OUR ANNUAL MEETING. 



department has been set aside for its use. Ws 

 will be glad to welcome their hon. field secre- 

 tary, Mr. G. R. Patullo, to this annual meeting, 

 and will no doubt listen with a great deal of 

 pleasure to his address on the aim and work of 

 the league. 



The time has come in the history of the pro- 

 vince when a great deal more attention is being 

 paid to the improvement, and beautifying of our 

 home surroundings and the public places in our 

 towns and cities than heretofore, and in this 

 good work every member of our association is 

 called upon to take a part. 



We have spent years in learning how to grow 

 good fruit and to produce plenty of it, in secur- 

 ing and disseminating the best and most profit- 

 able varieties of all kinds of fruit, and that we 

 have succeeded in so doing goes without saying. 

 Notwithstanding the many and varied obstacles 

 that have stood in the way, and the many un- 

 foreseen discouragements that have encom- 

 passed the path of the fruit grower, the past 

 season has again conclusively proven that we 

 are able to produce, under ordinary circumstan- 

 ces, an abundance of fruit for all the demands 

 of our broad Dominion 



The question of production is not now one 

 that confronts us, but prompt and efficient dis- 

 tribution to the various parts of the Dominion 

 where needed, at a reasonable cost and in a 

 careful manner. To this problem our transpor- 

 tation committee in the past two or three years 

 has given considerable attention and thought. 

 The result of their efforts has been of consider- 

 able benefit to the large commercial grower, but 

 not so much to the smaller producer. It is 

 hoped however that, with the appointment of a 

 railway commission, a step that this association 

 has strongly urged for several years and 

 through its transportation committee forcibly 

 brought to the attention of the Government last 

 winter, that such representations may be made 

 to the commission as will lead to a very great 

 improvement in the carriage of fruit, both as to 

 rates charged and service rendered, and as will 

 result in Ontario fruits going in ever increasing 

 quantities to the important markets which are 

 opening up in Manitoba and the Northwest, as 

 well as to the more northerly parts of our own 

 province, to say nothing of the large and im- 

 portant export trade over the sea. 



There is perhaps no question of such interest 

 to our readers to-day as the great problem of 

 distribution. How to organize and co-operate 

 to accomplish this object is a live and burning 

 question in the minds of hundreds of earnest 

 practical growers at the present time. When, 

 during the past season, thousands of baskets of 

 beautiful fruit have been left to hang and rot on 

 the trees from lack of proper facilities to place 

 them in the hands of those who would gladly 

 have purchased them at a fair price, and when 

 thousands of barrels of apples have also been 

 wasted or disposed of at a fraction of their real 

 value, for lack of suitable packages, while at the 

 same time a Macedonian cry was heard from the 

 Mother Country for all the fruit we could possi- 

 bly send her, it is certainly time for this Asso- 



FiG. 2716. G. C. Creeiman, B S. A., Toronto 



Ont., Secretary of the Ontario Fruit 



Growers' Association. 



elation to be up and doing and to endeavor in 

 some way to elaborate a plan whereby those un- 

 fortunate conditions may not continually occur. 

 I am glad to say that the germs of co-operation 

 have gained a foothold, and a good beginning 

 has been made in some sections. We have also 

 with us to-night a gentleman from our cousins 

 to the south who has had considerable experi- 

 ence in co-operative organization, and who will 

 no doubt be able to give us much valuable in- 

 formation in this ^respect. 



A word or two with reference to general con- 

 ditions during the past year. We have cause 

 to congratulate ourselves that we have experi- 

 enced a year, when the promise of the spring 

 has been abundantly fulfilled in the harvest of 

 the summer months. All kinds of fruit have 

 been produced in abundance and of good quality, 

 and even our standard fruit, the apple, which 

 gave us such a production in 1902, has surprised 

 us with a generous supply again this year. 

 While prices have in some cases been very low, 

 and cost of handling and transporting corre- 

 spondingly high, still on the whole the average 

 grower has cause to express his gratitude to 

 Him who gives the early and latter rain and who 

 brings to perfection the beautiful products of 

 our orchards and gardens. 



