54 



THE CANADIAN HOKTICULTURIBT. 



stroys a work which the highest art 

 could not invent, or man's best skilled 

 hand consti'uct. There was not a leaf 

 quivered on the trees which stood 

 under the domes of the Crystal Palace 

 but eclipsed the brightest glories of 

 loom or chisel ; it had no I'ival among 

 the triumphs of invention, which a 

 world went there to see. Yes ; in His 

 humblest works God infinitely surpasses 

 the higliest efforts of created skill." 



John Croil. 

 Aiiltsville, Feb., 18S4. 



WINTER MEETING OF THE FRUIT 

 GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. 



Mr. Editor, -I beg to congratulate 

 the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association 

 on the very successful meeting held 

 here last week. Tlie discussions that 

 took place on the various subjects men- 

 tioned in the progi'amme were listened 

 to with deep interest by a large num- 

 ber of our townspeople and farmers, 

 and fruit-growers of the county of Ox- 

 ford. The original papers contributed 

 and read l)y theii' authors were excel- 

 lent, and 1 am sure must make the i-e- 

 port of 18S-i. to be published ni3xt year, 

 very desirable and valuable reading 

 matter. 



The large amount of pi'actical and 

 useful information based on the ex2)eri- 

 ence of the various sjjeakers that was 

 elicited during th(^ two days that the 

 meeting lasted, must be of very great 

 benefit indeed to the country generally, 

 and especially to this neighborhood. The 

 interest and value of the meeting was 

 very much increased by the presence of 

 the AuHM'ican delegates from Western 

 New York and Michigan. Those 

 gentlemen, I V)eliev,e, are large and suc- 

 cessful fruit-growers, and were always 

 ready, wlien ap])ealed to by our excel- 

 lent President, to give the meeting the 

 benefit of their experience and obser- 

 vation, and that too in so jjleasant and 

 agreeable a manner as to make the infor- 



mation still moi'e valuable. I can assure 

 you, sir, that the people of Wood- 

 stock and vicinity have a more lively 

 appreciation of the usefulness of the 

 Fruit Growers' Association than they 

 ever had before. Several farmers have 

 since informed me that it was the be.st 

 thing they ever attended in oui- town, 

 and are anxious to know when we may 

 expect another such meeting. 

 Yours truly, 



T. H. Parker. 

 \\'oodst<)ck, yth Feb., 1884. 



FRUIT (UIOWING AT CAPE ELIZA- 

 BETH. 

 Dear Sik, — In answer to your favor 

 of the 8th inst., I must say I am not a 

 successful grower of the larger fruits, 

 still I shall be pleased to give you an 

 account of my failures and successes. 

 When I took up land my fii'st wish 

 was to have an orchaiT] growing whilst 

 the other clearing was going on, so when 

 the first two aci'es were cleared and 

 fenced I sent up from Toronto one hun- 

 dred apple trees, about five of each of 

 the best sorts I could then read of, five 

 plums, five pears, five cherries, five 

 crabs, one hundi-ed currants, two hun^ 

 dred strawberries, one hundred rasp- 

 berries < )f tlie one hundi-ed a])ple trees 

 five only, all the fJuc/iess of Oldenburg, 

 have borne, and for several years they 

 have produced fine fruit. Most of the 

 others were killed out the first season^ 

 but about twenty froze to or near the 

 ground and have gi'own up and been 

 frozen down annually. Several I re- 

 grafted, of which three will succeed. 



The pluuis were all frozen down 

 below tiie grafts, but have since growa 

 u)) to trees and produce good preserving 

 fruit, although only wild plums of vari- 

 ous qualiti<!S. The pears and cherries 

 were all too delicate. All the crab 

 apples did well, and I have had bushels 

 fi-om them the past few seasons. The 

 best sorts are the Montreal Beaut;/ and 



