6-7 EDWARD VII. SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 A. 1907 



REPORT OF THE HORTICULTURIST. 



W. T. MACOHN". 



Ottawa, March 31, 1906. 

 Dr. Wm. Saunders, C.M.G., 



Director, Dominion Experimental Farms, 

 Ottawa. 



Sir, — I have the honour to submit herewith an interim report of this division 

 In this report will be found a summary of the results of some of the most important 

 experiments conducted by the Horticultural Division, but as few experiments are car- 

 ried on during the winter months it has been thought best to present at this time a 

 resume of the more important experiments conducted since 1887, together with an 

 account of other work of this division during the past nineteen years. 



I havo the honour to be, sir, •* 



Your obedient servant, 



W. T. MACOUN, 



Horticulturist. 



INTEODUCTOKY. 



The Horticultural Division of the Central Experimental Farm, Otta'^ta, was organ- 

 ized in the spring of 1887, when experimental work was begun there. Up to that time 

 the experimental work in horticulture which had been done in the provinces of Ontario 

 and Quebec had been confined mainly to unaided individual effort, and too much 

 praise cannot be given to those pioneers of Canadian horticulture who did so much 

 to encourage fruit growing in Canada and who, many of them, to-day are continuing 

 the good work. An experimental orchard had been established by the provincial 

 government in connection with the Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, but previous 

 to 1887 little information had been published regarding the work there. The chief 

 means of disseminating information regarding fruit growing were through the reports 

 of the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association, The Canadian Horticulturist, and the 

 reports of the Montreal Horticultural Society, and much valuable information regard- 

 ing the experiences of individual workers reached, and continues to reach, the public 

 in this way. 



The need of systematic experimental work in horticulture was keenly felt at that 

 time as the fruit industry was developing very rapidly, and with this development in- 

 sect pests and fungous diseases were increasing also, and experiments were very neces- 

 sary to find the most economical way of controlling them. While varieties of fruits had 

 been discussed at fruit growers' meetings for years, no permanent experimental station 

 had been established for the testing of old and new varieties, except at Guelph, and 

 the experience of the individual grower with, of necessity, a limited area for experi- 

 mental purposes, had mainly to be taken as a rule in the planting of orchards. The 

 origination of new varieties more suitable to the climate of Canada than those which 

 had originated further south was a line of work which a few enthusiastic horticul- 

 turists had undertaken with gratifying results, and which offered a field for valuable 

 work at an experimental station. The fine exhibit of Canadian fruit at the Colonial 



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