjj (tov&tv 0f Wit 9*(piMtttft gtssmMij. ®0V0ttt(T : PRINTED BY C. BLACKETT ROBINSON, 5 JORDAN STREET. 1884. INDEX TO ENTOMOLOGICAL REPORT. A. PAGE. Acanthoderes quadrigibba 48 Acmseops pratensis 36 Acoptus suturalis 50 Acronycta lepusculina 24 ^Edipoda corallina 17 /Egeria acerni 12 Agrilus egenus 36, 45 " otiosus 45 " ruficollis 44 Alypia octomaculata 28 American lackey moth 34 Annual address of president 8 Annual meeting 6 Anthaxia viridicornis 45 " viridifrons .. 45 Anthonomus suturalis 50 Anthrenus varius 29 Ants, Damage caused by 38 Aphis mali 23 Apple-leaf crumpler 22 Apple-tree aphis 11, 23 Arzame obliquata 18, 20 Attacus cecropia 63 " luna 63 B. Balaninus nasicus 50 " rectus 51 Bell, Prof. J. T., Article by 27 Bellamira scalaris 36 Belostoma grandis 65 Blackknot 20 Bombus Pensylvanicus 19 Book notices 76 Buhach 34 Buprestis f asciata 16 " striata . . 54 Butterflies, rare in Quebec 37 " Rearing of 17 c. Calandra remotopunctata 29 Calopteron reticulatum 17 Camponotus ligniperdus 38 Canker-worms, Concerning 39 Cantharis Nuttali 21 Carabidae and Coccinellidae, Food relations of. 79 Carpocapsa pomonella 16 Caterpillars, Contagious diseases of 19 Catocala habilis 39 " relicta 39 Cecidomyia robinise 16 Cephaloon lepturoides 36 Chalcophora liberta 35, 54 " virginiensis 35, 54 Chariessa pilosa 36, 51 Chilochorus bivulnerus 56 Chinch bug 59 Chion cinctus 45 Chionaspis pinifolise 56 Chramesus hickoriae 51 Chrysobothris femorata 44 PAGE. Chrysobothris Harrisii 35, 55 Chrysopa, Mouth of larva of 27 Cicindela sex-guttata 35 " vulgaris , 35 Clarkson, Frederick, Article by 33 Claypole, E. W., Article by . ' 33 Clisiocampa Americana 34 " sylvatica 34 Clover seed midge 11 Codling moth, Remedy for 12, 16 Colias philodice 39 Collecting in early winter 31 " last year's 38 insects, Unusual mode of 36 Colorado potato beetle 33 Conotrochelus elegans , . . 50 " nenuphar 34 ' ' posticatus ... 50 Coleoptera, British, Manual of 76 " of North America 76 Corethra plumicornis 19 Cossus centerensis 16 Criocephalus agrestis 53 Cryphalus jalappae 30 Cupes concolor 36 Cyllene picta 46 " robinise 36, 46 D. Danais archippus 39, 65 Darapsa versicolor 16 Death of Charles Arnold 81 " " Chas. G. Siewers 82 " " Dr. James S. Bailey 82 " " Dr. John L. Leconte 83 11 " Prof. Henry Croft 81 " " " P. C. Zeller 82 " " " Townend Glover 81 " "V.T.Chambers 81 Dendroides concolor 36 Dicerca divaricata 44 " lurida 44 " tenebrosa 54 Dichelonycha elongata 43 Diplosis grassator 30 Dorcheschema nigrum 47 Doryphora decemlineata '34 Dryocampa senatoria , 34 E. Eburia quadrigeminata 46 Ecyrus dasycerus 49 Election of officers 15 Ennomos magnaria 67 Entomological notes for 1882 33 club, A. A. A. S 15, 17 Entomology, Popular papers on 22 Euchetes egle 39 Eudemis botrana 26 Eudioptis hyalinata 23 Euderces picipes 47 Eupsalis minuta 35 Eupogonius vestitus 49 111. F. PAGE. Fall web-worm 34 Fletcher, J., Articles by 13, 31, 68 Forest lackey moth 34 Formica ligniperda 38 rufa 18 Form and colour as shown in insects 62 Frost-flies 19 Fyles, Rev. T. W., Article by 30, 62 G. Gelechia pinifoliella 58 Goes occulatus 48 ' ' pulcher 47 " pulverulentus 48 " tigrinus 47 Gortyna nitela 20 Grape berry moth 26 Grote, A. R., Article by 32 H. Harmonia picta 56 Harrington, W. H., Articles by 35, 40, 42 Helia americalis 18 Heteracthes quadrimaculatus 46 Heustis, Mrs. C. E., Article by 37 Hickory, Insects injurious to 42 Hormiscus saltator 51 Hybernia tiliaria 25 Hybernating butterflies . 32 Hylobius pales 55 Hylurgus terebrans 55 Hyperplatys aspersus 49 Hyphantria textor 34 Index to entomological reports 80 Insects injurious to drugs 29, 30 " fruits 78 " collected in 1882 35 Insect list, Revision of 15 " powders 34 Jack, J. G., Article by 37 L. Lachnosterna f usca 43 Lasioderma serricorne 30 Leptostylus macula 48 Leptura proxima 47 Lepturges querci 48 Leucania unipuncta 19 Lime-tree measuring worm 25 Limenitis arthemis 37 Liopus alpha 48 " cinereus 48 Lophyrus Abbotii 57 Lycomorpha pholus 17 Lyctus striatus 45 Lyman, H. H., Article by 28 M. Magdalis barbita 36, 50 " inconspicua 50 PAGE. Magdalis olyra 50 Mamestra picta 17 Maple borers 15, 40 " egerian 12 Melanophila longipes 37 Melon moth 23 Micropus leucopterus 59 Moffatt, J. A., Article by 38 Molorchus bimaculatus 46 Monohammus conf usor 52 " scutellatus 53 Moss hunting 27 N. Nematus Erichsonii 17 ' ' ventricosus 17 Neocly tus erythrocephalus 46 Nephopteryx Zimmerman! 57 Noctuidai of North America 80 Nonagria subcarnea 20 Notodonta albif rons 16 o. Oak borers 16 Obituary notices 81 Obrium rubrum 46 Oncideres cingulatus 49 Orgyia leucostigma 11, 18, 33 Orthosoma brunneum 54 Osmoderma eremicola 44 " scabra 44 Ottawa Naturalists' Field Club, Transactions of 80 Paedisca Scudderiana 18 Papilio cresphontes 16, 37 " turnus 16, 63 Phakellura hyalinatalis 23 Phycita nebulo 22 Phyllobaenus dislocatus 51 Phylloxera vastatrix, parasite on 30 Phytoptera 20 Pieris rapse 38 Pimpla lunator 65 Pine boring Pyralid 57 " Insects injurious to 52 ' ' leaf miner 58 " " scale insect 56 " moth of Nantucket 77 Pissodes strobi 55 Plum curculio 34 Plusiodonta compressipalpis 19 Pcecilonota cyanipes 36 Poplar dagger-moth 24 Pseudomus truncatus 36 Pyrethrum cinerariif olium 35 " roseum 35 R. Reed, E. B., Articles by 5,38 Report of Council 6 " " Montreal branch 8 " ' ' Secretary-treasurer 7 " " IT. S. commissioner of agriculture. . 77 ' ' to Royal society 13 Retinia Comstockiana 58 IV. S. PAGE. Saperda Candida 16, 45 " discoidea 40 " tridentata 35 Saunders, Wm., Articles by .8, 17, 22, 27, 52,59, 76, 81 Saunders, W. E., Article by 29 Schwarz, E. A., Article by 30 Scolytus quadrispinosus 51 Silvanus surinamensis 29 Sivodrepa panicea 29 Smerinthus exaecatus 16 Sphyracephala bre vicornis . . . 32 State entomologist for Illinois 39 Stenosphenus notatus .... 46 Systena marginalis 49 T. Tenebrioides mauritanica 29 Terias lisa 39 Trebolium ferruginum 29 Tremex colomba 40, 41 Tussock-moth white -marked 11, 33 Typocerus velutinus 47 Vanessa antiopa w. PAGE* 32 White pine weevil 55 " " saw-fly , 57 Woolly bark-louse of pine . . 56 Worms, notes on 68 X. Xyleborus celsus 51 1 ■ xylographicus 55 Xylotrechus colonus 46 Xyphidria albicornis 17, 40 " attenuata 42 z. Zellers collections. Zeller, Prof. P. C, Death of 138 82 FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF \ ONTARIO, INCLUDING REPORTS ON SOME OF THE NOXIOUS, BENEFICIAL AND OTHER INSECTS OF THE PROVINCE, PREPARED FOR THE HONOURABLE THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, BY THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY. 1883. To the Honourable the Commissioner qf Agriculture : Sir, — In accordance with the provisions of our Act of Incorporation, it becomes my duty to present to you herewith the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario. The Annual Meeting of the Society was held in the City of London, on October 3rd, 1883, when the officers for the ensuing year were duly elected, and the necessary business of the Society transacted. The account of the meeting, and the audited Financial Statement, are also sub- mitted herewith. In pursuance of one of the chief objects for which this Society was established some fifteen years ago, illustrated reports of various noxious and beneficial insects have been prepared by members of the Society for publication (with your approval), for the benefit of those interested in Agriculture and its kindred pursuits. The publication of the Canadian Entomologist is still maintained, the Society having nearly completed the fifteenth volume. I have the honour, Sir, to remain, Your obedient servant, Edmund Baynbs Reed, Secretary-Treasurer. 2 £e. sr.l ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. The annual meeting of the Society was held in London at the Society's Rooms, Victoria Hall, on Wednesday, October 3rd, 1883, at 7.30 o'clock p.m. The President, Mr. William Saunders, of London, Ont., in the chair. Present :— Rev. C. J. S. Bethune, M.A., Port Hope ; Rev. T. W. Fyles, Levis, P.Q ; James Fletcher, Ottawa; R. A. Hanham, Paris; W. H. Harrington, Ottawa; J. M. Denton, London ; B. Gott, Arkona ; A. Puddicombe, London ; F. C. Lowe, Dunnville ; H. P. Bock, London ; W. E. Saunders, London ; J. Magnus Johnston, London ; the Secre- tary-Treasurer, E. Baynes Reed, and others. The minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed, the reading being dispensed with, as they had already been printed, and sent to the members. The President addressed a few words of welcome to the members, expressing the pleasure which the London brethren felt at meeting their fellow- workers from the various parts of the Province. The Report of the Council and the Financial Statement of the Secretary-Treasurer or the past year were then read, and on motion duly received, discussed, and adopted. REPORT OF THE COUNCILLOR 1883. The Council desire in presenting their Annual Report to congratulate the members on the continued activity and prosperity of the Entomological Society of Ontario. The stimulus given to our scientific and economic work by the meeting last year in Montreal, when we were favoured with the presence and co-operation of so many distinguished entomologists, has done much to promote Entomology in Canada, and we look forward with additional satisfaction to the prospect of meeting some of our European fellow- labourers at the scientific gathering of the British Association which is to be held next year in Montreal. A large number of the insects in our collection have been forwarded for exhibition at the International Fisheries Exhibition now being held in Great Britain, your Council having gladly acceeded to the request of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries to add in this way to the interest of the Dominion exhibit. The collection arrived in England safely, and has attracted much attention, and has added to the reputation already possessed by the Society ; every precaution has been taken for the safety of this collection and its due return. During the year a very complete general Index to our thirteen Annual Reports has been prepared, which has added greatly to their value. Early in the spring we were honoured with a request from the Royal Society of Canada to send a representative to their meeting, which was to be held in Ottawa in May. The Council appointed Mr. James Fletcher, who duly attended the meeting of that learned body, and read a statement of the objects and condition of the Society. At the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, our Society was represented by the President, who has prepared a report of the proceedings of the Entomological Club for publication in the Society's Annual Report. The Council purpose still to continue their efforts to obtain a more liberal interpre- tation of the existing Customs' regulations, so as to render such supplies as our Society may need for its scientific work free of duty. Efforts have also been made through the Royal Society of Canada to obtain more favourable postal regulations for the transmis- sion of entomological and botanical specimens in order to facilitate exchanges between students in this country and those in Europe and America. The thanks of the Society are due to Prof. James Bell, of Albert College, Belleville, who has kindly contributed a variety of beautifully prepared microscopical objects for the use of the Society. Numerous additions have been made to the Library, among which special mention may be made of six of the beautifully illustrated volumes published by the British Gov- ernment containing some of the scientific results of the Challenger expedition. The new- edition of the Micrographic Dictionary ; Insects Injurious toFruits, by Mr. Saunders ; and a complete series, coloured, of the magnificent illustrated works on Entomology, by the late Prof. Townend Glover. In conclusion, the Council cannot refrain from expressing their gratification that our President, Mr. Wm. Saunders, has completed and published his able work on " The Insects Injurious to Fruits," thus supplying a much needed manual for the guidance of Fruit- growers and Horticulturists. The audited Report of the finances will be submitted as usual ; on behalf of the Council. E. Baynes Reed, Secretary- Treasurer. ANNUAL STATEMENT OF THE SECRETARY-TREASURER OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO, FOR THE YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30th, 1883. Receipts. Balance from previous year, 1882 $55 98 Members' fees, sale of Entomologist, etc : 336 61 Provincial grant, 1883 1000 00 Dominion grant for Fisheries Exhibition 200 00 Collectors' material — pins, cork, etc 26 79 Interest on Bank account 9 50 Engraving — received for electrotypes of cuts 2 42 $1,631 30 Disbursements. Canadian Entomologist: printing, paper, stationery, etc., including reprints of earlier volumes $618 67 Library account 116 52 Expenses of Report for 1882, including engraving, electrotypes and woodcuts, and also of Index to the thirteen Annual Reports . . 303 40 Expenses of preparing cases for Dominion Fisheries Exhibition .... 200 00 Annual vote to Editor and Secretary -Treasurer 175 00 Rent 80 00 Caretaker 12 00 Insurance 16 00 Collectors' material : pins, etc 58 95 Sundries: Postage, etc 42 29 Balance 8 47 $1,631 30 We certify that we have examined the above account with books and vouchers, and found the same to be correct. Balance in bank eight dollars and forty -seven cents. Entomological Society's Rooms, London, Ont. October 7th, 1883. Charles Chapman, ) . ,. H. P. Bock, ) Aud^rs. The report of the Montreal branch of the Society was next submitted. MONTREAL BRANCH, ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. The Tenth Annual Meeting of this branch was held at the residence of the Presi- dent, H. H. Lyman, Esq., M.A., Montreal, on Tuesday, 8th May, 1883, at 8 o'clock,, p.m. President read the following report of the operations of the Society for the year : — REPORT. Your Council beg to submit the Tenth Annual Report of the Branch. Five regular meetings have been held during the year, and in addition to these, the members have had the pleasure of attending the Annual Meeting of the parent Society, which was held in the rooms of the Natural History Society, on the 24th August last, during the session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The opportunity of meeting with many of the entomologists of the United States, and the President and other officers of our Canadian Society, was highly appreciated by our mem- bers. The followiug original papers have contributed to the interest of our meetings during the year : — 1. Description of a Dipterous parasite on Phylloxera vastatrix, by the Rev. T. W- Fyles. 2. Sir John Lubbock on Ants, by G. J. Bowles. 3. Notes on the Genus Callimorpha, by H. H. Lyman. 4. Preliminary list of the Geometridce of Quebec and Montreal, by G. J. Bowles. 5. Notes on some diurnal Lepidoptera occurring in Canada, by F. B. Caulfield. 6. Causes of rarity in ssme species of insects, by G. J. Bowles. The whole respectfully submitted. H. H. Lyman, President. The Report having been adopted, the election of officers took place, with the follow- ing result : — G. J. Bowles, President; W. Cooper, Vice-President; F. B. Caulfield, Secretary-Treas' urer ; J. G. Jack, H. H. Lyman, W. Shaw, H. Graves, Council. A very pleasant hour was then spent in examining the President's collection of Lepidoptera and the scarce and valuable illustrated entomological works in his library, Geo. John Bowles, Secretary. The President then delivered his annual j address, for which he was unanimously ac- corded a vote of thanks and requested to publish it in the Canadian Entomologist. ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. Gentlemen, — Twenty years ago, on the afternoon of the 16th of April, 1863, there met at the rooms of the Canadian Institute in Toronto nine gentlemen interested in en- tomology, for the purpose of organizing a society having for its object the advancement of entomology in Canada. These gentlemen had been called by special invitation of the Rev. C. J. S. Bethune and myself, and in addition to the nine who responded by their presence, letters of apology were received from five others expressing regret at their being unable to attend ; these fourteen comprised all who at that time took an active interest in entomology in Canada. A society was duly organized under the name of the Entomological Society of Can- ada, with Professor Croft, of Toronto, as its first President. Two scientific papers on in- sects were presented and read, and a number of interesting insects exhibited. Application was made to the Council of the Canadian Institute for the use of a room in their building, which was kindly granted free of expense, and it was resolved to hold monthly meetings for the discussion of entomological subjects. In December of the same year a committee was appointed to prepare and publish catalogues of the names of insects in the orders of Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, and in May the following year the committee reported that the list of Lepidoptera had been com- pleted and published, and that considerable progress had been made in determining the species of Coleoptera, but not sufficient to warrant the publication of the catalogue. This catalogue was completed and published shortly after. Before the close of this meeting committees were appointed charged with the special duty of paying particular attention to the study of insects injurious to vegetation. Previous to this nothing had been done in Canada in the important department of Economic Entomology, no information was available to the farmer or fruit grower in reference to most of the insect pests which destroyed his field crops or fruit unless he -happened to be the fortunate possessor of a volume published in New England by Dr. Harris under the title of Insects Injurious to Vegetation in Massachusetts, and this, although a very useful work, only partially met the wants of the practical farmer. Dr. Fitch, State Entomologist for New York, had published his first nine reports and was almost the only active labourer in this important department of insects injurious to agri- culture, but his works were not accessible to many in this country. In scientific entomology but little had been done in Canada up to this period. Several catalogues of the names of insects captured in this country had appeared in the Canadian Naturalist the organ of the Natural History Society of Montreal, and the occurrence of several rare species of butterflies had been noted. Messrs. Wm, Coupe r and B. Billings, of Montreal, bad also communicated some papers to the same journal, urging the importance of the study of entomology, and referring to the habits of some of the pine borers and other prominent insects, but the circulation of the Naturalist was so limited that the information given reached but few in the community. The Entomological Society of Canada at first had no funds to enable them to pub- lish reports of their proceedings beyond the small sum derived from the annual fees of the members ; but among these were a number of active workers, who, by careful and sys- tematic observation and study, were rapidly accumulating stores of knowledge which were destined to be of much value in the future to the great community of farmers and horti- culturists. At first the proceedings of the infant society were published in the Can- adian Journal, but soon it was felt to be most desirable, in order to give them the prom- inence they deserved, that the records of facts observed by the members should be pub- lished in a separate form, and early in 1867 an effort was made to obtain some assistance from the CanaWian Government to aid the Society in carrying out this object ; but at a meeting held the 1st of June, 1867, a communication was presented from the Finance Minister of the united Provinces to the effect that he could not recommend any fresh grants for scientific objects, as the country was on the eve of confederation. The annual report of the secretary presented at this meeting showed that the membership had been increased to forty-eight. The meeting was to have been followed by a field day, but the Fenian raid, which just then occurred, called some of the members away to their duty as volunteers, and others to the defence of their homes. In August, 1868, the first number of the Canadian Entomologist appeared under the editorship of our esteemed coadjutor, Rev. C. J. S. Bethune, of Port Hope. It was a humble looking sheet of eight pages only, and this was not promised to be issued at any regular intervals, but from time to time as material accumulated which was thought to be worthy of publication. To meet the expenses of publication, voluntary contributions were made by many of the members, and the journal was thus sustained and issued monthly for fifteen months, during which time it was found to be so useful that it met with encourage- ment everywhere. It had also acquired a reputation abroad, and many entomologists in Great Britain and the United States had become regular subscribers. Early in 1870 the 10 Council of the Agricultural and Arts Association of Ontario recognizing the important bearing of entomology on agriculture, liberally appropriated the sum of four hundred dollars in aid of the Entomological Society for the year ensuing, on the following condi- tions : — That the Society continued to publish the Canadian Entomologist ; that it furnish a report to the Council on insects injurious or beneficial to agriculture ; and that a small cabinet of insects illustrating the various orders be made and placed at the disposal of the Council. These conditions were gladly complied with and faithfully carried out, and the report consisting of sixty-four pages, illustrated with sixty-one cuts, was printed in the report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for that year. During the latter part of 1870,, an amendment to the Agricultural and Arts Act was introduced by the Hon. John Carling, then Commissioner of Agriculture for Ontario, which provided for the incorpora- tion of the Society under the name of " The Entomological Society of Ontario," with a yearly grant of five hundred dollars from the public funds of the Province, on condition that the Society prepare annually for the Commissioner of Agriculture a report on the subject of insects injurious or beneficial to the farm and garden, with the understanding also that the Canadian Entomologist should be continued. During the period which has since elapsed, the Ontario Government have recognized the value of the service rendered by the Society to the agricultural interests of Ontario, by increasing the grant several times, until it now amounts to one thousand dollars a year. The liberality of the Gov- ernment has greatly stimulated the work of the Society. • The practical or economic aspect of this work has been presented to the public mainly in the series of thirteen annual reports, which have been submitted to the Com- missioner of Agriculture by members of the Society, and published in the Commissioner's report. In these publications the insects injurious to the various field crops and fruits have from time to time been discussed, together with the remedies which have been sug- gested for their destruction. The value of these reports is indicated by the demand which has arisen for them, owing to which it has been found necessary to greatly increase the number of copies issued. Some of those belonging to the earlier years are now quite scarce and difficult to obtain. They have been most favourably noticed by the press in all parts of America and in Great Britain, and thus the good work has been brought prominently into notice. If we contrast the amount of information now available to our farmers and fruit growers on the nature and life history of destructive insects and the best methods of subduing them with our knowledge on this subject fifteen years ago? the vast progress made will at once be recognized, and ib is to the unselfish labours of the members of our Society that much of the credit for this is legitimately due. I have no hesitation in asserting that the value of the information thus distributed has returned to the country by the losses which have been lessened or prevented many times the amount which has been granted to the Society during the past twelve years from the public moneys of this Province. The Canadian Entomologist has been regularly issued, and is now in its fifteenth volume. The volumes published have contained a vast amount of use^l scientific in- formation, which by its wide dissemination has been one of the chiet factors in the progress of entomology in this country. The work of our Society in this department has attracted much attention abroad, and our journal has been sought after by many of the learned societies in Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Russia and Sweden, and regular exchanges of our publications with their's on equal terms effected. Thus from small beginnings the Entomological Society of Ontario has come to be recog- nized as one of the important aids to scientific progress. It is much to the credit of On- tario that for some years the Canadian Entomologist was the only regularly issued periodical specially devoted to the interests of entomology on the American continent, and that it still commands the contributions of many of the most distinguished ento- mologists in all parts of the country. During the period of the existence of the Society a large collection of insects has been made, a good library accumulated, and an excellent working microscope and other facilities for the study of insects provided, all of which are readily accessible here to any of our members who may reside in London, or who may visit us from a distance. The collection shown, at the request of the Government, at the Centennial Exposition in Phila- 11 delphia, in 1876, attracted much attention ; and was admitted by all to be the most com" plete exhibit of North American insects ever brought together ; the Society was awarded a gold medal on that occasion. Last year a request was made by the Minister of Fish- eries for the Dominion of Canada that our Society would prepare and exhibit a collection of such insects as were injurious to fishes as well as those which served as food for fishes, to be sent with the Canadian exhibit to the great International Fisheries Exhibition now being held in London, England. The arrangement of this collection was undertaken by our worthy Secretary, Mr. E. Baynes Reed, who completed the work and sent for- ward in due season forty cases of Canadian insects. The large collection of carefully determined specimens in the cabinets in the Society's rooms in London, has also served a valuable purpose, as a collection of reference where collectors from all parts of the Province can name their insects, and where all the books and appliances which can aid this work are ready at hand. As our knowledge of the insect forms found in our country increases, classified lists of their names are published by the Society, for the purpose of aiding students in arranging their collections, and also indicating the work which has been accomplished. During the past year a most complete and systematic index has been prepared by our Secretary, Mr. E. Baynes Reed, to the full series of our thirteen annual reports, by means of which the information they contain in reference to any insect or subject may be referred to with little trouble or delay. This has greatly enhanced the value of these reports, and opened the eyes of all to the vast fund of information they contain ; the results amply repay the attendant labour and outlay of this compilation, and nothing would do more to add to the value of the Canadian Entomologist than the publication of a similar general index to the fifteen volumes of our monthly now completed. I trust our esteemed Secretary may be induced to continue the good work in this direction. We have not been afflicted with any very formidable invasion of insect enemies during the past year. At the opening of the season the apple-tree aphis which is gener- ally common, was in some districts unusually abundant, and attracted some attention. The injury inflicted by them on the apple-buds was not serious, and in a few days the buds expanded, when the lice became scattered over the opening foliage and caused no further apprehension. Later on the tufted caterpillar of the white-marked tussock moth Orgyia leucostigma appeared in force, having hatched in multitudes from the numerous masses of eggs attached to the twigs and limbs of various trees. These eggs are usually partly sheltered by a dead leaf or leaves firmly adherent. The mass contains from 300 to 500 white eggs imbedded in a frothy gelatinous substance, is of a grayish white colour, with a nearly smooth convex surface, while there is usually attached to the mass the empty grey cocoon from which the parent moth escaped. The eggs hatch about the middle of May, when the young larvae at once begin to devour the leaves of the tree on which they are placed, rapidly increase in size, and when full grown present a handsome appearance. Their bodies are more than an inch long, of a bright yellow colour, with a red head, three or four cream-coloured tufts set in a black stripe along the back, two long black spreading plumes extending forward on the anterior part of the body, and one at the opposite extrem- ity. By gathering the clusters of eggs during the winter when they are easily seen, the depredations of this insect may be prevented ; but should this simple measure from any cause be omitted, the larvse may be destroyed on the trees by syringing the foliage on which they are feeding with Paris green and water in the proportion of a teaspoonful of the poison to a pailful of water. This caterpillar is a very general feeder, and occurred this year on almost every species of deciduous tree, especially on street trees, and in lawns and parks, as well as in orchards. The clover seed midge to which the attention of farmers of this Province was first called in the Annual Report of our Society for 1881, continues to extend its sphere of operations, and many complaints are being made of the failure of the crop of clover seed from this cause. The perfect insect is a two winged fly, about the size and having much of the general appearance of the wheat midge. By the aid of a long ovipositor the insect pushes her minute eggs down the flower tubes in the young clover heads, and when hatched the tiny red larvae devour the seed. In districts where this insect has fairly established itself 12 there seems to be but one method of subduing it, and that is to starve it out by ceasing to grow clover for a year or two, a large proportion of the larvae may be destroyed by cutting the clover earlier than usual, just as it is coming into bloom, when being only partially developed most of them would perish. The greater danger arises from the possibility of their being distributed by the use of infested clover seed. The insect passes the winter either in the larval or pupal state, and in both of these conditions is often found amongst clover seed, and if sown with the seed the insect is placed amid conditions most favourable for its development. Seedsmen should carefully examine their seed be- fore offering it for sale, and farmers should exercise similar caution before purchasing. The insects are very small but are much larger than the individual seeds, and if a small quantity of the clover seed is passed through a fine sieve these insects, if present, will be found along with the coarser weed seeds with which clover seed is so often contaminated. The maple Egerian known also as " the legged maple borer " uEqeria acerni has pre- vailed during the past year in the neighbourhood of London to an alarming extent, to the serious injury of some of our shade trees. These insects which pass the winter in the larval state under the bark of the maple trees change to chrysalids early in June, and about the middle of that month they protrude themselves from the bark to the extent of about half an inch, when in a very short time the mature insect escapes, leaving the empty chrysalis behind it. This is a very pretty clear- winged moth, resembling a wasp, which when its wings are spread will measure about three quarters of an inch across. The transparent wings are adorned with bluish-black markings, the head is orange, the thorax yellow, and the abdomen bluish black banded with golden yellow. The female lays her eggs on the bark of the trees, preferring the red maple Acer rubrum, although the other varieties of maple are also more or less affected. In a few days small larvae hatch from the eggs, which penetrate through the bark and feed upon the inner portion and sap- wood of the tree, making an irregular cavity which is packed with the castings of the larvae mixed with minute fragments of wood. When full grown it is about three quar- ters of an inch long, with a small yellow head, and a white or yellowish white body, which is darker on the hinder segments. Where the larvae are safely lodged under the bark no remedy but the knife will reach them, but the moths may be prevented from laying their eggs by coating the bark with a mixture of soap and strong solution of washing soda, the mixture being made about the consistence of ordinary paint, and applied to the trees in the middle of June. Within the past two or three years Paris green mixed with water in the proportion of a teaspoon ful to a pailful of water has been recommended as a remedy for the codling moth, the mixture being freely applied to the apple trees with a syringe or force pump soon after the fruit has set. The results of experiments conducted during the past season go far towards establishing the value of this remedy, the number of wormy apples having been materially lessened on the trees so treated. Tn my own experiments where the mix- ture was applied to alternate trees, the proportion of wormy fruit in some instances on the trees syringed seemed to be nearly the same as on the adjoining trees which were not treated ; the fruit on both being less wormy than usual, while in other instances there was a very unusual freedom from the apple-worm. Other experimenters claim far more decided results. So promising a measure, where so much is at stake, well deserves a most extensive trial. The mixture should be applied while the fruit is quite small and before the stem is bent with its weight, then as the eye or calyx of the fruit on which the cod- ling moth usually deposits her eggs points upwards, it will more readily catch some portion of the spray. A very minute quantity lodged in the little cavity and drying there would leave a trace of Paris green sufficient to destroy the newly-hatched larvae as it begins to eat its way into the fruit. The meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was held this year at Minneapolis, where I had the honour to represent our Society. The attend- ance of entomologists, although good, was scarcely so large as last year. Since the adop- tion of the new Constitution, whereby the sub-section of Entomology has been merged into the section of Biology, the entomologists have greatly felt the need of opportunities of bringing up for informal discussion many questions suggested by the experience of those present, matters which could not well be brought before the general session. To 13 meet this need the Entomological Club of the Association has been reorganized, several interesting meetings were held, the proceedings of which have been reported for the Entomologist and Annual Report. We have had occasion to mourn the loss by death during the past year of several well known entomologists, some of whom were active members and valued contributors to our Journal. The names of Zeller, Glover, and Chambers are familiar to you all ; these have passed away. Our list also includes the names of Dr. Bailey, of Albany, N.Y. ; Professor Croft, late of Toronto, and Charles Arnold, of Paris, Ont. Prof. P. C. Zeller, the eminent German lepidopterist, whose labours in the micro-lepidoptera have given him a world-wide reputation, died at his home near Stettin at the ripe age of seventy-seven years. Dr. Jas. S. Bailey, of Albany, N.Y., a zealous worker among the lepidoptera, and an occasional contributor to the Entomologist, passed away on the 1st of July. Prof. Townend Glover, who for so many years held the position of Entomologist to the Depart- ment of Agriculture in Washington, died on the 8th of September. Probably no man ever worked more persistently and continuously than he. A good draughtsman and an excellent engraver, it was his delight to make figures of every native insect brought under his notice. Our library has been onriched by his beautiful works, and the wonder is how any man in one short life could have done so much. His health having failed, he retired several years ago from his official position and active work, and spent his last days in a quiet home in Baltimore. V. T. Chambers, of Covington, Kentucky, one of our most regular and valued contributors, died on the 7th of August, his fifty-second birthday. To him we are largely indebted for the knowledge we possess of our micro-lepidoptera, a field in which he ardently laboured, and in which he was a worthy successor to the late Dr. Clemens ; his loss will be much felt and sincerely deplored. Charles Arnold, of Paris, Ont., although not an active worker in the entomological field, was a close observer of the habits of insects, especially such as are injurious to agriculture or horticulture. He had long been a member of our Society, was with us at our annual meeting held here two years ago, and took part in our discussions. He died on the 15th of April, in his sixty- sixth year. Prof. Croft, long well known throughout Canada as an eminent chemist, always took an active interest in entomology, he took a prominent part in the organiza- tion of our Society, was its first president, and always manifested the greatest interest in its prosperity. He died at Hermanitas, Texas, on the 28th of April, at the residence of his son, after a brief illness, aged sixty-four years. Who will press to the front and fill the vacant places in our ranks 1 One by one our busy workers pass away, but our favourite branch of natural science still lives, and will continue to assert its increasing importance, and to confer its benefits on all succeeding generations. I have the honour to be, Yours very sincerely, Wm. Saunders. Mr. James Fletcher, of Ottawa, then read the REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. To the President and Members of the Royal Society of Canada. Gentlemen, — In response to the invitation received by the Entomological Society of Ontario to send a delegate to the meetings of the Royal Society of Canada, the Council of Management gladly avail themselves of the privilege so accorded them of being repre- sented on this occasion. As their delegate, I shall endeavour to submit for your information, in as brief a manner as possible, some of the main features relating to the origin, and progress, of the Society, now so well known as the Entomological Society of Ontario. It was organized 14 in 1863, under the name of the Entomological Society of Canada, by a few naturalists living in different parts of the Provinces, who met together at Toronto for this special purpose. Its membership at first was only sixteen, and this number included all those then known to be interested in the study of insect life in Canada. From this small beginning the Society has steadily increased, until its membership now reaches upwards of five hundred. The benefits of organization and united effort were soon manifested by the rapid ac- cumulation of valuable facts relating to scientific and economic entomology. Formerly this material was, from time to time, published in the pages of the Canadian Journal; but the increased interest in the work of the Society, and its larger membership, rendered it necessary in a few years to establish a periodical of its own, entirely in the interests of Entomology. On August 1st, 1868, appeared the first number of The Canadian Ento- mologist, a monthly periodical which has, from that time forward, been regularly issued, and which was for some years the only publication on the continent of America, devoted solely to this important branch of natural science. It has now reached its fifteenth volume. From the outset its pages have been almost entirely filled with the records of original work ; and during its existence it has been the means of disseminating a vast amount of scientific knowledge which has been of benefit, not only to Canada but to the world at large. In this connection it may not be out of place to quote the opinion of one of the leading American entomologists. Prof. Grote, of New York, in his late work on the Noctuidse, when enumerating the sources of information of value to entomological students, speaks of the organ of our Society in the following complimentary terms : — " The treatise of Dr. Harris, which has become classical on its subject, did much towards creating a general interest in Entomology. But the publication of the Canadian Entomologist, a journal aided pecuniarily by the Ontario Government, and owing its suc- cess chiefly to the unselfish labours of Mr. William Saunders, has assisted the progress of Entomology in America probably more than any one other similar undertaking." The work of our Society has also been favourably commented upon abroad, and a regular system of exchange of publications has been established with many of the impor- tant learned societies of Europe. In addition to the good work done by the issue of the Canadian Entomologist, collectors have been materially aided in their studies by the classified lists of the different orders of Canadian insects, which have been published as the material for the purpose was gathered together. The extensive collection exhibited by the Society at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia attracted much notice, and was admitted by all who saw it, to be most creditable to Canada. At the request of the Dominion Government a similar collection has been sent to England as part of Canada's contribution to the International Fisheries Exhibition. Beyond this purely scientific work, the Society has, in a series of thirteen annual reports on insects injurious and beneficial to agriculture, given to the farming community a large amount of useful information. The Government of Ontario, recognizing the good work thus accomplished, incorpo- rated the Society as the Entomological Society of Ontario, under the " Agriculture and Arts Act," in 1870 ; and at the same time gave material aid by allowing a liberal annual grant from the public funds. In view of the necessity for the constant interchange of specimens between students in every department of Natural History, in order that, by comparison of other forms, their studies may be thorough; the Entomological Society of Ontario respectfully suggest that the Royal Society of Canada should use its influence to secure a more liberal inter- pretation of the postal regulations, with reference to the exchange of specimens between students in Canada and those in the United States and Europe, particularly in the closely allied sciences of entomology and botany. And it would also further suggest that a representation be made to the Government to the end that arrangements be made whereby scientific bodies may be permitted to im- port, free of duty, any engravings, woodcuts, lithographs, electrotypes, or other illustra- tions which they may require for their publications. The members of the Entomological Society of Ontario have learned with much 15 pleasure that the Royal Society has already taken some steps towards the establishment- of a national museum, and believing that such an institution would very appreciably assist the whole cause of science in Canada, they take this opportunity of assuring the Royal Society that they will be pleased to help in every way in their power, towards this- end, by collecting specimens or otherwise. Signed on behalf offthe Council, J. Fletcher, Delegate. Ottawa, May, 1883. On motion duly carried, the report was received and adopted, and Mr. Fletcher was- unanimously re-elected the representative from the Entomological Society to the Roya), Society. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. The election of officers then took place, when the following gentlemen were duly elected : — President. — Wm. Saunders, London. Vice-President. — James Fletcher, Ottawa. Secretary-Treasurer and Librarian. — E. Baynes Reed, London. Council— Rev. C. J. S. Bethune, M. A., Port Hope ; Rev. T. W. Fyles, Levis, P.Q.; W. H. Harrington, Ottawa ; John M. Denton, London ; J. Alston Moffatt, Hamilton. Editor "Canadian Entomologist." — Wm. Saunders. Editing Committee. — Rev. C. J. S. Bethune, J. M. Denton, E. Baynes Reed. Auditors. — H. P. Bock and W. E. Saunders, London. REVISION OF THE SOCIETY'S PRINTED LISTS OF INSECTS, ETC. On the motion of Rev. C. J. S. Bethune, duly carried, it was resolved that the Society shoi^d, as soon as possible, publish a revised list of the Canadian Diurnals;. adopting as a basis the list and classification of Mr. W. H. Edwards, of West Virginia. And that the Society should also publish additional lists of such moths as have been found to be Canadian, and are not contained in the Society's existing lists. In view of the desirability of the publication of the description of hitherto unde- scribed larvae, and with a view to aid therein, the President and Vice-President, Rev. C. J. S. Bethune and W. H. Harrington, were appointed a committee to prepare blank forms for the use of members in describing larvae ; the Society being of the opinion that following the practice of Westwood and Stainton, the body should be considered as con- sisting of thirteen segments, the head being the first. The Rev. T. W. Fyles then read an interesting paper on " Observations on Form and Colour as Exhibited in Insect Life." A. A. A. S. The President submitted a report of the proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held at Minneapolis in August last, which he attended as- the representative of the Entomological Society of Ontario. DISCUSSION ON MISCELLANEOUS ENTOMOLOGICAL SUBJECTS. Mr. Fletcher exhibited a borer found by him injuring maple, the insect being a small moth belonging to Hepialus or some closely allied genus. This insect was new to the members. 16 Rev. Mr. Bethune stated that he had found in a large burrow in an oak tree, the empty pupa case of a species of Cossus. Mr. Harrington had also found this insect quite common on the oak, and had fre- quently seen the empty pupa cases protruding from the bark. Mr. Fletcher reported that he had found Cossus centerensis common about Ottawa on the Balm of Gilead tree Populus balsamifera ; the pupa is usually extruded from the bark about four o'clock in the afternoon ; he had frequently seen them at this time of day working gradually out ; the imago usually escapes within an hour after the appear- ance of the pupa. He also reported finding Buprestis fasciata common on poplars, and had found a larva in poplar wood which he thought, from its appearance, might belong to that species. Mr. Harrington said that he had lately found the larvae of a very small fly Cecido- myia robinice on locust trees about Ottawa ; these larvae turn down the margins of the leaves and live within the enclosure thus formed. Mr. Fletcher had found the stems of sunflowers much bored into by some insect, and exhibited a larva which he had taken boring into the stem of a lily, LiUum Canadense. Mr. Reed exhibited a larva which he had taken recently feeding on oak ; it evidently was a species of Smerinthus, but did not seem to correspond to any hitherto described larva of this genus to which he had been able to refer. Mr. Saunders made some reference to the manner in which the eggs of the Round- headed Apple tree borer, Saperda Candida are placed. He had until lately held the opinion, in common with other entomologists, that the eggs are laid on the surface of the bark of apple trees near their base, but he had recently received from a correspondent, Mr. C. G. Atkins, of Manchester, Maine, specimens of the eggs deposited in young apple trees, from which it was quite evident that the beetle bores into the bark and deposits her eggs under the surface. Mr. Fletcher said he had raised a brood of the larvae of iSmerinthus excecatus, and found it to feed readily on Populus balsamifera, and also on Populus alba, the latter known as ihe silver abele tree ; the larvae varied very much in colouration • hitherto this insect has been supposed to feed only on apple, plum and wild cherry. Mr. Saunders stated that he found the larvae of Papiolio turnus this season on a new food plant Magnolia acuminata ; as many as forty or fifty specimens were found on a single tree, varying in size from the newly-hatched to the full-grown larvaf>all feeding together ; eggs were also found at the same time and place. Mr. Fletcher reported finding the larva of Darapsa versicolor feeding on swamp loose-strife Nescea verticilata ; he had bred a single specimen two years in succession ; it is curious to note that this plant grows in the water, and being herbaceous, decays and becomes submerged during the autumn and winter months ; in these instances there was no favourable pupating place nearer than the shore, so that the larva would have to swim ashore, unless it formed its coccoon among the leaves and these drifted to land. Mr. Reed exhibited and reported the larvae of Notodonta albifrons Sm. and Abb. as common in London on the maple, he had also observed them recently on the elms in Toronto and Montreal ; other members had found them generally common this season on the oak. Mr. Saunders had found the larvae of Papilio cresphontes on the wafer ash Ptelea trifoliata, also on the prickly ash Zanthoxylum Americanum ; at this late period of the year (September) the larvae may be found quite small. Query, Do these perish from early frost 1 If not, how do they pass the winter ? The meeting then adjourned to meet next morning at 9.30 a.m. Thursday Morning, October Jf. The meeting opened at the Society's rooms at 9.30. The question of the use of Paris green for the codling worm of the apple Carpocapsa pomonella was discussed, and while the members concurred in the desirability of testing 17 this remedy very fully, they recommended that due caution should be used in preparing the mixture not to make it too strong, one teaspoonful of the poison to a pailful of water being sufficient ; if used much stronger than this it is apt to injure the foliage. An interesting communication was read from Mr. J. Alston Moffatt, of Hamilton, on the pupa of Calopteron reticulatum ; he had found specimens under the bark of an elm stump, curiously arranged in regular rows, Mr. Harrington had also observed the same species, and remarked that Drs. Leconte and Horn, in their new classification of coleop- tera, referred to these curious groups of pupae. Mr. Fletcher had found Mamestra picta very abundant at Ottawa on cabbage, carrots, and many wild plants. Mr. Harrington remarked that Lycomorpha pholus had been very common in the vicinity of Ottawa this season, he had seen hundreds of them • had also found jEdipoda corallina Harris quite common in oat fields. Rev. Mr. Fyles reported the Currant Worm Nematus ventricosus as being very abun- dant at Levis, P.Q., where the bushes had been almost destroyed by them. He also stated that much injury had been caused to the tamarack trees Larix Americana in Bury and the neighbouring townships, by a species of saw fly, the same, probably, as that which has caused so much injury in Maine and the other eastern States, Nematus Erichsonii. Mr. Harrington informed the members he had found Xyphidria albicornis boring into maples, chiefly young trees where the bark was thin ; he had observed them ovi- positing from the middle of June to end of July. The ovipositor is short ; he found in one instance a tree thoroughly riddled by these borers, they having penetrated directly into the wood. The members having spent some time in examining interesting insects in the Society's collection, as well as those brought to the meeting, and also having availed them- selves of the opportunity of reference to many of the valuable books in the Society '& Library, brought to a close a most interesting and profitable session. MEETING OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL CLUB OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. A meeting of entomologists was held, according to announcement, on the 15th of August, 1883, at Minneapolis, Minn., in the University Buildings. There were present, during the meeting the following : Prof. S. A. Forbes, Normal, Illinois ; Prof. C. V. Riley, Washington ; D. S. Kellicott, Buffalo ; Herbert Osborn, Ames, Iowa ; O. S. Westcott, Chicago ; Wm. Saunders, London, Ontario ; Dr. and Jenny Hoy, Racine, Wis- consin ; C. L. Herrick, E. W. Claypole, Prof. E. S. Morse, C. E. Bessey, E. H. Canfield ;. Miss Mary E. Murtfeldt, Kirkwood, Mo. ; Mrs. M. B. Moody, Buffalo, N.Y. ; Thomas S. Roberts, Minneapolis, Minn., and others. S. A. Forbes read a letter from J. A. Lintner, regretting his inability to be present, and after some remarks by Mr. C. V. Riley as to the prevailing sentiment at the meeting of entomologists last year of Montreal, it was decided to reorganize the Entomological Club of the A A. A. S., under the rules as hereinbefore recorded. On motion, the following officers for the ensuing year were then elected : — President. — D. S. Kellicott. Vice-President. — Herbert Osborn. Secretary. — O. S. Westcott. A communication was read from Mr. W. H. Edwards, of Coalburg, W. Va., giving interesting recent experience in the rearing of butterflies of the following species : Papilia rufiulus, P. zolicaon, Colias barbara, G. amorphce, Melitaea chalcedony M. phaeton, Lycena melissa, Parnassius smintheus ? and Argynnis coronis ? The author stated that he had bred rutulus and zolicoan from the egg, that rutulus is constantly distinguishable from turnus} at least after the first larval stage ; and that zolicaon is closer to asterias than to machaon. He had also reared from the egg Colias amorpliae, and was inclined to the- opinion that it was distinct from C. eurydice. Opportunities had been afforded of study- 18 ing all stages of M. chalcedon, with M. phaeton colonizing on the same plant, so that the habits of the two species could be compared. Mr. Edwards has also raised Lycaena melissa from egg to chrysalis, and finds that the larva in the last stages has similar organs to those of Pseudargiolus on the. tenth and eleventh segments, and that ants are attracted in the same way by the sweet fluid they exude. Over 100 eggs of Parnassius, either smintheus or something close to it, have been obtained from West Montana. As to butterflies, the author stated that he had never seen them scarcer than during the past year. An interesting discussion followed this paper, in which several members took part. Prof. Riley offered some "Notes on Paedisca Scudderiana" and exhibited plants of Solidago containing the larvae of this species, and made some remarks on its habits which went to reconcile the published conclusions and differences between himself and Dr. Kellicott, and to show that while the insect is commonly a gall maker, it was also, •exceptionally, an inquiline. The specimens showed that the habits of the insect were variable, and the larva was either a leaf-crumpler, living in a bunch of curled terminal leaves held together by a silken gallery, a stem-borer, without causing any swelling, or the maker of a more or less perfect gall. He had also found it as an inquiline in the gall of Gelechia gallcesolidaginis, the gall of which was always distinguishable from that of the Paedisca ; among other things by the burrow of the larva always being traceable from the blighted tip of the plant, whereas the Paedisca larva lived at first in the tip, and bored in at the side. Mr. Kellicott's observations were accurate so far as they went, but did not take into account the variation in habit. Mr. Riley had watched these larval habits during the present year from the time of hatching, and had concluded that the insect combined, in varying degree, the four characteristics of gall-maker, leaf-crumpler, stem-borer, and inquiline. The larvae living in the crumpled leaves later in the season had not been reared to the imago, but he had made comparisons of the young larvae and found that they were exactly alike, but they showed considerable modification as they developed, especially after the last moult. Several other micro-lepidopterous larvae bored in the stems and lived among the leaves of Solidago ; while another species, yet unbred, made a gall similar to that of Paedisca ; but all the other larvae known to him were easily distinguished from Paedisca. Mr. D. S. Kellicott said he felt sure his observations as reported in the paper referred to were correct, and he was glad to know that both his own conclusions and those of Mr. Riley could be thus harmonized. It would seem he had not carried his observations far ■enough to discover that all the larvae of Scudderiana fed at first in the terminal leaves. Late in the fall he had often taken from the terminal leaves the mature larvae referred to by Mr. Riley, but had so far failed to obtain the imago from them. He had some doubt still of its being identical with P. Scudderiana. Prof. Riley also called attention to the life habits of Helia americalis, which he finds in the larval state to feed in the nests of Formica rufa. So far as he knows, this is the first lepidopterous insect known to develop in ants' nests. He also gave his experience in rearing Arsame obliquata during the past two years, and exhibited speci- mens in different stages of development. The eggs are laid in curious broadly conical or plano-convex masses enveloped in hair, and a cream coloured mucous secretion, which combined look much like spun silk on the inside, and on the outside like the glazed exuda- tion of Orgyia leucostigma. The larva, which is pale at first, but dark in its later stages, bores into the stems of Saggittaria and Nelumbium, and is semi-aquatic, the last pair of spiracles being exceptionally large and dorsal. There are two annual broods, the second hybernating as larvae in moss and decaying stumps near the water. The moth shows great variation, and the summer brood is on the average not much more than half as large as the sprixig or hibernated generation, and generally much paler. Mr. D. S. Kellicott said that he had bred this moth at Buffalo, N.Y., where it was very abundant, and he had found it associated with another species, an account of which he promised to give at some future session. The meeting then adjourned to meet at 2 p.m.. the following day. 19 Wednesday , August 15th, 1883. The members of the Club met at 2 p.m., the President in the chair. A paper was presented by Prof. S. A. Forbes entitled " Memoranda with regard to the contagious diseases of caterpillars and the possibility of using the virus of the same for economic purposes." The writer had adopted the results of Pasteur's discoveries in relation to the disease affecting silk-worms as the foundation for his researches. M. Pasteur some time since demonstrated the constant presence of a parasite in the intestines ■of silk-worms affected by this disease, which has at times threatened the silk industry in Europe. This parasite was not only the indispensable accompaniment of the disease, but is its originating cause and the means by which it can be and is conveyed to other indi- viduals of the species. By placing healthy silk-worms in contact with those suffering from the disease, by sprinkling them with the dust of excreta derived from the latter, or by moistening their food with an infusion of the fermented mulberry leaves upon which these had fed, he proved the possibility of conveying the disease from one subject to another. In pursuance of this Prof. Forbes has witnessed instances of epidemic disease in different species of insects, as for instance in the Chinch Bug and the Yellow-necked Caterpillar, which disease was invariably dependent upon some form of bacteria or micrococcus, possible of cultivation and reproduction, and by means of which the disease can be indefinitely conveyed. These facts give rise to the suggestion that the specific micrococcus or bacteria causative of these fatal diseases may be used for the infection and destruction of insect pests. Prof. Osborn called attention to the fact that he had noticed Bombus Pennsylvanicus inhabiting a deserted wren's nest, situated under the roof of a porch, and at least twelve feet from the ground, it being the first instance he was aware of where they nested away from the surface of the ground. Mr. D. S. Kellicott had noticed the same or some allied species of Bombus inhabiting a mouse's nest in the brace of a barn. Miss Murtfeldt had also seen them domiciled in a martin's nest. Dr. Hoy presented for inspection the larvae, pupae and imagines of Plusiodonta compressipalpis. He had watched the insect through its transformations and had noted that through its early larval stages its prevailing colour was a pea green varied with uniformly placed black spots, which increased in number with each successive moult. Only during the last stage of its larval life was the insect usually noticeable by other than professional eyes ; since then its colour was reddish brown ornamented with creamy white. Menispermum Canadense was its usual-food plant. The cocoon was formed by firs t building two nearly parallel walls and then uniting them at the top. Some larvae which had been displaced after beginning to pupate, had apparently become exhausted, or their teeth had become loosened in anticipation of their approaching new condition, and they were willing to accept bits of paper held to them on a pin, with which they finished the cocoons already begun. The species in Racine cannot be more than two-brooded. The larvae are not distinguishable from those of Geometrid moths, as they are true loopers. Their transformations in some particulars were exceedingly prompt. Prof. Riley stated that he had known certain moths, notably Leucania unipuncta, to go through their entire transformations in fourteen days, and in some instances in only ten days. Prof. Herrick made enquiry as to what are sometimes known as frost-flies. Mr. Kellicott called attention to a monograph by T. Rymer Jones, and one by E. Ray Lankester, to be found in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, and stated that the species common at Buffalo was Corethra plumicomis. Prof. Forbes had noticed the larvae of Corethra abundant in the stomachs of fishes. Adjourned to meet at the call of the President. 20 Friday, August 17th, 1883. The Club met at the call of the President at 2 p.m., in the room in the University assigned to the use of Section F. Prof. Osborn presented a paper on the Phytoptera, a group of insects formerly regarded as the larvae of mites, the individuals of which are so small as to be invisible to the unaided eye. Reference was made to one form found on the soft maple, which occurs as a small swelling on the upper surface of the leaves, containing sometimes a number of these insects, at other times only two or three. One species affects the ash, occurring on both the upper and lower sides of the leaves, one occurs on elm and one on box elder, that on the last named tree having a woolly structure beneath the surface. This paper was illustrated by a very interesting series of carefully mounted microscopic specimens. Prof. Riley remarked that the species which occur in Europe had been well worked up there, and that in studying our species the work already done on this group should be carefully examined, so as to avoid the making of synonyms. He considered that the hybernating habits of these mites was one of the most interesting discoveries which had been made in reference to them, and he hoped that the attention of investigators would be especially turned to this point. He referred also to additional species which occur on the plum, cherry and linden. Mr. Osborn said that the Phytoptis on plum was not common in the neighbourhood of Ames, although he had found it occasionally ; that on the maple is particularly abundant. Mr. Saunders referred to the unusual amount of black knot seen in Ontario this year, especially on the common red cherry trees, and stated that he had scarcely seen a specimen of this fungus on the cherry which had not one or more specimens of the plum eurculio feeding on the interior. Mr. Riley remarked that the black knot had been very common of late all through the northern portions of New England. Mr. Kellicott had observed it as very common in western New York, and had also noticed that a large proportion contained larvae. Mr. Osborn stated that he had observed the larvae of Gortyna nitela boring in young twigs of ash, and had noticed many dead twigs from this cause. He had failed to rear the imago from them on account of parasites ; he had also observed the same species feed- ing externally upon the leaves of the common plantain. Miss Murtfeldt had found the same insect in twigs of the maple, Acer dasycarpum. Prof. Riley stated that it had occurred also in peach twigs and in the stalks of wheat ; also in Ambrosia artemisifolia, where it enters from the sides. Prof. D. S. Kellicott offered the following notes on three lepidopterous stem-borers. First, Arzame obliquata. — Prof. Riley has referred to the habits of this species at a previous session of the Club, and I shall refer only to a few points. As I said yesterday, 1 feel sure that in Buffalo, N.Y., it is single-brooded. The eggs I have not found, but the recently hatched larvae I have found feeding upon the flowers about the 12th of June. It occurs in Typha latijolia, rarely in Sparganum. I have not found it in Sagittaria or Nuphar. Mr. Riley has referred to the large posterior pair of spiracles placed dorsally. On account of this structure it may remain a long time swimming at the surface. I have had these larvae confined in a pail of water for five or six hours without apparent injury. When removed from their galleries and dropped into the water, they sink to the bottom and remain there for a considerable time ; then rising to the surface, they swim about with a snake-line motion. In the autumn they leave their food plants and bury them- selves in the earth, or crawl into old wood, etc. They pupate in May. Second. — The second larva is that of a Nonagria, which I have called Nonagria subcaniea. This species is also single-brooded ; the larvae are found boring the stems of Typha early in the summer, forming galleries in the stems ; it may be readily dis- tinguished from those of A. obliquata by the lighter colour, often carneous, and by the fact that the last pair of spiracles is not sub-dorsal. I have found it rarely in Scirpus. It appears not to be so nearly aquatic, and probably does not pass from one plant to another through the water, or mud. When the time comes for pupation it prepares a 21 pupa-cell above the water line and changes in the bottom of the same, with the head upwards. It leaves the epidermis, closing the place of exit, and the freed moth breaks through this with its clypeal spine when it escapes, leaving the pupa skin in the cell. The elongate pupa has a very stout, blunt clypeal spine. The moth appears in August. It is known to abound throughout western New York, central Michigan, and eastern Wisconsin. Third. — The larva of a Chilo (?) bores the stems of Scirpus. Its habits are similar to those of a Nonagrian. It passes the winter in the old stems, and after the new ones appear it bores into them, passes below the water line, and lives low down in the stem. It is mature late in June, when it forms a pupa cell with its place of exit above the water. The pupa breaks up the epidermis left by the larva, covering the place of escape, but does not force its way out before disclosing the moth, in a manner similar to that of the ^Egerians and others. It is enabled to do this by means of clasps on the abdominal rings, and the sharp or pointed clypeus. Mr. Riley, in commenting on Dr. Kellicott's communication, said that he had been greatly interested in the facts presented, and especially as to the pupation of the Nona- gria. As to the difference in the clypeal projection in the two pupae exhibited, he thought it might be sexual, as in all cases where the clypeus was produced sexual differ- ence occurred, the greatest development being, so far as he had observed, not in the male but in the female. He had recently called attention in the Naturalist to the correlation between the produced clypeus and the horny, exsertile ovipositor, and the fact that they indicated endophytous larval habit. The various methods of imaginal exit in stem-boring lepidoptera, and the structural modifications that resulted, were most interesting to the philosophical entomologist. In some species, as in the Nonagrian here mentioned, the clypeal point on the pupa seemed merely a consequence of the necessary point in the imago, the pupa remaining in its burrow and the imago boring out. In others, as in Prodoxus decipiens, the similar clypeal point on the pupa permitted it to partly bore out of the stem and thus release the imago, which had no homologous point, but an unarmed head. In some borers the larva prepared a little door which the imago easily pushed open, the pupa remaining inactive within its prison ; while in others, closely related, the pupa did the work by forcing itself partly out. There could be no question of the digoneutic nature of Arsame obliquaia at Washington, and none as to its variability as illustrated by his specimens, vulnifica and melanopyga, being doubtless but forms of it. Some specimens of Gantharis Nuttali were exhibited by Prof. Riley, it being stated that in Dakota they were accused of devouring the growing wheat. The meeting then adjourned, when the members spent some time in informal con- versation, and in examining the microscopic specimens illustrating Prof. Osborn's paper. 3 [EN.] 22 POPULAR PAPERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. ENTOMOLOGY FOR BEGINNERS. Fig. 1. By Wm. Saunders, London, Ont. The Apple-Leaf Crumpler (Phycita nebulo). During the winter there will often be found on apple trees clusters of curious little cases, partly and sometimes wholly hidden by por- tions of crumpled and withered leaves, as shown in ^\ fig. 1. The withered leaves are firmly fastened to the cases by silken threads, and the cases to the bark of the twig on which they are placed. Each case resembles a long miniature horn, wide at one end, tapering almost to a point at the other, and twisted in a very odd manner, as shown at a and •, fig. 2. It is curiously constructed of silk interwoven with the castings of the artificer, is lined internally with smooth, whitish silk, externally it is rougher and of a yellowish brown colour. Within this curious structure there dwells a small caterpillar, which during the winter months remains torpid, awakening to activity with the warmth of spring. As the leaves of the apple tree begin to expand, the larva draws those that are nearest to it towards the case, and feeds on them, retreating quickly within its case when danger threatens. When full grown it is about six-tenths of an inch long, its body tapering slightly towards the hinder extremity. The head is dark reddish brown, and the body dull greenish brown ; the next segment to the head has a dark horny plate above and a flattened blackish promin- ence on each side. The head and anterior segments are shown at c in the figure. On each of the other segments there are several small black dots, from each of which arises a single pale brown hair. When mature, which is usually during the early part of June, it closes the end of its case, and changes to a chrysalis within, about four-tenths of an inch long and of a reddish brown colour, and in about a fort- night the moth appears. When its wings are spread, the moth (df fig. 2) measures about seven-tenths of an inch across. Its fore wings are pale brown, with streaks and patches of silvery white, the hind wings plain brownish white ; the under side of both wings paler. There is only one brood in a year. The moths deposit their eggs in the summer, and the larvae construct their cases and attain about one-third of their growth before winter sets in. ™" Where the insects are abundant they become very injurious, consuming the young growth as it expands and materially affecting the vigour of the tree. To subdue them, pick the crumpled leaves with the cases from the trees and destroy them. Fig. 2. 23 The Apple-Leap Aphis (Aphis malt ?) Fabr. This species of Aphis is very common throughout the northern United States and Canada, and has, during the past season, appeared in such numbers in some localities as to excite much alarm among fruit growers. The eggs are deposited by the parent lice in the autumn, about the base of the buds of the apple tree, and in crevices of the bark on the twigs. When first laid they are light yellow or green, but gradually become darker in colour and finally black. During the winter these tiny, oval, shining black eggs may be found with the aid of a magnifyin glass on almost every apple tree. As soon as the buds begin to expand in the spring, small lice are hatched from these eggs, which locate themselves on the swelling buds and young tender leaves, and inserting their sharp beaks into the tissues, feed on the sap they contain. The lice vary in colour from green to dark greenish-brown, the darker colour prevailing at first, the lighter colour in a few days afterwards. When they are abundant, the buds — especially the blossom buds — are sometimes thickly covered with them, yet it is seldom that any serious injury results from their attack. The growth at this period of the year is so rapid, and the sap circulates through the branches in such abundance, that the comparatively small quantity consumed by these plant lice seems scarcely to be missed. In a few days the young leaves expand, when the insects are distributed over the foliage, and usually attract no further notice. All the lice hatched in the spring are females, and they reach maturity in ten or twelve days, when they commence to give birth to living young, producing about two every day for two or three weeks, after which the older ones die. The young locate about their parents and mature in ten or twelve days, when they also become mothers as prolific as their prede- cessors. As the season advances some of the females acquire wings, by means of which they fly to other trees where they found new colonies. In fig. 3 both winged and wingless specimens are shown much magnified. Late in the autumn males, as well as females, are produced, and the Fig. 3. work of the year closes with the deposit of eggs as already described. Were it not for the activity of Lady-birds and other useful predaceous insects, which appear early upon the scene and devour multitudes of these lice, they would soon swarm on every leaf of our apple trees and become a source of serious trouble. The Melon Moth (Eudioptis hyalinata), Linn. A specimen of this beautiful little moth, known also under the name of Phakellura hyalinatalis, has been taken by Mr. J. Alston Moffat, in the neighbourhood of Hamil- ton, the first capture, as far as we know, of this insect in Canada. It is shown in fig. 4. The wings are of a pearly white colour with a peculiar iridescence, bordered with black, and they measure, when expanded, nearly an inch across. The body and legs are of the same glistening white, and the abdomen terminates in a movable brush-like tuft of a pretty buff colour, tipped with white and black. It is very widely disseminated, bein<* found throughout the greater part of North and South America ; and is very common in some sections in the Southern States. The larva, shown also in the figure, is, when mature, about an inch and a quarter long, translucent and of a yellowish green colour, with a few hairs scattered over its body. They are frequently found feeding on melon and cucumber vines, and do not confine their attacks to the leaves, but eat also into the fruit, either excavating shallow cavities on the surface, or penetrating directly into its substance. They spin their cocoons on a fold of 24 the leaf, as seen in the figure, within which they change to slender brown chrysalids about three quarters of an inch long, from which, in a short time, the perfect insect emerges. Fig. 4. The beautifnl figure illustrating this subject was drawn from nature by Mr. Marx, of Washington, and published in Prof. Comstock's Report, as Entomologist of the Department of Agriculture, for 1879. Through the kindness of Dr. Loring, U. S. Com- missioner of Agriculture, we have been supplied with an electrotype of it. The Poplar Dagger-Moth (Acronycta lepusculina). Guenee. The caterpillar of this moth is often very destructive to poplar trees, and more especially to the foliage of the cotton wood tree in the west. It is, when full grown, an inch and a-half or more in length, with a black head, and its body clothed with long, soft yellow hairs, from amongst which arise along the back five long pen- cils of black hairs. When at rest it curls itself up on the leaf as shown in fig. 5. When full grown the caterpillar spins a pale yellow cocoon of silk interwoven with its own hairs, hidden in some sheltered spot, and there changes to a dark brown chrysalis, from which in due time the moth appears. The perfect insect measures, when ite wings are expanded, about an inch and three-quarters across (see fig. 6). Its wings are 5, after Riley. 25 gray, varied with dark brown dots and spots and shadings. Near the hinder angle of the front wings is a rather conspicuous spot not very distinctly shown in the figure, resembling the Greek letter psi placed sidewise. There are two broods of this insect during the year ; the moths of the first appear in June, deposit eggs which produce larvae that reach their full growth, pass through the chrysalis stage, and from which moths emerge about the end of July. The second brood of larvae are found about the last of August and through- out September ; they become chrysalids late in the season, and pass the chrysalis state. The Lime-Tree Measuring Worm (Hybemia tiliaria), Har. The larva of this insect is a yellowish looper or measuring worm, with a reddish head and ten wavy black lines along the back. It is shown in fig. 7 in different positions. Fig. 6, after Riley. winter in the Fig. 7, after Comstock. It is hatched early in the spring, and completes its growth about the middle of June, about which time it is often very destructive to bass wood, elm, hickory and apple trees. When ready for its next change the larva lets itself down from the tree by a silken thread and buries itself five or six inches below the surface of the ground, and there changes to a chrysalis from which the moth usually escapes the following spring. Occasionally some of the moths appear in October or November, but this rarely occurs with us. The male moths have large and delicate wings and feathered antennae, as seen in the figure. The fore wings, which measure when spread about an inch and a-half across, are of a rusty buff colour, sprinkled with brownish dots, with two transverse wavy brown lines and a central brown dot. The hind wings are pale with a brown dot about their middle. The female, also shown in the figure, is a wingless, spider-like creature, with slender, thread-like antennae, yellowish white body, sprinkled on the sides with black dots, and 26 with two black spots on the top of each segment excepting the last which has only one. The eggs are oval, of a pale colour, and covered with a net- work of raised lines. The Grape Berry Moth — (Eudemis botrana.) This insect is an imported species and has long been injurious to grape culture in the south of Europe. The exact period of its introduction to America is not known, and it is only within the past few years that attention has been called to its ravages. When abundant it is very destructive, in some instances it is said to have destroyed nearly fifty per cent, of the crop. During the past season it has been very abundant in the neighbourhood of London, there being very few vines the fruit of which has not been more or less injured. The young larvse have usually been first observed early in July, when the infested grapes show a discoloured spot where the worm has entered. [See fig. 8, c] When the grape is opened and the contents carefully ex- amined there will usually be found in the pulp a small larva rather long and thin, and of a whitish green colour. Besides feeding on the pulp it some- times eats portions of the seeds, and if the contents of a single berry are not sufficient, two, three, or more are drawn together as shown in the figure and fastened with a patch of silk mixed with castings, when the larva travels from one to the other, eating into them and devouring their juicy contents. At this period its length is about an eighth of an inch or more ; the head is black and the next segment has a blackish shield covering most of its upper portion ; the body is dull whitish or yellowish green. As it approaches maturity it becomes darker in colour, and when about one- third of an inch long is full grown, see b, figure 8. The body is then dull green with a reddish tinge and a few short hairs, head yellowish green, shield on next segment dark brown, feet blackish, pro-legs green. When the larva is full grown it is said to form its cocoon on the leaves of the vine, cutting out for this purpose an oval flap, which is turned back on the leaf forming a snug enclosure which it lines with silk ; frequently it contents itself with rolling over a piece of the edge of the leaf, and within such retreats the change to a chrysalis takes place. The chrysalis is about one-fifth of an inch long and of a yellowish or yellowish brown colour, from which the moth finally escapes. The perfect insect, which is shown magnified, at