220 



The Caiiadian Horticulturist. 



of Scotland, say at Campbelltown, 

 Argyleshire, tell us they are getting 

 good apples from Glasgow at little 

 more than half the London prices. 

 I can easily understand how heavy 

 arrivals must bring down prices at 

 Liverpool and Glasgow, where the 

 local markets are limited until a 

 proper system of trade is established 

 by which outlets to all parts of the 

 country are provided. 



The course of time will ultimately 

 regulate this, but in the meantime 

 your shippers are suffering serious 

 loss of their legitimate profits. If 

 your fruit growers want to put their 

 trade on a proper and satisfactory 

 footing, they must take the matter 

 into their own hands. The}' should 

 have an intelligent, active and effi- 



cient general agent at London and 

 make it their headquarters. If they 

 cannot find in London such a man 

 with local knowledge, they should 

 engage a man in Canada, make it 

 worth his while and place him there. 

 If this be considered too costly, I 

 venture to say that the losses of ship- 

 pers, for want of such an agent, ts 

 more so, but it does not follow that 

 the apple trade alone need have to 

 bear the whole cost. Thebusiness of 

 the apple crop would be confined to 

 limited seasons, leaving a large por- 

 tion of time available for other busi- 

 ness that might be associated with it. 

 The suggestion is enough. If it 

 commends itself to your fruit growers 

 they will doubtless work out details 

 for themselves. — H. F. 



THE SIMON PLUM. 



Dear Sir, — In looking at the 

 colored plate of Simon's Plum in 

 your last issue and noticing the 

 statement on the opposite page 

 regarding its quality, etc., I feel it a 

 duty to say that this illustration 

 shows the fruit about twice the 

 diameter of the actual specimens as 

 I have seen them, or fully four times 

 its actual weight. These exaggera- 

 tions are not only damaging to the 

 papers publishing them, but a great 

 wrong to those who may be induced 

 thereb}^ to plant. The quality of all 

 the specimens that I have seen, of 

 this variety, has been remarkably 

 poor, even when compared with our 

 cultivated varieties of American 

 plums. Yours sincerely, H. E. Van 

 Dem A'!<i,'Poiiwlogist,]VasIiiiigtoii,D.C. 



Note by Editor. — We thank Mr. 



VanDeman,whoisthechiefoftheU.S. 

 Dept. of Pomology, for this criticism 

 concerning the plate of Simon's Plum. 

 Our trees have not yet fruited and 

 therefore we accepted the painting 

 upon the testimony of others. It is 

 only fair, however, to ourselves and 

 to Mr. Smith, to say that the sample 

 submitted to us by the lithographic 

 company, and upon which our edi- 

 torial was written, was quite diff"erent 

 from the one finally furnished our 

 printers by them, and probably much 

 more correct, but it was too late to 

 have them exchanged. 



Our journal is conducted wholly in 

 the interest of Canadian fruit growers 

 of whom the editor is one of the 

 largest, and it is therefore our aim, 

 as well as interest, to avoid all mis- 

 representations and to have all 

 frauds faithfully exposed. 



