RISE OF COMMERCIAL CULTURE 75 



of 1883 Hon. T. R. Coon, now of Lyle, Washington, came 

 to Hood River to seek rural pursuits, and he immediately 

 secured and planted several varieties of strawberries for 

 the purpose of experimentation. Clark's Early was 

 among those selected, and proved to be the only one of 

 promise. In 1884 Mr. Coon sent a crate (24 lb.) of this 

 variety to the Portland market and received in return 

 $9.00, and an inquiry for more of the same kind. The 

 year following he began shipping them into Montana." ^ 



Canada. — Commercial strawberry growing in Canada 

 began in Nova Scotia and Ontario about 1860. For sev- 

 eral years before 1870, late berries were shipped by boat 

 from the Cornwallis and Annapolis valleys. Nova Scotia, 

 to Boston. A little later. Prince Edward Island, where 

 the normal ripening season is late July or early August, 

 responded to the demand of Boston for late berries. The 

 strawberry industry of Ontario began to assume commer- 

 cial importance about 1865. According to A. W. Peart, 

 in 1860 there w^re only about fifty acres of all kinds of 

 small fruits in the province; the largest acreage was in 

 Burlington district.^ In 1869 Thomas Chisholm of Es- 

 quesing, Hilton County, reported to the Fruit Growers' 

 Association that there were sixty acres of strawberries in 

 bearing near Oakville and that the prospects for good 

 prices were so bright that the planting had been increased 

 to two hundred acres. "In one day,'' said he, "four 

 hundred bushels were shipped to Toronto and Montreal. 

 Wilson is the favorite variety." From 1879 to 1889 prices 

 were good and the acreage increased rapidly, but the next 

 ten years were discouraging, due largely to a wide-spread 

 trade depression. Since 1900 the industry has prospered. 



1 Rept. Ore. State Hort. Soc, 1907, p. 220. 



2 Rept. Ont. Fr. Gr. Assoc, 1909, p. 20. 



