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'pfe (anadian fjorticolrorist 



Volume XXVIII 



JANUARY, l*)();j 



mm 



Number i 



THE FRUIT SHOULD BE A SEPARATE DIVISION 



IT lias bet'ii announcccl in the press that 

 llie Dominion fruit division will short- 

 ly be placed under the control of the Do- 

 minion dairy division. This action is the 

 result of the resignation of Prof. James W. 

 Robertson as the Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture and Dairying. That the fruit growers 

 of Canada are opposed to such action is 

 evidenced by interviews secured bv The 

 Canadian H(M-ticulturist with representative 

 growers. 



'' Such action," said Air. W. H. Ijunting, 

 of St. Catharines, the honorary president of 

 the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association, and 

 a prominent member of the Niagara Penin- 

 sula Fruit Growers' Association, " would 

 be very disastrous to the fruit interests of 

 Canada. Our fruit interests are important 

 enough to have a footing of their own and 

 should not be made subordinate to any other 

 interest, no matter how important that in- 

 terest may be. • As fruit growers we feel 

 that we should have the rignt, through the 

 chief of our division, to go direct to the 

 Minister of Agriculture. This right will 

 only be assured us by the fruit division be- 

 ing recognized as a division by itself, with 

 its head responsible only to the Alinister of 

 Agriculture. I am .satisfied that any svich 

 action will be strongly opposed by fruit 

 growers generally, and would like to see the 

 views of the growers laid before Hon. Syd- 

 ney Fisher in time, if possible, to prevent 

 the proposed amalgamation." 



Air. Alurra}- Pettit, of Winona, a direc- 

 tor of the ( )ntario Fruit Growers' Associa- 

 tion and president of the Xiagara District 

 Fruit Growers' Stock Co., Limited, said : 

 ■■ It is decidedl\ in the interests of fruit 

 growers that the fruit division shall be con- 

 tinued as a division by itself and not amal- 

 gamated with any other division. The fruit 

 interests are of great importance and are in- 

 creasing in extent very rapidly. As fruit 

 growers we feel that these interests will be 

 best served by being directed solely 1n- a 

 person who represents the fruit interests, 

 this per.son to be directly responsible to the 

 Minister of .\griculture and to no other 

 person. Fruit growers gener.illy are of 

 this opinion and are stron.gly oppo.sed to any 

 action that is likely to affect the value of the 

 work of the fruit division or that will re- 

 strict its operations in any way." 



One of the largest fruit growers in Can- 

 ada, Mr. F. D. Smith, of Winona, was 

 equally emphatic in his views as expressed 

 to The Horticulturist. " 'J'he fruit inter- 

 ests," said Mr. Smith, " while not as im- 

 portant as the dairy interests, are of suffi- 

 cient importance to be entitled to a division 

 independent of any other. When we make 

 suggestions to the head of the fruit division 

 we do not want to feel that these sugges- 

 tions must in turn be submitted for approval 

 to the head of some other division, who h 

 in no way interested in fruit, before action 

 can be taken. If it is proposed to com- 



