Our membership has increased from the little group of 30, in 1868, to over 2,000, 
and we have the proud satisfaction of being the largest horticultural society in America, 
if not in the whole world; while the culture of fruit throughout the country has made 
corresponding advancement. Our towns and cities which were formerly largely supplied 
from the neighboring republic are now abundantly stocked with fruits of our own grow- 
ing, and many sections of our country to which apples were sent from the States and 
Niagara district thirty years ago, are now exporting thousands of barrels annually to the 
old country, and even to the United States, and that of a quality, too, which can not be 
excelled or even equalled in the whole world. And by careful hybridizing and judicious 
selections, varieties have been found that will succeed in many sections where it was 
thought fruit could not be grown, and, if experiments and plans which are now under 
way succeed, and I have every confidence that they will, the day is not far distant when 
every inhabitant of Ontario, if not of the Dominion, who has land capable of being tilled, 
if he cannot sit ‘‘ under his own vine and fig tree” may at least, if he choose, raise enough 
of some kinds of fruit to supply his own table. 
Great improvements have been made also in the methods of handling fruits and in 
packages. Thirty years ago, when I used to attend the Hamilton market, berries of all 
kinds were brought in in pans and pails, and dipped out with the hand or with ladles 
into measures, often in a condition ready for jam. Apples, pears and sometimes peaches 
if not too soft were marketed in grain or meal bags, which had frequently not been very 
well shaken—the bags I mean—the fruit had plenty in being got off the trees and over 
the rough roads in lumber wagons—there were no express offices between St. Catharines 
and Hamilton, or that place and Toronto, I think; but now we have attractive baskets 
and packages for every kind of fruit and it is carefully conveyed in spring wagons to 
the railway station where express agents are ready to receive and forward it to its desti- 
nation. But, notwithstanding the progress of fruit culture there have been many ‘dis- 
ouragements and hindrances to contend with. Blight, fungus, mildew, yellows, black- 
knot, frost and insects of various kinds, often step in and cut off our crops and blast the 
hopes of fruit growers, and they have to be ever on the alert to protect themselves from 
these enemies. The methods and experiments in combatting these evils, brought out in 
discussions at our various meetings and communicated to the public and others, through 
our Hurticulturist and Annual Report, have been of incalculable benefit. There has not 
only been a great advance in fruit growing during the last thirty years but also a great 
advance along all other horticultural lines, particularly in the rural districts. There is 
more taste displayed in laying out and beautifying grounds, in planting trees, shrubs and 
flowers; in making homes attractive, than previously, and we believe that the Fruit 
Growers’ Association of Ontario has done much in the development of this taste and in 
bringing about these excellent results. The year that has just passed, has been a very 
discouraging one to many of us, particularly to growers of apples. Although the spring 
opened with an abundance of bloom and there was every indication of a bountiful crop, 
there came a cold east storm which blasted the fruit and entirely destroyed it through 
the middle and southern portions of Ontario, except in a few sheltered and favored loca- 
tions. The counties of Huron, Bruce, Grey and a portion of Simcoe were the only ones’ 
which had any apples of any account to export. The same storm nearly destroyed the 
