EXTENSION OF FRUIT GROWING. 



mental principle of business, that cheap- 

 ness increases consumption, and enables 

 him to make larger profits by handling 

 larger quantities with despatch. 



Then we must not loose sight of a pro- 

 bable market in England for our grapes. 

 I make no doubt whatever, but that with 

 proper cold storage we can lay our grapes 

 down in Britain in perfect condition, and 

 further ; if the market there is fully 

 tested we shall be able to cultivate a 

 taste between the middle and working 

 classes of Britain for our grapes, on ac- 

 count of their cheapness and good qual- 

 ity. Malaga and Black Hamburg, and 

 other fancy grapes usually offered for 

 sale, are too dear for these people to use 

 freely. If we can once get these classes 

 to like our grapes we have a market for 

 all we can grow in Ontario. I have thus 

 far spoken chiefly of grapes, mainly be- 

 cause weheregrow them largely, andseem 

 to have the soil and climate suitable to 

 their growth in the greatest perfection, 

 and because many are in doubt as to 

 the future. Before I finish speaking of 

 grapes, however, I want to say, that even 

 this year with all its enormous crops 

 of all kinds of fruit, grapes paid a profit 

 of at least $30 per acre net, over all ex- 

 penses. Where is the farm crop that 

 did it? 



Taking up other fruits in their order, 

 no one could complain of the price of 

 strawberries during the past season, and 

 yet this is a fruit more easily overplanted 

 than any other, for the simple reason, 

 that they can be grown over the whole 

 country with success. Strawberries have 

 been overdone, but now there are not 

 enough planted. Raspberries have never 

 yet, on good soil, failed to return a hand- 

 some profit ; they paid less in 1893 than 

 last season. It has always been a mys- 

 tery to me why raspberry growing is not 

 overdone. This fruit is more easily and 

 cheaply grown than almost any other, 



and succeeds over a wider range of ter- 

 ritory, and yet it has not yet ceased to 

 be an extremely profitable crop. Doubt- 

 less the imposition of a duty by the U. S. 

 government wiil strike a blow at the 

 trade, though it seems to me I have 

 heard somebody say that the consumer 

 always pays the duty, when goods come 

 into Canada, and if this be so maybe 

 the consumer of our raspberries in the 

 United States will somehow help us out. 



The currant is a fruit more likely over- 

 planted for market than any other, in 

 my opinion, as it is not a fruit so uni- 

 versally used as other fruits, and, more- 

 over, it is so cheaply and easily grown. 

 Another )ear or two is required to speak 

 with certainty about this fruit. I am 

 inclined to the belief that the great scar- 

 city of money had more to do with the 

 low prices ol currants last year than 

 anything else ; the crop the year pre- 

 vious was nearly or quite as heavy, but 

 owing to money being more plentiful 

 and other fruits dearer in price, currants 

 paid splendidly. Even last year my 

 Fays turned me $200 from two acres, 

 clear over all expenses of picking and 

 baskets, though like the rest, I suffered 

 with the hitherto most profitable Raby 

 Castle and got no profit out of them. 



Blackberries will always be a profita- 

 ble crop on land best adapted to them, 

 in my opinion, as they come at a season 

 when fruit is usually scarce, there being 

 only early peaches to compete with 

 them, and, moreover, there is not a very 

 wide range of land suitable to this fruit, 

 jipening as it does three years out of 

 four during a prolonged drought. 



As for peaches, I well remember the 

 season of 1880, when Crawfords sold 

 for 25 cents per basket and less, and 

 tvcrybody prophesied the absolute ruin 

 of those who had been foolish enough 

 to invest large sums in peach plantations, 

 and yet, after 16 years of steady planting, 



'32 



