EDITORIAL NOTES. 



'13 



APPLE PACKING. 



The use of the barrel and the box were 

 discussed, and Inspector Vroom gave full 

 details for packing in barrels, which are the 

 same as commonly practised. " The 10 per 

 cent, of poorer quality," he said, "are allowed 

 for the purpose of covering any accidental 

 putting in of poor quality, and not to allow 

 packers to pass off their poor trash." 



For boxes Mr, W. A. McKinnon said 

 that only the very tinest quality should be 

 packed in them, and in this we believe he is 

 quite correct, for we have experimented 

 with a carload of XX stock in barrels and 

 in boxes, and the former brought the best 

 returns. We are glad to observe that the 

 Nova Scotians at this meeting agreed to 

 adopt the same sized box as we have 

 adopted in Ontario, viz., 10 x 11 x 20, inside 

 measure. 



BOASTING THE PROFITS OF OUCHARDINC. 



The Nova Scotians always have a way of 

 showing up great results of apple growing. 

 ReceHtly Mr. J. W. Bigelow has circulated 

 an article giving an account of the wonder- 

 ful apple yield of the Annapolis Valley and 

 the wonderful profits received by the grow- 

 ers ; and here at this meeting Mr. R. J. 

 Bridgewater, of Bridgetown, gave an ac- 

 count of a bearing orchard of 33^ acres for 

 four years, showing a net profit of $2,400 

 for the period. 



It is rather a curious feature of the meet- 

 ings of fruit growers that they always de- 

 light in booming their business by tell- 

 ing big stories of immense profits, which are 

 exceptional, and by suppressing the stories 

 of poor prices and frequent losses. 

 In this way they encourage so many 

 to grow fruit that the prices come 

 down on account of competition. From 

 some such reason, for example, plums last 

 season were so abundant that they were 

 not worth gathering. Now men of no other 



avocation adopt such policy. Fancy the 

 stove makers advertising the profits of stove 

 making, or the dry goods merchant the pro- 

 fits of his business ! He would not be so 

 foolish. We do not see why the fruit 

 grower does it unless either he wants to sell 

 out his fruit farm, or because he is inter- 

 ested in some nursery for the sale of fruit 

 trees. No doubt Nova Scotia people want 

 buyers for lands in the " great Annapolis 

 valley." 



THE NEW OFFICERS. 



For 1904 the president of the N. S. F. G. 

 A. is Mr. P. Innes; vice-president, Mr. R. 

 S. Eaton; secretary, S. C. Parker; assistant 

 secretary, J. H. Cox; treasurer, S. W. 

 Munro. 



TRANSPORTATION. 



This subject, so vital to the interests of 

 fruit growers, was taken up with great in- 

 terest. An instance of gross injustice was 

 mentioned in the case of the discrimination 

 between apple and flour, the former costing 

 27c. a barrel to Halifax and the latter i6c. 

 The poor service on both railway and 

 steamer was also discussed, and a committee, 

 which included the president, vice-president 

 and secretary, was appointed to act in har- 

 mony with other organizations in obtaining 

 improved service and fairer rates. 



QUARTERLY MEETINGS. 



More frequent meetings were advocated 

 by Mr. R. W. Starr and opposed by others. 

 Finally a resolution was passed asking the 

 executive to press for an increase of the an- 

 nual grant from $300 to $500, with the ob- 

 ject in view of holding quarterly meetings 

 in various parts of the province. 



This is the opposite of the present policy 

 of our association, which is considering the 

 wisdom of centralizing the .meetings of the 

 body and sending experts to subordinate 

 meetings of farmers' clubs in every district. 



