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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



October, 1910 



will revive the apple industry. The 

 article in question contains the most 

 important admission of the failure of an 

 important industry ever made by a per- 

 son connected with a government. Now 

 in the name of common sense, either put 

 the business on a paying basis and stop 

 the decline or stop all promotion of the 

 industry, for if it is a legitimate decline, 

 there is no use throwing good money 

 after bad. If, on the other hand, the 

 business is worth saving, there is no 

 use letting things drift. Instead, we 

 should all work together to revive it, and 

 in this effort the government should lead. 



A liAEGB REVENUE 



There are estimated to be .seven mil- 

 lion bearing trees in Ontario. A good 

 authority, Mr. E. D. Smith, puts the 

 yield at a half a barrel a tree, which at 

 two dollars a barrel would be just seven 

 million dollars. 



In New York State they estimate the 

 net returns of a bearing tree at $5 to 

 $10.00 a year. If we take a middle course 

 and say $7.50 we would have the enor- 

 mous sum of $52,500,000 — $45,500,000 

 more than the present return. Surely the 

 possibility of a yearly increase of 

 $45,500,000 or half that should lead us 

 to strive to renovate our orchards, and 

 be a safe business investment for the ex- 

 penditure of public money. 



WHAT MIGHT BE DONE 



The Ontario Government, if it sin- 

 cerely desires to bring about an improve- 

 ment in existing conditions, should find 

 it a simple matter to devise methods of 

 doing so.- Among others I might sug- 

 gest the following : First, increase the 

 number of demonstration orchards. 



The present system of giving practical 

 demonstrations of pruning, spraying and 

 cultivation as it has been conducted this 

 year in the Georgian Bay District is 

 good, but there is not a sufficient number 

 of the.se orchards. One or two will not 

 do for a fruit county. There should be 

 one in every township in the main apple 

 growing districts. 



The system of supervised orchards, as 

 conducted in Pennsylvania, might be in- 

 troduced under which the department 

 would send a man free of cost to any 

 farmer who made application, to show 

 him how to spray, prune and cultivate. 

 The same man could call again at the 

 orchard two or three times or oftener 

 during the season. This is a thoroughly 

 practical method of aiding the fruit 

 grower, and as the expense is light, there 

 is no limit to the number of orchards that 

 might then be assisted. Owners of 

 neighboring orchards, would receive an 

 indirect benefit from the object lessons 

 afforded by the supervised orchards. 

 This has been the case in Pennsylvania. 



EDUCATIONAL EXHIBITS 



We could follow the example of Cor- 

 nell University and the New York De- 



partment of Agrii'ulture and have a num- 

 ber of men, not only at the leading ex- 

 hibitions but al.so at small local fairs 

 with a full exhibit of .specimens of in- 

 jurious insects, fungous disea.ses, samples 

 of spray materials and sprayed and un- 

 sprayed fruit which would show the pro- 

 fit to be derived from this work. These 

 men should be able to give advice on all 

 questions in fruit growing, both practi- 

 cal and technical. 



OBCHARD SUaVBYS 



There should be a .soil and orchard 

 survey made so that we would know just 

 which varieties are adapted to certain 

 soils, and where these soils are situated. 

 Records of temperature and loss from 

 frost for periods of years should be start- 

 ed and maintained. Thus a man wishing 

 to plant an orchard would have definite 

 information of great value and thus 

 would not have to go into the business 

 blindly as at present. 



We cannot do anything to change the 

 climate and to prevent winter injury; but 

 on occasion we might do as they have 

 in the west, where fires and smudge pots 

 have been used very satisfactorily to pre- 

 vent loss from early frosts. 



EDUCATION NEEDED 



Much could be done by proper educa- 

 tion to show the danger of stimulating 

 a rank growth of wood by stable manure 

 or other nitrogenous fertilizers without 

 balancing it up with mineral matter to 

 ripen the wood. The value of cover 

 crops could be shown. Had the peach 

 growers in Essex and Kent had a pro- 

 per understanding of this point they could 



have prevented the disastrous losses cf 

 a few years ago. 



.MI tree salesmen might be compelled 

 to show that they were working for a 

 reliable firm and if necessary be licensed. 

 One of the chief causes of discourage- 

 ment among fruit growers has been the 

 travelling agent, who picked his st<K;k 

 up wherever he could get it the cheapest, 

 and then labeled the trees with the names 

 of standard hardy varieties and sold them 

 to the confiding public. Instead of leav- 

 ing each farmer to take action in such 

 cases the government might well accept 

 the responsibility. Were salesmen li- 

 censed this would be a comparatively 

 simple matter. 



AID THE ASSOCIATIONS 



The departmerst should increase (its 

 aid to cooperative fruit shipping asso- 

 ciations. It could keep the fruit growers 

 informed as to the prices of fruit. At 

 fairs, conventions and fruit meetings 

 practical demonstrations in packing and 

 grading fruit might be given. 



The department should compel apple 

 dealers to put up a reasonable guarantee 

 that the apples purchased would be paid 

 for.. 



The duty of the fruit department has 

 not been fulfilled until it can no longer 

 be said that the grower with a small 

 quantity of good fruit finds it impossible 

 to market his fruit to advantage. 



Some may contend that the plans out- 

 lined would take an enormous amount of 

 money. Well, what if they would? 

 Would not the produce of seven million 

 bearing apple trees and seven million 

 more which would soon be bearing, 



A Portioa of the Ontario Fruit Exhibit at the Caa.di^u Natioui:! Eihibition, Toronto, Oat. 



