The Canadian llorticnlturist. 



57 



fruit f,'ro\vers in Canaila, who arc not ai)le to 

 compete with the growers of many kinds of 

 fruit in consequence of our climate. For in- 

 stance, the duty could be left ofl' oranges, 

 lemons, bananas, figs, dates, pineapples and 

 any other Southern fruit and be placed on 

 strawberries, raspberries, cherries, grapes, 

 plums, etc, The prices of fruit would not be 

 altered to the consumer, as he would only be 

 asked to wait for a couple of weeks until our 

 fruit would come into the market, and those 

 who are anxious to have fruit before the 

 season opens can afford to pay the duty. The 

 same trouble is injuring the market garden- 

 ers, who are unable to get their early vege- 

 tables into, market before the market is glutted 

 with .\merican products. In and around this 

 city alone there are hundreds of hard-working 

 market gardeners rmd fruit growers, who, in 

 conseijuence of the duty being removed, are 

 hartlly able to make ends meet, and when 

 you take into consideration the Niagara 

 district, surely something can be done by the 

 Government to remedy the injustice of not 

 protecting these people as well as others. 



Mr. B. Gott, of Arkona, a well-known 

 horticulturist, writes in the same line ; he 

 says: — 



We have had one year of no duty on fruit. 

 As far as our experience goes it has not been 

 at all profitable or encouraging to us. The 

 movement may be very good on the line of 

 Reciprocity or friendliness to neighbors, but 

 in actual business where we have to buy as 

 well as sell it puts us too much to a disad- 

 vantage, or makes us a slaughter market for 

 almost all kinds of fruits long before ours 

 can be got ready for the market, and in some 

 cases long after. This, of course, may be, 

 and is, great sport and a fine thing for the 

 wealthy capitalist and the men who buy, but 

 it is death to the poor, laborious fruitgrower, 

 who should most certainly be the proper 

 object <if pity and protection. 



In the language of a friend writing me a 

 few days ago on this subject, he says . — 

 "Just now the fruitgrowers are discriminated 

 against. This is manifestly wrong. It is 

 all crow for us and all turkey for the rest of 

 the world. General Commercial Union that 

 would cheapen our supplies might answer 

 better. In early strawberries, apples, 

 cherries, peaches and grapes, our friends in 

 Western New York compete with us to our 

 disadvantage, etc." 



It is, therefore, a direct thrust at one of our 

 prominent industries, at the productions of 

 our fruitful soils, and at the revenues derived 

 from the cultivation of these soils. 



The Canadian Apple Trade in Britain. 



W'k are in receipt ot some \aluable corres- 

 pondence from a correspondent in Waltham- 

 stow, England, Mr Henry Fowler, who writes 

 concerning the enlargement of our apple 

 trade with Britain. He is of the opinion that 

 if some concerted action were entered upon 



by our Association, and a special agent em- 

 ployed in PIngland, t would result in great 

 advantage to Canadian fruit growers. Mr. 

 Fowler, however, quite misunderstands the 

 statements on p. 263 of vol xi , that the 

 total shipments from all Atlantic ports were 

 only 114,399 pounds, supposing that was for 

 this whole season, and blames us for an 

 underestimate. If he will observe that 

 selection was dated October 5th, and simply 

 included the ([uantity to that date, when our 

 crop was only beginning to move forward. 

 The following were the shipments from 

 Atlantic ports for the week ending December 

 22nd, 1888, and for the season ; 



Ports. 



Liverpool 

 London. . . 

 Glasgow. . 

 Various.. . 



Week 



I'revi'usly 

 Season . . . 

 Last Year 



291,692 

 931I34 



1.382 

 400 

 247 

 350 



2,379 

 331.280 



333.659 

 214,106 



3.954 13.372 

 580 



3.963 







8.497 



290,398 



299.895' 



83.912! 



Our readers will be interested in some 

 selections from Mr. Fowler's letters. Con- 

 cerning the agent, he says : 



" It appears to me that the circumstances 

 of Canada in its fruit growing interests 

 afford at present an excellent opening for a 

 clever, intelligent and active young man to 

 establish himself in London (and he should 

 be a Canadian) as a Canadian agent for the 

 sale of Fruit and Provisions, this last word 

 to signify cheese, butter, lard, ham. bacon, etc. 



" Such a man as I have referred to, backed 

 and supported by the Fruit Growers' Asso- 

 ciation, would at once take a position that 

 would command a large portion of the trade 

 in the other commodities which I have 

 summed up as provisions. His business 

 would, of course, have to be a wholesale one, 

 but he would not be debarred from selling a 

 single barrel of apples to a consumer. All 

 that is necessary to keep such transactions on 

 a proper footing would be an honorable 

 understanding with the trade that his prices 

 in such cases would be such that dealers 

 would.have an abatement of ten to fifteen j^er 

 cent., so that they could sell single barrels 



