* * * * A REFORMED BOUGH.
In a garden of the West I saw the other day a most persuasive example of the value of ringing the bark of fruit trees. A very well-pruned bush tree had not borne fruit for some years. Last year in late spring a ring of bark was taken off one bough, and one only. This year that bough is rich in blossom, but all the rest of the tree almost bare. We thought at first it was quite bare, but discovered a blossom or two elsewhere. However, even so the evidence was convincing and the tree is set aside for continuous experi- ment. In regard to apples generally, this season the Blen- heim and some other sorts exactly illustrate John Taverner's division of apples according to the succession of crops. Cider apples bear every year—Pippins every two years. In my orchard the Blenheims, overcrowded with fruit last year, are almost blossomless this ; and the Bramleys are very much in the same case. The Codling, like the Choke pears, bear freely almost every year. It is the chief point in favour of some British Columbian orchards, especially in the Okanagan Valley, that they are less liable to these fallow years than English apples. * * *
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