THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



The Fruit Crop. — Worse and Worse 

 are the words that describe the fruit 

 crop this season. The drouth has been 

 so long and so intense that nearly every 

 kind is undersize while the same cause 

 has made plums and peaches to drop 

 badly. 



The Bureau of Agriculture reports 

 about 6,000,000 bearing apple trees in 

 the Province, and the yield in 1896 was 

 about 56,000,000 bushels. 



The apple crop this year will fall 



much below the average and winter 



varieties will be particularly scarce. A 



correspondent of the Sun says: 



" There are not, he says, enough really 

 good apples in Ontario to-day for the home 

 market alone. Prince Edward County has 

 about half a crop of unsalable fruit, and 

 buyers from that section are endeavoring 

 to contract for supplies in Grey and Simcoe. 

 Buyers from Michigan have also been in the 

 same counties endeavoring to contract for 

 supplies. They had previously been through 

 Kent and Essex, where they were evidently 

 unable to secure what they wanted. Grey 

 and Simcoe have about half a crop of Rhode 

 Island Greenings and about an eighth of a 

 crop of Spys. "On 120 full-grown trees, 

 which should average four barrels to a tree, I 

 will not have ten barrels, all told," says the 

 correspondent, "and I have only heard of 

 one lot better than mine. Of Ben Davis," 

 he goes on, " there is a fair crop and there 

 will be a good crop of King Tompkins." 

 Another point made by our correspondent is 

 the fact that Germany is inquiring for evap- 

 orated fruit, which indicates that supplies are 

 low in that country, too. In the Northern 

 States there is also said to be a poor crop of 

 winter fruit. On the whole our corres- 

 pondent believes that winter apples will 

 bring a higher price this season than they 

 have done in many years. 



Peaches are turning out to be a poor 

 crop, while pears are a pretty good crop. 

 On the whole the outlook is not dis- 

 couraging because prices are looking up 

 once more, and profits will be more 

 satisfactory than with a too abundant 

 crop. 



Fruit for Omaha. — Prof. Saunders 

 of the Dominion Experimental Farm is 

 forwarding each week a collection of 

 Canadian fruit to the Omaha exhibition. 



A good show of Canadian peaches 

 and plums will also be made, which 

 ought to open the eyes of some of our 

 American cousins to the possibilities of 

 fruit growing in Canada. 



New Fruits Committee — At the 

 last meeting of the Association the fol- 

 lowing gentlemen were appointed a com- 

 mittee on new fruits, who will report at 

 the next meeting in St. Catharines, viz. : 

 Prof. H. L. Hutt, O. A. C,, Guelph ; 

 W. E. Wellington, Toronto ; and L. 

 Woolverton, Grimsby. Persons having 

 new seedling fruits of value, are re- 

 quested to mail one or two samples to 

 each of these gentlemen, and if thought 

 worthy by them, they will receive due 

 notice. 



Fruit in Manitoba. — We have just 

 received a letter from Mr. John Parkin- 

 son, Portage la Prairie, calling attention 

 to the capabilities of his section for 

 growing certain varieties of fruit. He 

 has tried Duchess, Wealthy, and about 

 twenty seedlings ; all are doing well at 

 four and five years of age, have never lost 

 one inch with frost, and why should they 

 not bear fruit ? 



The Apple Prospects have material- 

 ly changed since our earlier reports, and 

 statements made earlier in the season 

 now need many qualifications. The 

 Fruit Trade Journal of New York has 

 recently quoted remaks made by the 

 writer early in the season, which are not 

 now applicable. 



Not only in Canada, but everywhere 

 the apple crop seems to be short, and 

 the prices promise high. 



According to the latest diagram sent 



out by Messrs. Woodall & Co., of 



Liverpool, the highest price Canadian 



Baldwins brought in 1896 was 14/6, but 



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