PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDEESS. 



Members of the Fruit Growers' Association : 



Gentlemen, — Another year has past and it becomes my duty to address you upon 

 the important subject of horticulture. The season has not been favourable for the fruit 

 grower. Over the greater part of our Province, the past winter was very severe. In 

 many places there was no snow to protect the roots of trees or plants from the effects of the 

 severe frost. In such sections strawberries suffered, some beds being frozen so they were 

 past any possibility of recovery. With my own, the rains that came in April and May 

 partly restored their vigour, so that they were induced to set an abundance of frviit. The 

 drouth that immediately followed, caused the greater part of the crop to perish. Where 

 frequent showers continued through the season the crop was good. The raspberries 

 were destroyed, in many localities, by a cutting frost, when in blossom. Some places 

 where they were more favourably situated, they escaped, consequently there was a full 

 average crop harvested. The markets having ranged high have partially compensated for 

 the failure. * 



APPLES AND PEARS. 



Never in the history of your Association was there a better prospect of an abundant 

 crop. The bloom was simply immense, but about the first of June the foliage and em- 

 bryo fruit was attacked by a fungus or mildew, that utterly destroyed the prospect, that 

 a few days previous was so bright. In some sections, where fruit has set partially, a 

 large per centage of samples are spotted and one-sided. Plums, peaches and cherries have 

 suffered in like manner. But I think in my own section of the country, the result may 

 be attributed to the frost, that the roots of those trees were so near the surface, that in 

 the absence of snow to protect them from the severity of the winter, many of them have 

 succumbed to the elfect. I have a row of early Richmond cherries that is grown in 

 ground that freezes deep, and more than one half of them are dead. Some of my neigh- 

 bours can testify to similar results with plums. Even apple trees have been affected in 

 the same way. After listening to'some'remarks made by my friend, H. F. Young, Esq., of 

 Trenton, at our summer meeting, I was induced to visit his grounds. There is a ridge or 

 rise of gro.und extending across his orchard, where no doubt what little snow fell was 

 blown off" into the flats. On this ridge there are several trees of the most hardy verities 

 frozen dead. It is only right to say here, that Mr. Young manured heavily with stable 

 manure, and cultivated late last season ; a practice that nearly always proves disastrous 

 to an orchard and should never be done. 



Graces, in the more northern sections of our Province, when protected by being laid 

 down for the winter, and covered with a slight covering, are giving a good crop of ^ery 

 fine fruit. In some places vines have been known to fail after starting into growth. The 

 leaves turned yellow and presented a sickly appearance. A popular opinion was, that the 

 frost had destroyed the roots. But an investigation was made by Messrs. Saunders and 

 Denton, of London. Upon examining the roots of the vines, they found the effects of 

 the Phylloxera, and the insects themselves in large quantities. I hope this insect pest 

 will not prove so formidable an enemy to our vineyardists as it has in Europe. There the 

 vineyardists, or at least many of them, have been obliged to abandon the enterprise, not 

 being able to find any antidote or means for the destruction of the enemy. 



IS THERE ANY POSSIBILITY OF OVERSTOCKING OUR MARKETS WITH FRUITS? 



In the year of 1874 there was an abundant crop of fruit, of every description. 

 Some growers did not know what to do with the surplus crop. Evaporators were not 

 plentiful at that time ; canning was poorly understood ; vinegar and jelly establishments 



