212 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



September, 1910 



The Gardens of New Ontario 



THAT the 'rciiiiskaininj;; District in 

 New Ontario has large horticultural 

 possibilities, is evidenced i)y the ex- 

 cellent gardens that are to be found in the 

 vic-inity of New Liskeard and l^njrlcliart. 

 Nearly every farm tlirouiJ^hout the clay 

 belt has a kitchen fjarden, and frequently 

 these arc amonj^ the first things the farm- 

 er points out to the skeptical visitor from 

 the south as a proof of the tremendous 

 possibilities of the district. 



Possibly the horticultural conditions of 

 'J"emiskaniing can be better set forth by a 

 reference to one of its successful garden- 

 ers — rMr. I. A. Hrillinger who when seen 

 by an editorial representative of Thf. 

 Canadian IIorticii.it;rist, was taking 

 off his fourth crop. Mr. Brillingcr has 

 been in Temiskaming a little over three 

 years. Previously he was a gar^lener at 

 Stouff\illc, near Toronto. Me is, there- 

 fore, in a position to compare New and 

 Old Ontario from a horticultural point of 

 view. 



His garden of thirty-three acres is 

 within the corporation of New Liskeard 

 on the north-west shore of I-ake Temis- 

 kaTiiing. It is about five miles from 

 Haileybury, and the far-famed silver city 

 of Cobalt is ten miles distant. Its prox- 

 imity to the.se three urban centres of 

 the north affords Mr. Brillinger an im- 

 mediate market for practically all his pro- 

 duce. However, he sells as far south as 

 Temagami — seventy-two miles from 

 \(>rth Fiay, and north to the end of steel 

 at' Coihranc. 



.As a general things the spring is a lit- 

 t'e later in New Ontario than in the older 

 parts of the province, with the result 

 that the Old Ontario gardener is on 

 his hwid perhaps tv/o weeks ahead of 

 those in Teiriskaming. But the New On- 

 tario gardener is ready for the market as 

 soon as the Old Ontario one. That is the 

 thing that it is hard for the people in the 

 south to believe. In the clay belt the 

 sun stays on the job nineteen hours a 

 day during part of the summer, and to 

 the uninitiated the growth is astonish- 

 ing. ".As an example of the rapid growth 

 here,' 'said Mr. Brillinger to the writer, 

 "in eighteen days after we sowed the 

 seed our radishes were all pulled and sold. 

 Indeed, everything does well in this north- 

 ern climate. We have had cabbages since 

 July J ; one head weighed .seventeen 

 po'unds. Last year we set out fifty thous- 

 and plants and forty thousand headed. 

 We usually do a little better than that. 



"Cucumbers and cauliflowers do excep- 

 tionally well. Frequently we have had a 

 single cauliflower weigh eight or nine 

 pounds. Vegetables invariably give bet- 

 ter results here than along the front and 

 our market is the very best. 



"Another thing in which we have an 

 advantage is the absence of insects. Our 

 radishes mature so rapidly that the radish 



maggot has not time to hatch, and the loss 

 due to it is entirely eliminated. We do 

 suffer a good loss through the ravages of 

 the cut worm and this year potato bugs 

 arc very plentiful. However, we are free 

 from many insects with which the Old 

 Ontario gardener is continually waging 

 an unprofitable war." 



The season is too short to ripen toma- 

 toes, but there is always a large crop of 

 green ones which find a ready and pro- 

 fitable m.-irket. .Asked if tomatoes ma- 

 tured in Temiskaming; "no, they do not 

 ripen successfully," was the reply. "The 

 growth is so rapid that the nourishment 

 goes to increase the size of the plant rath- 

 er than to ripening the fruit. Then the 

 nights arc cool, and tomatoes need warm 

 i^ights. But the crop of green tomatoes 

 is enormous." 



COKN UNCERTAIN 



The .short season makes corn an un- 

 certain crop. However, like tomatoes, 

 it sometimes proves very profitable. It 

 would be a mistake to think that tomatoes 

 never ripen in the north. They frequent- 

 ly do, .sometimes practically the entire 

 cron, but always a percentage, which 

 varies according to the sea.son. The same 



Cabbage at the Toronto Exhibition 



is true of corn. Two years ago Mr. Brill- 

 inger had a considerable area in corn 

 which turned out well, netting him some- 

 thing over $30 to the acre. Last year, 

 however, an early frost destroyed his 

 corn before he had used any, with the re- 

 sult that he lost it all. 



BIG CROPS OP BEANS AND PEAS 



The crop of beans and peas in New On- 

 tario is double that in the older parts of 

 the province. "I can hardly explain the 

 rea.son," the writer was told, "but I be- 

 lieve it is owing to the large percentage 

 of lime in the soil. In one sea.son the 

 peas blos.som three times, and we take off 

 as many crops." 



Mr. Brillinger does a very extensive 

 business. ICach week he averages seven 

 to eight hundred dozen bunches of onions, 

 one thousand dozen bimches of lettuce 

 and radish each, and other vegetables in 

 proportion. He employs six men. 



"There is a wontlerful future for horti- 

 culture in Temiskaming. .Small fruits, 

 such as strawberries, raspberries and cur- 

 rants produce abundantly and the quality 



is the very best. At fifteen to twenty 

 cents a box a single acre of strawberries 

 will yield $400 worth of fruit," Mr. Brill- 

 inger concluded. 



There is little dimger of summer frosts. 

 Last year, Mr. Brillinger lost $1,000 

 worth of vegetables by a heavy frost on 

 August 2T;. But when the country Ix;- 

 comes cleared and drained and the sun 

 is allowed to reach the ground, these 

 frosts will bei-ome unknown. 



Ginseng Growing 



E. A. Rasicll, Braotford, Out. 



'Ihe small numlx.r of people who grow 

 ginseng in any quantity is remarkable 

 considering the profit that can be made 

 at the prevailing prices and the decided 

 ad\antages that it posses.ses over many 

 other crops. About ten years ago a wavf 

 of excitement passed over .America at the 

 reports of fabulous profits to be made 

 with little labor in growing this plant. A 

 large number of individuals and com- 

 panies embarked in the business while 

 the wave was at its height, and the deal- 

 ers in plants and seeds profited at the 

 expense of a host of experimenters who 

 obtained nothing but experience. 



Most of those who took up the busi- 

 ness with enthusiasm soon lost interest 

 when they found that ginseng required 

 attention and labor as well as any other 

 plant, and especially so when they had 

 to wait for five years before any returns 

 could be obtained. But there are a num- 

 ber of growers in various parts of Can- 

 ada who, unknown to all but their im- 

 mediate neighbors, have persevered and 

 are now reaping the profits which can 

 be made by all who follow their exam- 

 ple. 



TWO DRAWBACKS 



There are two features incidental to 

 the cultivation of gin.seng which deter 

 many from planting it or making it a 

 regular crop. One of these is the neces- 

 sity of providing a shade of .some kind, 

 usually in the form of a lath .screen erect- 

 ed on posts. This means .some outlay of 

 time and money, but the large profits 

 which can be made from a small piece of 

 land more than compensate for this extra 

 initial outlay. 



The other objection is that one must 

 wait for .so long a time before obtaining 

 a marketable crop. We are accustomed 

 to wait from. three to eight years for or- 

 chards to come into bearing, but it ap- 

 pears singular to most people that a 

 plant which .seldom grows higher than 

 thirty inches should require five or six 

 years to mature. This objection is also 

 counterbalanced by the large returns 

 which can be obtained. 



SOME ADVANTAGES 



There are a number of advantages 

 which the ginseng grower has over the 

 fruit-grower or ordinary gardener, and 

 which shoiild appeal especially to those 



