^ ©pet? Ig)ettep<?. $ 



A Canadian Fruit Grower in 

 Alabama. 



Sir, — I formerly resided in St. Thomas, 

 Ont. , and was a subscriber to your Journal 

 for eight years. For the past three years or 

 nearly I have been engaged in the vineyard 

 industry. 



This is an ideal country for grape and peach 

 culture ; situated in the eastern part of Ala. 

 The Topography is very rolling, many parts so 

 steep it has to be cultivated by hand. It 

 is all of a volcanic formation, red soil, with 

 a great deal of quartz rock of various sizes 

 from that of ft pea to a bushel basket, and 

 much of our soil is composed of rotten rock 

 that pulverizes to dust when cultivated and 

 said rock contains a large i>ercentage of mica- 

 like sul>8tance. Frost only penetrates about 

 1 to 2 inches ; ice on still water g to J inch. 

 Our season of sunshine from last frost to first 

 gives ample time to mature cane and crop. 

 A man can work outdoora the entire year 

 without coat or gloves. The summers are 

 pleasant, never warmer than 96^, it is always 

 cool in the shade as we have as a rule always 

 a pleasiint breeze. Nights cool. I have slept 

 under a single blanket every night this and 

 last suvnier. We are on these "uplands" 

 1,250 feet above sea level, air clear and in- 

 vigorating. We have, what was on January, 

 1895 a virgin forest, 3,(J00 acres planted to 

 grape vines. The timber on land is principally 

 what is known north as " Georgia Pine," also 

 various kinds of oak, hickory, chesnut and 

 gum trees. Wild blackberries grow in the 

 valleys in profusion, superior in size and 

 quality to any I ever eat north. Natives 

 peddle them at 8c. to 10c. per gallon. There 

 are scarcely any negroes in this county, 

 they can't keep any land in this colony 

 which is composed of people from the Eastern 

 and Western States with a few from Canada. 

 The size and quality of our grapes and pro- 

 ductiveness of our vines is not excelled, if 

 equaled, in the U.S. They aie largely Con- 

 cord, Niagara, Delaware. For shipping we 

 also grow several varieties, for wine princi- 

 pally, that are indigenous (Munson's Hy- 

 bri<ls) to the South ; also Scup})ernong's 

 native grape. We make everything re- 

 (|uired for picking and shipping except 

 baskets ; will put in basket plant this fall. 

 Our crop is nearly all gathered. Our first 

 shipments al>out July 25th. We harvested 

 crop this year from about 1.300 acres. 



As there are but a very few here that have 

 any experience in shipping grapes, and our 

 crop being a j^ood one for what you might 

 term our first crop, found us unprepared to 

 handle it with that expedition necessary. 

 Here all grapes this year have been brought to 

 one packing house and packed. They are 

 unable to pack fast enough. Confusion is too 

 great to be exjieditious. There are 85 in 

 packing house, sorting and packing, etc. , and 

 this system causes too much handling of the 

 grapes. What I wjuit to learn is what is the 

 system that governs the packing and shipping 



of grapes or other fruits in the grape and 

 fruit (Niagara) belt, Ontario. 



If you have a shippers' organization would 

 l>e pleased if you could supply me with a 

 copy of their by-laws. Is packing all done 

 at one place or does each do his own pack- 

 ing (and brand his package), subject to in- 

 spection at point of shipment 



As we must get organized before another 

 season, would be pleased if you could assist 

 as outlined above. 



I often thought of writing to Hortfcul- 

 TrRiSTjbut did not kuow that anything I could 

 say of this region would be of interest to your 

 readers. I wrote a home paper once in reply 

 to a number of enquires. 



I did not write this for publication as you 

 can see. Still if you think any part of it is 

 interesting you can use it. While thi.s is a 

 fine climate and I like it here very much I 

 still have a warm feeling for Ontario, where 

 I spent 42 years of my life. When I left 

 Canada I left to go into business in Chicago 

 as my family were all there. One year 

 proved disastrous. Hearing of this I looked 

 it over and locateil, and I think the outlook 

 to-day is better than any time since we 

 started this colony. 



D. Neiuson. 



So far every fruit grower in Ontario 

 packs and ships his own fruit. The 

 Niagara District Fruit Grower's Stock 

 Company appoints reliable agents in all 

 the principal towns, who receive fruit on 

 consignment. All stockholders receive 

 daily market reports, and thus are 

 guided in their shipments, and frequent- 

 ly are able to load cars for special 

 points. 



Packing companies who would pack 

 and ship for growers, and who could 

 succeed in establishing a confidence in 

 their method would no doubt receive 

 much patronage, but we doubt if grow- 

 ers could manage a co-operative pack- 

 ing business to advantage. 



The best scheme we can think of is 

 for every dozen or more growers to com 

 bine and build a cold storage at ship- 

 ping point ; to engage a competent man 

 in charge of this storage who should be 

 authorized to inspect every tenth pack- 

 age, and see that each shipper was pack- 

 ing according to an agreed standard. 

 If he was not, the inspector should have 

 authority to reject the whole shipment 

 of the faulty shipper for that occasion. 



As soon as a car load is made up the 

 man in charge should see after a refrig- 

 erator car, and loading of the same. 



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