38 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



February, 1910 



Tree Planting in Charlottetown, P.E.I. 



A. B. Warburton, M.P., Charlottetown 



CHARLOTTETOWN is one of the old 

 towns of Canada. It was planned be- 

 fore it was occupied. Spacious squares 

 with wide streets running to the wat- 

 er's edge were plotted out before any build- 

 ings were erected. It is one of the best laid 

 out towns in the Dominion. The principal 

 streets are 100 feet in width. Five squares 

 were reserved for the benefit of the citizens. 

 Unfortunately, in the middle of last century, 

 one of them was spoiled by having an un- 

 sightly jail with high palisaded fence placed 

 upon it. 



On three sides, Charlottetown meets the 

 waters of one of the finest harbors in Can- 

 ada. There are three tidal rivers emptying 

 into the harbor. The surrounding country 

 is fertile, undulating and beautiful in its 

 varied hues. The red soil affords a pleasing 

 background to the ever changing colors of 

 the landscape. Trees singly or in clumps 

 and groves give the country a park-like 

 appearance. 



Charlottetown would seem to be an ideal 



now few in number and are rapidly disap- 

 pearing. It 18 to be hoped that those who 

 still keep them up will take some wet af- 

 ternoon, ransack their family pedigrees, and 

 wheii they find that none of their forbears 

 who came to Prince Edward Island long 

 ago, should have been sent to Van De- 

 man's Land instead, they will remove these 

 hideous structures, so suggestive of by- 

 gone wrong-doing, and by so doing improve 

 the appearances of the city and of their 

 own homes. 



In the early spring of 1884, it would have 

 been difiScult to find a more unsightly place 

 than Queen Square. The buildings were 

 all right. But the square! Its absolute 

 hideousness could not be described. Bri-jk 

 bats were the most ornamental things to 

 be seen. Next came wisps of grass, looking 

 forlorn, and growing in a spasmodic fashion. 

 They were always dry, but fortunately so 

 far apart that if a lighted match were 

 thrown into one bunch, the conflagration 

 thereby caused was not likely to spread to 



Queen Square, Provincial Legislative Buildings and Court House, Charlottetown 



place for ornamentation. Yet, founded 

 though it was in the third quarter of the 

 18th century, the last quarter of the 19th 

 saw streets and squares, notably the prin- 

 cipal square in which the public buildings 

 stood, that were about as unsightly and 

 bare as well could be imagined. 



The early settlers in Charlottetown were 

 not convicts nor were they of the jail bird 

 type. They were of as fine a class of peo- 

 ple as the Old Country ever sent forth to 

 occupy her over-sea territories. Yet, some- 

 where away back, one would almost expect 

 to find an "off streak," because these ex- 

 cellent people insisted on surrounding their 

 places of abode with high board fences, 

 which gave these pleasing residences the ap- 

 pearance of asylums for the insane or of 

 prisons for the criminal classes. This mania 

 prevailed until some 25 years ago, when 

 the more civilized notions of the Victorian 

 age, gaining the upper hand, induced the 

 majority of the owners of these jail-like 

 structures to use the materials of which they 

 were composed for kindling wood or other 

 useful purposes. A few samples of the 

 jail-yard style of wall still remain, an eye- 

 sore in our city, foirning a sort of connect- 

 ing link with the past. However, they are 



the next squalid neighbor some feet dis- 

 tant. Cows and horses frequently found 

 their way into the square, proofs of whose 

 presence could always be seen by the ad- 

 miring tourist. The summer dust, to be 

 appreciated, had to be seen and felt. 



A post and rail fence, of portentous ugli- 

 ness, had been erected around the square, 

 but its builders or designers, being lovers of 

 animal life, had seen fit to allow numer- 

 ous openings to be left or made, which were 

 a great convenience, as to ingress or egress 

 fot the animals owned by citizens who look- 

 ed upon the square as a kind of bovine or 

 equine recreation ground. 



In the spring of 1884, a number of the 

 more public spirited citizens came to the 

 conclusion that the time had arrived when 

 all this should be changed. The assistance 

 of the local press was sought and most 

 freely given. For once the Patriot and Ex- 

 aminer, organs respectively of the Liber.il 

 and Conservative parties united in advo- 

 cating tree planting. Citizens suddenly re- 

 alized how unsightly was the appearance of 

 the place. 



It is unnecessary to detail the steps taken 

 to effect a change. SuflSoe it to say that 

 the Queen's birthday. May 24, 1884, was 



appointed "Arbor Day." The children of 

 the schools, and some not ot the. gchoola, 

 were asked to take a part and plant and 

 they did bo. No section of the citizens 

 were more inti rested than the children. The 

 sight of some 1200 children, on that day, 

 gathered in Queen Square, to inaugurate 

 "Arbor Day," and to help do away with 

 the noisomeness and unsightliness of that 

 and other squares, as well as streets, will 

 ever be remembered by those who saw it. 

 It was an inspiring sight. Numbers of 

 men also, with their own hands, planted 

 their own trees which are to-day a worthy 

 memorial to their public spiiit. 



Over 800 trees were planted that first 

 Arbor Day. The people, who are to be 

 found everywhere, skilled in throwing cold 

 water on every undertaking, warned us that 

 the boys would tear up and destroy the 

 young trees. But the boys did nothing of 

 the kind. They looked after their trees and 

 were proud of them. The only damage 

 ever done to the trees was not the work of 

 youngsters. The boys showed that they 

 could be trusted. 



Each year since, more or less have been 

 planted, until now Charlottetown has a 

 Koodly number. But there is still room. 

 Those planted in 1884 have made a fine 

 growth. 



Besides planting trees the beautifying 

 of the unsightly square was taken up. In 

 this, Mr. Arthur Newbury, assistant pro- 

 vincial secretary, was and still is the motor 

 power. The ground was prepared, walks 

 laid out and grass sown. Flower beds were 

 nlanted and kept up, and now Qiiean 

 Square, with its trees, its flowers, its foun- 

 tains and its concerts has become a fa- 

 vorite resort and something of which the 

 citizens are proud and which visitors ad- 

 mire. The brick-bats, the wisps of grass, 

 the dust, the dirt, the old time air of deso- 

 lation, have gone. The younger generation 

 does not remember them. 



Not only in Queen Square, but in the oth- 

 er squares and in most of the streets trees 

 have been planted and have flourished. 

 Grass plots have begun to line the sides of 

 the streets, whilst the streets themselves 

 have been vastly improved ; but still, 

 the improvement which most strikes the eye 

 is the one that began with that first "Arbor 

 Day," May 24, 1884. I would suggest to 

 the readers of The Canadian Horticttl- 

 TTTRIST that they visit Charlottetown next 

 summer and see this city and province for 

 themselves. It would do them good. 



Apples at Ten Cents a Barrel 



Jas. Burrell, Jr., Yarmonth, N.S. 



Yarmouth county has been the dumping 

 ground for the counties of Annapolis, Kings 

 and Hants in the fruit business for many 

 years. La.st year was the worst in 10 

 years. They began as early as Sept. 25 

 sending in Gravensteins by the carload, 

 marked No. 1 and No. 2. These sold at 

 auction from 10 cents up to $1.35 a barrel. 

 Some of the No. I's would have two or 

 three tiers of good apples on top and the 

 rest would not be good No. 3's. Barrels 

 worth 30 cents, freight from 20 cents to 

 40 cents, and commission and truckage in 

 addition, so there would not be much left 

 for the shipper. 



I know of 50 barrels being sold at a pri- 

 vate sale to an American for $17.50. I 

 don't believe he made anything on that 

 as he was kept busy picking them over and 

 sorting them out until he coidd get a 

 chance to sell at 75 cents a barrel, for most 

 of them. I believe as many as 5,000 barrels 

 were shipped and sold here with a popu- 

 lation of only 7,000. Looks hard for the 

 fruit growers of the county! I sold all 

 mine at $2.00 a barrel. No. 1 and No. 2. 



